Call for Papers: Consequences of the Responsibility of Non-State Actors in International Law

A call for papers has been issued for a conference on "Consequences of the Responsibility of Non-State Actors in International Law," to be held June 27-28, 2013, in Vancouver. Here's the call:

Call for papers – consequences of the responsibility of non-state actors in international law

International Conference, Kwantlen Polytechnic University, Richmond Campus (Greater Regional District of Vancouver), British Columbia, Canada, June 2013

The Committee of Non-State Actors of the International Law Association (ILA), The Institute for Transborder Studies (ITS) at Kwantlen Polytechnic University, the Leuven Centre for Global Governance Studies, Oxford Brookes University, in collaboration with the ILA-Canada, the Flemish Scientific Research Fund (FWO, ‘the network’), and the Canadian Bar Association – British Columbia Branch invite papers on the responsibilities of non-state actors in international law for a conference in Vancouver on 27-28 June 2013.

The above-mentioned network has recently completed its research on participation of non-state actors in international law and international institutional arrangements (the report can be downloaded here. It will now concentrate on issues relating to responsibilities and obligations of non-state actors, with a view to understanding the complexity of non-state actors’ international legal personality.

In particular, the network welcomes theoretical and empirical papers on the consequences of responsibility. These consequences can be either substantive (reparations, cessation, guarantee of non-repetition) or instrumental (countermeasures). Prospective presenters may want to examine whether the existing responsibility regime – with respect to states and international organizations – for each of these consequences of responsibility can be transposed to the responsibility of non-state actors, and, specifically, whether there has been any sort of practice in this respect. The conveners also welcome papers on issues of attribution of responsibility to non-state actors.

Note that for research purposes we focus on the following five categories of non-state actors: non-governmental organizations (NGOs), multinational/transnational corporations (MNCs), certain organized armed opposition groups, sui generis entities such the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Holy See, and organised indigenous peoples’ groups. Intergovernmental organizations are not included in our research agenda.

A paper abstract should be submitted by 10 February 2013. The organizers will get back to the author by 28 February 2013. Draft papers (5000 – 6000 words) should be submitted by 1 June 2013.

Selected papers may feed into a publication (anthology and/or special journal issue). Note that the organizers are unable to provide financial assistance. To defray meals’ costs, we charge CA$ 140 for conference participation and an optional CA$ 60 for conference dinner.

The organizing committee consists of Prof. Noemi Gal-Or (Kwantlen Polytechnic University, local organizer), Prof. Math Noortmann (Oxford Brookes University, Chair of the ILA Committee), Prof. Jean d’Aspremont (University of Manchester and University of Amsterdam, co-rapporteur of the ILA Committee), Prof. Cedric Ryngaert (Leuven University and Utrecht University, co-rapporteur of the ILA Committee and convener of the FWO research network).

Abstracts should be sent to: Noemi.Gal-Or@kwantlen.ca; math.noortmann@brookes.ac.uk; j.daspremont@uva.nl; cedric.ryngaert@law.kuleuven.be. Messages should indicate as subject: NSA Vancouver 2013.