The annual conference of the British Institute of International and Comparative Law will take place May 18, 2007. The theme is The Rule of Law and Post Conflict States. Why attend?
The application of the international rule of law in the aftermath of civil and international conflicts - while vitally important in Iraq, Afghanistan, Sierre Leone, East Timor, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo - is by no means clear. Speakers will consider the obligations of occupying powers, economic reconstruction and trade, access of foreign investors to natural resource exploitation, war crimes trials, the relationship between human rights and the 1949 Geneva 'Red Cross' Conventions and the role of non state actors, particularly the United Nations, World Bank and the EU. A core question is whether treaty-based and customary international law provides an adequate response to the contemporary problems faced by States post-conflict where the objectives of key players may range from conserving prior rights to regime change.
