On the Job! Law Dean at Indiana-Bloomington

(On the Job! pays occasional notice to interesting intlaw job notices)

Here at my home institution, the Maurer School of Law at Indiana University Bloomington, we are actively looking for a new dean our former Dean, Lauren Robel, having become the university's Provost and Executive Vice President.
As a member of the Search Committee, I write to encourage interested IntLawGrrls readers to apply.
Here's a few snippets from the job notice:

'The Maurer School of Law was founded in 1842, and is one of the oldest law schools in the country. Today, it is among the top ten public law schools in the nation. The Maurer School of Law has approximately 650 JD students and 100 international students, more than 10,000 alumni, 55 full-time faculty members, six robust research centers, numerous clinical and externship opportunities, and partnerships with top-ranked schools on the Bloomington campus and around the world. The school prepares its students to become ethical lawyers and leaders, and has an engaged and supportive alumni base throughout the world.

'The Maurer School of Law is committed to increasing the knowledge and understanding of the law through the scholarship of the faculty, public service, and teaching that provide a transformative educational experience for students so that they will become accomplished lawyers and leaders. Its faculty members are engaged and influential scholars whose work influences debate in the academy, the profession, and the wider world.
'A hallmark of the Maurer School of Law is its longstanding leadership in collaborative and interdisciplinary research and teaching. Its position on the campus of a premier research institution affords excellent opportunities for interdisciplinary work, and the Law School has
joint-degree programs with top-ranked schools such as the Kelley School of Business and the School of Public and Environmental Affairs, and several of the campus’s area studies centers.'
...
'Through the Center on the Global Legal Profession, students now have opportunities to gain substantive legal experience through internships in Brazil, India, and China.'

For more on the dean's responsibilities, desired qualifications, and compensation, see here.
Questions about the search, feedback, or nominations may be emailed to msldean@iu.edu.

Go On! ASIL/AALS panel on hiring intlaw professors

(Go On! is an occasional item on symposia and other events of interest)

As this year's Chair of the Section on International Law of the Association of American Law Schools, yours truly, Christiana Ochoa, is pleased to extend an invitation to "Developing your Faculty Credentials: An International Law Perspective," a panel discussion and reception to be held 6:30-8:30 p.m. on Thursday, October 11, 2012, at Tillar House, the headquarters of the American Society of International Law, located at 2223 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C.

The event is particularly aimed at internationally focused registrants of the AALS Faculty Recruitment Conference. The AALS Section on International Law is cosponsor, along with the ASIL Teaching International Law Interest Group (of which IntLawGrrl Karen E. Bravo is a Co-Chair).
On the panel will be:
► Professor Haider Ala Hamoudi, Chair of the Appointments Committee at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law; and
► Professor Sonia E. Rolland of Northeastern University School of Law in Boston, a Vice Chair of the ASIL Teaching International Law Interest Group.
AALS registrants will have the chance to hear recommendations from international law faculty members and the chair of a faculty appointments committee regarding methods for improving one’s hiring prospects in the academic field. Recent faculty hires will also be on hand to have informal conversations with attendees about their personal experiences in obtaining a faculty position during a reception following the panel discussion.

There is no charge for this event, but registration is required. Space is limited, and registrations will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis. Details and online registration here; hope to see you there!

Acting intlaw dean

Pleased to see that an IntLawGrrls contributor has been named an acting dean.
She's Hannah Buxbaum, an expert in private international law and international litigation and jurisdiction. (prior posts)
On February 1, 2012, Hannah will become Acting Dean at Bloomington's Indiana University Maurer School of Law, also the home institution of IntLawGrrls contributors Christiana Ochoa, Dawn Johnsen, and Jeannine Bell. On the same day, the law school's current dean, Lauren K. Robel, will assume a post as the university's interim provost.
Since joining the Indiana law faculty in 1997, Hannah's served in 2 associate dean positions and as book review editor for the American Journal of Comparative Law; last year, Indiana named her the John E. Schiller Chair in Legal Ethics.

Heartfelt congratulations!

Brazil / Inter-American Commission standoff

For over thirty-five years, a proposal to build the Belo Monte Dam on the Xingu River in northern Brazil has been fraught with controversy. This week, that controversy escalated to a new level when Brazilian President, Dilma Rousseff ordered an immediate interruption in relations with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.
Rousseff's order comes on the heels of a request PM 382/10, issued on April 1, in which the Inter-American Commission asked that the State of Brazil

'immediately suspend the licensing process for the Belo Monte Hydroelectric Plant project and stop any construction work from moving forward until certain minimum conditions are met.'

Those minimum requirements include free, prior, informed, good faith, culturally appropriate consultations with the communities that will be negatively impacted should the project be realized. An estimated 20,000-50,000 people are expected to be displaced in the 190-plus square miles that would have to be flooded to make the Belo Monte Dam operational. (credit for above right photo of site at issue)
The Brazilian government says that the Belo Monte Dam is crucial for development, as it is expected that it will provide electricity to 23 million homes:
► Defense Minister Nelson Jobim said in April that the government would not honor the request of the Inter-American Commission, and he argued that preserving indigenous communities’ way of life should not force 20 million people living in the Amazon region into underdevelopment.
► Senator Flexa Ribeiro, president of the Senate Sub-Committee charged with oversight of the dam project, has stated:

'The request is absurd. It even threatens Brazilian sovereignty.'

► The Foreign Minister has called the Commission's measures “unjustifiable.”
Late last week the Brazilian mining company, Vale, agreed to buy a $1.5 billion stake in the Belo Monte Dam consortium. After significant domestic legal controversy, construction on the dam has recently begun and will cost approximately $17 billion.
This week the Folha de Sao Paolo reported that President Rousseff is “disappointed and irritated” by the Commission's Precautionary Measure request. Ruy Casaes, the Brazilian ambassador to the Organization of American States, was ordered to remain in Brasilia rather than return to Costa Rica. In addition, Rousseff has decided both to suspend Brazil’s approximately $800,000 annual contribution to the Inter-American Commission and to desist from advancing the candidacy of a Brazilian to sit on that body.

Guest Blogger: Erin Daly

It's IntLawGrrls' great pleasure to welcome Erin Daly (left) as today's guest blogger.
Erin is Professor of Law and Associate Dean of Faculty Research and Development at Widener Law School in Wilmington, Delaware. She earned her B.A. from Wesleyan University and her J.D. cum laude from the University of Michigan, then practiced 1st Amendment and employment law at the San Francisco law firm of Cooper White & Cooper.
Since entering academia in 1993, she's produced many publications on comparative environmental law, constitutional law, and transitional justice, among them Reconciliation in Divided Societies: Finding Common Ground (2006), for which a Nobel Peace Prizewinner, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, wrote the foreword. Co-authoring the book (issued in paperback in 2010) with Erin was Jeremy Sarkin, the South African legal expert about whom we posted yesterday.
Erin has served as a Vice-Chair of the Young Lawyer’s Division Law and Media Committee of the American Bar Association. Earlier this month, Erin was elected the Chair of the Section on International Human Rights of the Association of American Law Schools (a position that IntLawGrrl Christiana Ochoa held a while back). In her guest post below, Erin recaps the Section's "new voices" programs during AALS' 2010 annual meeting, discusses Section plans, and welcomes suggestions for the coming year.
Erin dedicates her post to Coretta Scott King (1927-2006), about whom we IntLawGrrls have frequently posted. She was, of course, the widow of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (prior posts) -- and she was also a civil rights and human rights activist in her own right. Today the United States observes Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. It is, as Erin writes, a holiday that Coretta Scott King

named in honor of her husband, but which is really a testament to her own lifelong commitment to making the world a better place through service to others and to holding up ideals of equality and human dignity, whether in the context of literacy, poverty eradication, or the rights of minorities of all kinds in the United States and abroad. She took on each new challenge with grace and intelligence and continued throughout her life to push for greater rights for all.

(source for 1984 Charles Tasnadi/AP photo of her leading a picket of South African embassy in Washington, D.C.) Today we are honored to include Coretta Scott King in our list of foremothers just below the "visiting from..." map at right.

Heartfelt welcome!

Go On! IntLawGrrls at AALS

(Go On! is an occasional item on symposia and other events of interest)

The Association of American Law Schools will be holding its 2011 annual meeting in San Francisco from January 5-8th. This year's theme is: Core Educational Values: Guideposts for the Pursuit of Excellence in Challenging Times.

If you are attending, be sure to check out IntLawGrrls and IntLawGrrl guests/alumnae in action. As detailed in the annual meeting program, they are:

Wednesday, Jan 5th

► At 2:00 pm, Afra Afsharipour will be speaking at the Law and South Asian Studies Section's panel: Lawyers as Social Change Agents in South Asia.

► Also at 2:00, Michele Bratcher Goodwin will speak on the Biolaw Section's panel: Synthetic Biology Meets the Law, and Penelope Andrews will moderate the Africa Section's panel: U.S. Africa Policy at the Midpoint of President Obama's First Term.

Thursday, Jan. 6th

► At 9:00 am, Stephanie Farrior, Hari M. Osofsky, Christiana Ochoa, Annecoos Wiersema, Leila Nadya Sadat, and Cindy Galway Buys will be participating in the International Law Section's panel: International Law Year in Review.

► At 2:00, Penelope Andrews will be speaking on the Constitutional Law Section's panel: American Constitutionalism in Comparative Perspective.

► At 2:30 pm, Lisa R. Pruitt will take part in a panel on Class, Socio-Economics, and Critical Analysis.

Friday, Jan. 7th

► At 8:30 am, Caroline Bettinger-López and Alexandra Huneeus will present at the
New Voices in Human Rights panel of the Section on International Human Rights.

► At 10:30 am, yours truly, Rebecca M. Bratspies, and Hari M. Osofsky will be participating in the Hot Topics panel: The BP Blowout Oil Spill and Its Implications.

► Also at 10:30, Laurel S. Terry will be speaking on the Education Law Section's panel: Immigration and Higher Education.

► At 4:00, Michelle Oberman will be speaking on the Law, Medicine and Health Care Section's panel: Women's Choices, Women's Voices: Legal Regimes and Women's Health.

Saturday, Jan. 8th is an action-packed IntLawGrrls day:

► At 7:00 in the morning, Laurel S. Terry will be speaking at the AALS Workshop and Continental Breakfast for 2010 and 2011 Section Officers.

► At 8:30 am, yours truly, Rebecca M. Bratspies, will be speaking on the Animal Law Section's panel: Treatment and Impact of Farmed Animals.

► At 1:30 pm, Elizabeth L. Hillman will be speaking on the National Security Section's panel: The Relationship Between Military Justice, Civil/Military Relations and National Security Law.

► Also at 1:30 pm, Jenia Iontcheva Turner will be speaking on the Comparative Law Section's panel: Beyond the State: Comparative Approaches to Group Political Identity in the Age of the Transnational.

► At 3:30 pm, Christiana Ochoa, will be moderating the International Law Section's panel: Was Medellin Wrongly Decided?

► Also at 3:30 pm, Jennifer Kreder will speaker on the Section on Law and Anthropology panel entitled The Role of Cultural Property Across Cultures and Legal Regimes.

As always, I am struck by the wide range of interests that our fearless leader Diane Marie Amann has brought together under the IntLawGrrls umbrella.

FYI: Because the Hilton is embroiled in a labor dispute with UNITE HERE, Local 2 (the hotel's workers have been working without a contract for over a year), registration and most of the AALS events have been moved to other nearby hotels. There may be other last-minute changes, so be sure to go by the locations in the schedule you receive at check-in rather than the brochure that circulated last month. See you in San Francisco.

(credit for 2010 poster of San Francisco by Kevin Dart)

U.S. Contact Point & corporate accountability

(Many thanks to IntLawGrrls for the opportunity to contribute this guest post.)

Corporate accountability for environmental and human rights abuses abroad is often elusive.
As IntLawGrrls Rebecca Bratspies and Naomi Roht-Arriaza have posted (here and here), recent court rulings now limit the scope of the Alien Tort Claims Act in some jurisdictions, at least temporarily. Non-judicial, ‘soft law’ mechanisms thus have become even more important.
Among the latter accountability mechanisms is the U.S. National Contact Point, or NCP, an office of the Department of State created to take complaints regarding corporate compliance with the Guidelines for Multinational Enterprise issued in 2008 by OECD, the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development.
The United States is required to maintain the NCP to resolve disputes about the OECD Guidelines, which cover human rights, environmental, labor, and consumer issues, as well as other topics. Like other countries' NCPs, the U.S. office is tasked not only with assisting to resolve disputes about corporate compliance with the Guidelines, but also with issuing Final Statements about compliance at the end of the process. In the language of international financial institution accountability mechanisms, this gives NCPs both a problem-solving and compliance review function.
To date, the U.S. NCP has never assisted in the resolution of a single case. In contrast, as IntLawGrrl Christiana Ochoa has posted in other countries like the United Kingdom, NCPs have successfully participated in the resolution of major global issues. If transformed, the U.S. NCP could be a valuable tool for communities around the world. Among those communities are clients of my organization, Accountability Counsel, which represents persons harmed by U.S.-headquartered multinational enterprises.
Over the past year, Accountability Counsel has led a coalition of civil society groups to reform the U.S. NCP. Our direct talks spurred the office to published its rules of procedure. As we had anticipated, those rules:
► Fail to meet basic standards for transparency and independence;
► Lack details sufficient to result in a predictable process; and
► Are unlikely to lead to effective results.
The official State Department review is under way, with a new policy governing the U.S. NCP is expected sometime in 2011. In Washington, a public meeting will be held today, November 2, and comments on the U.S. NCP will be accepted at input@state.gov until this Friday, November 5.
Accountability Counsel already has submitted its comments to the State Department regarding suggestions for reform of the U.S. NCP. Based on our work with similar mechanisms at the World Bank Group, the regional development banks, and study of other NCPs, we demonstrated that key elements that are needed to bring this accountability mechanism to the ‘best practice’ level that civil society groups have worked decades to create. Our recommendations focus on:
► Increasing transparency;
► Setting timelines and rules of procedure;
► Providing for review of decisions; and
► Monitoring and enforcement in the event of a finding of non-compliance.

Accountability Counsel is also working on these issues as a member of the State Department’s Advisory Committee on International Economic Policy, which will issue a report with recommendations for reform. Similarly, our group has worked with the United Nations' Special Representative on Business and Human Rights, Professor John Ruggie (prior IntLawGrrls posts), to create a page on the Business and Society Exploring Solutions site for the posting of comments and for debate about the U.S. NCP. The effort is aimed at improving transparency around this review.

Write On! New human rights voices @ AALS

(Write On! is an occasional item about notable calls for papers.) The Section on on International Human Rights of the Association of American Law Schools is calling for papers for AALS' 2010 Annual Meeting this January in New Orleans, Louisiana.
As it has in years past, the Section will sponsor a call-for-papers session entitled "New Voices in Human Rights"; it's scheduled for 8:30 to 10:15 a.m. on Saturday, January 9, 2010.
All faculty members whose research focuses on human rights are invited to submit abstract proposals of presentations they would like to make at the AALS annual meeting session. Deadline for submissions -- to be e-mailed in Word or PDF format to IntLawGrrl Christiana Ochoa, Section Chair, at cochoa@indiana.edu -- is September 25, 2009.

(For other AALS calls for papers, check out our Write On! series)

Write On! Intersection of national security, human rights & international law @ AALS

(Write On! is an occasional item about notable calls for papers.) Here's a chance to take part in a program -- at AALS' 2010 Annual Meeting this January in New Orleans, Louisiana -- that will examine a particularly vibrant intersection of law. It's a cooperative effort by 3 sections of the Association of American Law Schools: the Section on National Security Law, chaired by our colleague Michael J. Kelly; the Section on International Human Rights, for which IntLawGrrl Christiana Ochoa serves as Chair; and the Section on International Law, for which yours truly has that honor this year.
We three sections are calling for papers to be presented at a cosponsored program, entitled "Cross-Currents in International Law, Human Rights Law and National Security Law," to be held from 9 to 10:45 a.m. on Sunday, January 10, 2010.
Here's the key information from our call for papers:

Recent years have seen unprecedented interactions among three areas of law: Human Rights Law, International Law, and National Security Law. A Selection Committee comprising one officer of each section welcomes abstract submissions from all scholars, with preference given to authors who belong to at least one of these AALS sections. The Committee also will give preference to papers that highlight the cross-section among two or more of these fields, and will endeavor to have a cross-section of such cross-currents represented at the session.

(Note that you do not need to claim status as a "junior" scholar in order to respond.)

Deadline for submission of abstracts no longer than 5 doublespaced pages -- e-mailed in Word or PDF format to Professor Kelly at MichaelKelly@creighton.edu -- is Friday, September 18, 2009.

Please join us!

(For other AALS calls for papers, check out our Write On! series)

Women @ ASILter

As we have each year since our founding (here and here), IntLawGrrls is proud today to highlight women who will speak at the forthcoming annual meeting of the American Society of International Law.

This 103d gathering of the Society, entitled International Law as Law, will be held next week, March 25-28, at the Fairmont Hotel in Washington, D.C.

Delighted to see from the program that there's much diversity in topics and presenters. As has been the case in recent years, virtually all panels have at least 1 woman participating, and that many have more (those few that do not include women do not, alas, receive mention in this list). Especially proud that so many persons featured are IntLawGrrls or IntLawGrrls guest alumnae -- foremost among them, of course, ASIL President Lucy Reed (right). Kudos to the Program Committee Co-Charis, our colleagues Anthea Elizabeth Roberts, Stephen Mathias, and Carlos Manuel Vázquez!

Without further ado, here's this year's honor roll:

Wednesday, March 25, 8:30 a.m.-12 noon

► "Intellectual Property Rights in China: Reflections and Directions": Victoria Espinel (George Mason) and Tracy-Gene Durkin (Sterne Kessler Goldstein & Fox), panelists; Elizabeth Chien-Hale (Institute for Intellectual Property in Asia), moderator.

Wednesday, March 25, 3-4:30 p.m.

► "Whither the Law of War for the U.S.?": Ashley Deeks (U.S. Department of State), panelist.
Wednesday, March 25, 4:30-6 p.m.

► Dinah Shelton (George Washington) will serve as discussant for the Grotius Lecture, "Focusing on the Good or the Bad: What Can International Environmental Law Do to Accelerate The Transition Towards A Green Economy?"

Thursday, March 26, 9-10:30 a.m.

► "A Comparative Look at Domestic Enforcement of International Tribunal Judgments": Lori Fisler Damrosch (Columbia) and Ingrid Wuerth (Vanderbilt), panelists.

► "Responsibility to Protect in Environmental Emergencies": Linda Malone (William & Mary), panelist; Gwen K. Young (Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation), moderator.

► "Feminist Interventions: Human Rights, Armed Conflict and International Law": Doris Buss (Carleton, Canada), Janet Halley (Harvard), Ratna Kapur (Centre for Feminist Legal Research), panelists; Vasuki Nesiah (International Center for Transitional Justice), moderator.

► "New Voices: Rethinking the Sources of International Law": IntLawGrrl guest/alumna Annecoos Wiersema (Ohio State), panelist.

Thursday, March 26, 10:45 a.m.-12:15 p.m.

► "Medellin v. Texas and the Self-Execution of Treaties": Avril Haines (U.S. Department of State) and H. Kathleen Patchel (Indiana-Indianapolis), panelists.

► "Piracy Off of Somalia: the Challenges for International Law": Katharine Shepherd (British Foreign & Commonwealth Office) and Malvina Halberstam (Cardozo), panelists.

► "The United States and the Post-Kyoto Climate Change Treaty": Jennifer Haverkamp (Environmental Defense Fund), panelist; Cymie Payne (California-Berkeley), moderator.

► "The Principle of Legality in International Criminal Law": Elisa Massimino (Human Rights First), and IntLawGrrl Beth Van Schaack (Santa Clara), panelists.

► "In What Sense is International Law Law?": Antonia Chayes (Tufts), panelist.

Thursday, March 26, 12:30-2:30 p.m.

► Women in International Law Interest Group Luncheon: Judge Unity Dow (right), High Court of Botswana, speaker and recipient of the annual Prominent Women in International Law Award.
Thursday, March 26, 1-2:30 p.m.

► Book Discussion Featuring 2009 Winner of the ASIL Certificate of Merit for Creative Scholarship: IntLawGrrl guest/alumna Mary Ellen O'Connell (Notre Dame), panelist.

► "Multilateralizing Regionalism and the Future Architecture of International Trade Law as a System of Law": Alberta Fabbricotti (University of Rome), Gabrielle Marceau (University of Geneva and Cabinet of the WTO Director-General), and Kati Suominen (Inter-American Development Bank), panelists; Amelia Porges (Sidley Austin), moderator.

► "Closing Guantánamo: The Legal and Policy Issues": Deborah Pearlstein (Princeton) and Joanne Mariner (Human Rights Watch), panelists.
Thursday, March 26, 2:15-3:45 p.m.

► "Is Legal Empowerment Good for the Poor?": Christina Biebesheimer (World Bank) and Kerry Rittich (University of Toronto), panelists; Anne Trebilcock (International Labor Organization), moderator.

Thursday, March 26, 2:45-3:45 p.m.
► Annual General Meeting of the Society, featuring election of officers and presentation of Society awards and honors, among them the medal named after Goler Teal Butcher (an IntLawGrrls transnational foremother), to Mónica Pinto (left) of the University of Buenos Aires.

Thursday, March 26, 3-4:30 p.m.

► "Teaching International Law Interest Group Meeting: Using Simulations to Enhance International Law Teaching": Cindy Buys (Southern Illinois), panelist.

Thursday, March 26, 5-6:30 p.m.

► Plenary: "The United States and International Law During the Obama Administration: Executive and Legislative Perspectives": Joan Donoghue and Anne-Marie Slaughter (both U.S. Department of State), panelists.

Friday, March 27, 9-10:30 a.m.

► "Is the UN Security Council Bound by Human Rights Law?": Vera Gowlland-Debbas (Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies) and Gráinne de Búrca (Fordham), panelists.

► "The Impact of International Criminal Proceedings on National Prosecutions in Mass Atrocity Cases": Marieke Wierda (International Center of Transitional Justice) and Olivia Swaak-Goldman (International Criminal Court, Office of Prosecutor), panelists.

► "Judging International Law as Law": Judge Rosemary Barkett (left) (U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit), Judge Unity Dow (above right) (High Court of Botswana), and Chief Justice Margaret Marshall (right) (Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts), panelists.

► "New Voices: Issues in the Human Side of International Law": Janina Dill (Oxford), Angela Banks (William & Mary), and IntLawGrrl Hari M. Osofsky (Washington & Lee), panelists.

► "Governing Through Indicators": Leslie Benton (Transparency International) and Sally Engle Merry (New York University), panelists.
Friday, March 27, 10:45 a.m.-12:15 p.m.

► Jane Stromseth (Georgetown) will serve as discussant for a lecture entitled "Transatlantic Views of International Law: Cooperation and Conflict in Hard Times."

► "The Security Council and the Rule of Law": Christine Gray (Cambridge) and Kim Lane Scheppele (Princeton University), panelists.

► "The Future of Corporate Accountability for Violations of Human Rights": Lisa Misol (Human Rights Watch) and IntLawGrrl Christiana Ochoa (Indiana-Bloomington), panelists; Penelope Simons (University of Ottawa), moderator.

► "Challenges of Transnational Legal Practice: Advocacy and Ethics": Laurel Baig (International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, Office of the Prosecutor) and Laurel Terry (Penn State), panelists; Catherine Rogers (Penn State), moderator.

► "The Cutting Edge": Karen Knop (University of Toronto), Katerina Linos (Harvard Society of Fellows), and Gabriella Blum (Harvard); Anthea Elizabeth Roberts (London School of Economics), moderator.

Friday, March 27, 12:15-2:45 p.m.

► "Research Showcase: Poster Session": IntLawGrrls guest/alumna Alessandra Arcuri (University of Rotterdam), IntLawGrrl Karen E. Bravo (Indiana-Indianapolis), Melissa Casagrande (McGill), Susan Franck (Washington & Lee), Diane Frey (London School of Economics), M. Florencia Guerzovich (Northwestern University), Claire Kelly (Brooklyn Law School), and Elizabeth Stubbins Bates (London School of Economics).

Friday, March 27, 1-2:30 p.m.

► "Mapping the Future of Investment Treaty Arbitration as a System of Law": Gabriela Alvarez-Avila (Curtis, Mallet-Prevost) and Yas Banifatemi (Shearman & Sterling), panelists; IntLawGrrl Lucy Reed (top right) (Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and ASIL President), moderator.

► "Irresponsible Arms Trade and the Arms Trade Treaty": Rachel Stohl (Centre for Defense Information), panelist.
► "Anthropological Perspectives on Human Rights Law and Lawyers": Kamari Clarke (Yale), Laura Dickinson (Arizona State), and Ann Janette Rosga (Women's International League for Peace & Freedom), panelists.

► "International Environmental Law Interest Group Meeting: Scientific Whaling and International Law": Laurence Boisson de Chazournes (University of Geneva), speaker.
Friday, March 27, 2:45-4:15 p.m.

► "International Law and the "War on Terror:" A Look Back": IntLawGrrl Jenny S. Martinez (Stanford) and Julia Tarver Mason (Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison), panelists.

► "Border Tax Adjustments: Climate Change, the WTO, and New Tools for International Environmental Law-Making": Ellen Hey (Erasmus University) and Laura Nielsen (University of Copenhagen), panelists.

► "Visions of International Law: Insights from Normative Theory": IntLawGrrls' guest/alumna Mary Ellen O'Connell (Notre Dame); Dianne Otto (Melbourne), panelists.

► "U.S. Implementation of the 2005 Hague Convention on Choice-of-Court Agreements (Resource Session)": Louise Ellen Teitz (Roger Williams), panelist.

Friday, March 27, 4:30-5:45 p.m.

► Plenary: "International Law as Law at the International Court of Justice": IntLawGrrl Lucy Reed (top right) (Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and ASIL President), moderator.

Friday, March 27, 6:30-11 p.m.

► ASIL-ILSA Dinner Celebrating the Jessup Competition 50th Anniversary: Judge Rosalyn Higgins (left) (former President of the International Court of Justice), speaker.

Saturday, March 28, 9-10:30 a.m.

► "Changing Concepts of State Sovereignty": Rosa Brooks (Georgetown) and Ruti Teitel (New York Law School), panelists; Judge Rosalyn Higgins (left) (former President of the International Court of Justice), commentator; Oona Hathaway (California-Berkeley), moderator.

► "Learning from Doha: Can 'Development' be Operationalized in International Economic Law?": Uche Ewelukwa (Arkansas), panelist.

"Evolutions of the Jus ad Bellum: The Crime of Aggression": Jutta Bertram-Nothnagel (Permanent Representative of the Union Internationale des Avocats to the United Nations) and Elizabeth Wilmhurst (Royal Institute of International Affairs at Chatham House), panelists.

Details and registration for this year's annual meeting are here.

OECD National Contact Points

In August 2008 the United Kingdom’s National Contact Point (NCP) for the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises (OECD Guidelines) issued its Final Statement in Global Witness v. Afrimex Ltd. This case was the topic of a recent ASIL Insight (much of which is summarized here), describing the background on the case, the basic outlines of the NCP’s decision and its potential implications. The NCP found Afrimex had failed to abide by the OECD Guidelines and, more specifically, had failed to respect the human rights of the populations most affected by their activities, had failed to contribute to the economic, social and environmental progress of its host location, had not worked to encourage its business partners and suppliers to apply rules like the Guidelines, and had failed to exercise sufficient due diligence in its supply chain, as evidenced by Afrimex’s use of child and forced labor. The NCP made a number of recommendations, including that Afrimex adopt a corporate code of conduct, make use of the OECD’s Risk Awareness Tool and exercise it influence over contracting parties to ensure that their supply chain is free of child and forced labor.

Among the notable features of the NCPs decision is the reference it makes to the recent report of the UN SRSG on the issue of Business and Human Rights (SRSG Report), about which Naomi Norberg and I have previously blogged here and here. The decision uses the report as an indicator of the kinds of due diligence Afrimex might undertake in order to include human rights concerns in its policies and operations. This is important in two respects. First, and obviously, because it is another example of the spaces in which the Report is having an influence. Perhaps more important is the attention the combined punch of the Report and the Afrimex decision will bring to NCPs as access points for communities aggrieved by corporations that are failing to respect human rights.

NCPs have been used more than might be known. According to an October OECD document (available here), since NCPs were established by a June 2000 OECD Council Decision, well over 100 “Specific Instances” (complaints) have been considered by NCPs in 28 countries. The decisions – or Final Statements – of the NCPs are similarly under-reported and relatively unknown. The SRSG Report has identified the potential of NCPs, if they are made more robust (and, presumably, if their work is better known), to serve as non-judicial or quasi-judicial points of access to remedies. Through the Afrimex case, Global Witness (which has advised various aspects of the SRSG’s work) has demonstrated how NCP Specific Instances and Final Statements might be used as another source of light for illuminating the misdeeds of companies like Afrimex.

IntLawGrrls @ AALS

Kudos to all IntLawGrrls members and guests/alumnae who shone at last week's annual meeting of the Association of American Law Schools.
As mentioned above, yours truly was honored as new Chair of the Section on International Law. Here's the rest of the honor roll:
► Jeannine Bell took part in the Section of Law & Anthropology's panel on "Origins and Solutions to the Indian Freedmen Disputes"
► Johanna E. Bond presented at the "New Voices in Human Rights" panel of the Section on International Human Rights
► Vivian Grosswald Curran presented at the panel, jointly sponsored by the Sections on Comparative Law and Law and Economics, on "The Doing Business Reports by the World Bank and the Legal Origins Thesis: Is Economics Replacing Comparative Law?"
► Fiona de Londras delivered a great analysis of English, Irish, and American jurisprudence in the Section of International Law's panel on "Taking International Law Seriously: Will the United States Abide by International Law that is a Law of Rules?"
► Stephanie Farrior was elected to the Executive Committee of the Section on International Law
► Chimène Keitner presented at the "New Voices in Human Rights" panel of the Section on International Human Rights
► Linda M. Keller was elected to the Executive Committee of the Section on International Law, and further was elected, along with Annecoos Wiersema, as that Section's Newsletter Co-Editor
► Lisa Laplante was elected to the Executive Committee of the Section on International Law
► Hope Lewis was elected to the Executive Committee of the Section on International Law
► Christiana Ochoa was elected Chair of the Section on International Human Rights and Treasurer of the Section on International Law, and further served as Commentator for the latter section's "New Voices in Human Rights" panel
► Hari M. Osofsky was elected to the Executive Committee of the Section on International Law
► Annecoos Wiersema was elected to the Executive Committee of the Section on International Law, and further was elected, along with Linda M. Keller, as that Section's Newsletter Co-Editor
Heartfelt congratulations!

Sirius Piracy

Piracy will be drawing the attention of the international community to a much greater degree after last weekend's hijacking of the very large Saudi-owned, Liberia-flagged oil tanker, the Sirius Star. This is reported to be the biggest tanker ever to be successfully grabbed by pirates. (photo credit) The pirates overtook the ship and its crew while they were sailing off the Kenyan coast headed for the United States. Now, the pirates have anchored the Sirius Star off the Somali coast. The ship has been reported to be carrying $100 million of oil, as well as an international crew, including nationals of the Philippines, Croatia, Saudi Arabia, Poland, and the United Kingdom.
This seizure indicates the mounting capabilities of pirates in the region as well as the difficulty of stemming the growing tide of modern piracy.
Despite a multinational naval task force having been assembled earlier this year to address Somali piracy, there have been continued and increasingly troublesome hijackings in the region. The International Chamber of Commerce Commercial Crime Services' report on the incident includes this statement from Pottengal Mukundan, the ICC International Maritime Bureau (IMB) Director:

Although this is just the latest of a large spike in attacks off the east coast of Africa, this incident is significant on two counts. Firstly, this is the largest vessel to have been hijacked. Secondly, the distance from the shore would suggest a highly organised operation -- this is not mere opportunism.

The BBC reports that the IMB's Piracy Reporting Centre

said it had records of 92 attacks against vessels so far this year, including 36 successful hijackings. This month alone, pirates have seized a Japanese cargo ship off Somalia, a Chinese fishing boat off Kenya and a Turkish ship transporting chemicals off Yemen.

An interactive map of pirate activity in 2008 can be found here.

Workplan on Business & Human Rights

In June 2008, John Ruggie, the Special Representative to the U.N. Secretary-General on the Issue of Business and Human Rights (SRSG) issued his final report under his 2005 mandate. I have summarized and analyzed that report here and blogged on it here. After unanimously welcoming the framework established in that report, the Human Rights Council extended the SRSG’s mandate for another three years, asking that he use his renewed mandate to “operationalize” the framework.
The framework is built on three principles: first, the State duty to protect against human rights abuses; second, corporate responsibility to respect human rights; and third, the need for more and improved access to remedies for victims of abuses.
The new mandate addresses each of these principles and requests that they each be furthered.
Earlier this month, the SRSG released a preliminary work plan for his current mandate. It provides illustrations of the policy and legal approaches the SRSG is committed to or is considering pursuing. They include a number of facets, as follows.

Under the state duty to protect:
► Improving access to judicial remedies.
► Continuing the SRSG’s work on investment treaties and host government contracts.
► Examining the role of export credit and investment guarantee agencies.
► Exploring the particular difficulties of operationalizing the framework in conflict zones.
► Encouraging a corporate culture of respect through various means, including the possibility of using corporate law tools to this end.

Under the corporate responsibility to respect:
► Developing “a set of guiding principles on the corporate responsibility to respect and related accountability measures.”
► Further elaborating concepts such as “the scope and nature of corporate due diligence to avoid human rights abuses.

Under access to remedies:
► Identifying legal and practical obstacles to accessing judicial remedies.
► Developing information dissemination and collection tools regarding non-judicial grievance mechanisms.
► Identifying prospects for improving and/or increasing the number of non-judicial mechanisms.
►Exploring the relationship between judicial and non-judicial remedies.

Readers interested in the work of the SRSG can follow developments here.

(Cross-posted at The Conglomerate business/law/economics/society blog)

Corruption, Conflict and Oil

The United States has apparently agreed to assist Nigeria in criminalizing a practice known as “oil bunkering.” This assistance could create opportunities to interrupt the flow of funds that fuel rampant violence in the Niger Delta, where large amounts of oil are siphoned-off and sold illegally each day through well-established and corrupt channels. As part of this effort, Nigeria was recently charged with developing a chemical “tagging” mechanism which would identify oil sold by way of legitimate channels, such that all illicit oil – bunkered oil – would be readily identifiable (by the absence of the chemical tag) as having entered the commerce stream through illicit means. (credit for photo of Nigerian oil pipes; map credit)

While the prospects for such a tagging mechanism may seem extremely expensive and perhaps even far flung, the high costs resulting from current oil bunkering, corruption and violence funded by blood-oil, make even the high cost of developing such a chemical tag potentially very attractive. More to the point, oil companies already have tagging mechanisms that they use for other purposes. Also, the relative success of a similar tagging mechanism for blood diamonds, which formed part of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme, provides ample optimism for the possibility of stemming the flow of blood oil.

Nigeria may thus serve as a test case for addressing the close ties between oil, corruption and conflict prevalent in other areas as well.

(Cross-posted at The Conglomerate, the business/law/economics/society site where I am currently guest blogging. And see IntLawGrrls' look back at oil history below.)

On October 17

On this day in ...
... 1968 (40 years ago today), with the U.S. national anthem playing at the Mexico City Olympics, 200-meter gold and bronze medalwinners, both African-Americans, "stood with their heads bowed and a black-gloved hand raised." Tommie Smith and John Carlos were members of the Olympic Project for Human Rights, whose badge the Australian silver medalist later wore to show his support for Smith and Carlos. Nevertheless, after U.S. media called them "'Nazi-like'" and "'storm troopers,'" "the two athletes were suspended from their national team, expelled from the Olympic village and sent home to America." (credit for photo (c) Associated Press)
... 1973 (35 years ago today), with approval from the world's largest producer, Saudi Arabia, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries launched an oil embargo "meant to punish the West for its support of Israel in the Yom Kippur War." The withholding of oil, which lasted nearly 1/2 a year, "led to long lines at U.S. gas pumps" and "represented a major change in the political power of the OPEC nations." Oil-power-politics remains in the fore 3-1/2 decades later, as is evident in IntLawGrrl Christiana Ochoa's post above.

Guest Blogger: Jeannine Bell

It's IntLawGrrls' great pleasure today to welcome guest blogger Jeannine Bell (left).
Jeannine is Professor of Law and Charles Whistler Faculty Fellow at Indiana University School of Law in Bloomington. (As blogreaders know, the law school also is the home institution of IntLawGrrl Christiana Ochoa and guests/alumnae Hannah Buxbaum and Dawn Johnsen.)

After earning her A.B. degree in government from Harvard College, Jeannine earned a J.D., as well as an M.A. and Ph.D. in Political Science, from the University of Michigan. At Indiana she teaches Criminal Procedure, Property, and seminars on the First Amendment and Law and Society. She's active in the Law and Society Association (about which IntLawGrrls also posts today): in addition to having served on the LSA board and chaired several LSA committees, she's an associate editor of the Law and Society Review. Her publications, which have focused on matters of criminal justice, include Policing Hatred (2004), Police and Police and Policing Law (2006), and, with Martha S. Feldman and Michele Berger, Gaining Access (2003). In her guest post below, Jeannine describes her article on torture, which grew out of questions that arose when she served as a member of a political science special task force on terror and political conflict.

Jeannine would like to dedicate her post to a woman about whom IntLawGrrls has posted before: the activist Fannie Lou Hamer (1917-1977, in the foreground of the photo below). Jeannine writes: "Though largely known for her work on behalf of civil rights in Mississippi, Hamer was also an outspoken critic of the war in Vietnam. Rather that just fighting for the rights of Blacks from Mississippi, Hamer used her voice to call attention to injustice outside the U.S. Her fearlessness, courage, and refusal to accept the place to which society relegated her is truly inspiring." Today Hamer joins the list of IntLawGrrls' transnational foremothers, just below the "visiting from..." map in the righthand column.

Heartfelt welcome!

Lateral and Entry Level Hiring at Indiana Law

(As a member of the lateral appointments committee at Indiana, I've been asked to get out the exciting news of our plans to bring great people aboard. So, if you are interested in building a truly great law school and want a high quality life for you and your family, consider this opportunity, which has run on SSRN.)

In 2007, Indiana University School of Law–Bloomington received a $25 million gift from the Lilly Foundation for the purpose of attracting and retaining leading scholars and teachers. The gift will enable the Law School to hire up to five senior level professors without limitation to specific curricular subject. In addition, the Law School is seeking outstanding applicants for several entry level openings. Although the entry level and lateral hiring committees are particularly interested in hiring scholars that will leverage and extend the School’s current strengths, all qualified candidates will receive careful consideration. The attractions of Indiana Law include:
► Highly collegial faculty with a longstanding focus on globalization, international law, interdisciplinary research, and law & society scholarship.
► Attractive law school facilities, including a top-ranked law library.
► Integration with a major research university on one of the nation’s most beautiful campuses.
► Excellent, ambitious JD, LLM, and SJD students with strong entering credentials.
► Strong commitment to curricular innovation to keep pace with a rapidly changing legal profession.
► Three course teaching load, small average class size, and an excellent student-faculty ratio that will further improve through new faculty hiring.
► Excellent support for conference travel related to scholarship and professional service and development.
► A lovely, vibrant Big Ten college town.
► An active and supportive alumni base.
► Competitive salary and benefits.
The entry level and lateral appointments committees invite confidential inquiries from scholars at other institutions. Women and underrepresented minorities are encouraged to apply. Interested candidates should submit a c.v. and a letter summarizing their future career goals in the areas of scholarship, teaching, and service. Please direct these materials, either electronically or through regular mail (211 S. Indiana Ave., Bloomington, Indiana 47405), to the chair of the entry level or lateral appointments committees, as follows:
Entry Level: Jeannine Bell, Professor of Law & Whistler Faculty Fellow, jeabell@indiana.edu, (812) 856-5013
Lateral: Kenneth Dau-Schmidt, Willard & Margaret Carr Professor of Law, kdauschm@indiana.edu, (812) 855.0697
Indiana University is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer.

Write On! reminders

(Write On! is an occasional item about notable calls for papers.) Just a reminder about calls for papers sent out by 2 sections of the Association of American Law Schools. Each section seeks presenters for AALS' next annual meeting, January 6-10, 2009, in San Diego. Next Friday, August 15, is the deadline for submitting proposals for both calls, as follows:

Human Rights Section

This section, of which the Chair-Elect is yours truly, Christiana Ochoa, is seeking papers for its "New Voices" panel. Submission details here.

International Law Section

This section, of which IntLawGrrl Diane Marie Amann is Chair-Elect, is seeking papers for its panel entitled "Taking International Law Seriously: Will the United States Abide by International Law That Is a Law of Rules?" Submission details here.

ASIL Book Awards -- Please Submit!

The American Society of International Law is seeking nominations for its annual book awards.
The awards, known as ASIL Certificates of Merit, are given for:
► preeminent contribution to creative scholarship;
► a specialized area of international law; and/or
► high technical craftsmanship.
Authors and publishers are encouraged to submit appropriate works for consideration by the Committee on Annual Awards, which this year is chaired by me, Janie Chuang (American University), and includes another IntLawGrrl, Christiana Ochoa (Indiana-Bloomington), as well as law professors Tai-Heng Cheng (New York) and Susan Franck (Washington and Lee), and Devashish Krishan, an associate at Baker Botts in London.
Books by authors of any nationality, in any language, and published anywhere within the 24 months preceding February 1, 2009, are eligible.
To nominate works of scholarship, sending 6 copies by September 30, 2008, to: Rosemary Kurtz, American Society of International Law, 2223 Massachusetts Avenue N.W., Washington, D.C. 20008.
Good luck!