Annual Report 2012/2013

  • July 10, 2013

Submitted by Section Co-Chair, Jennifer Button

Summary of Meetings

Number of Meetings Held: 4

October 12, 2012
Guest Speakers: Recorded webinar presentation from Humanitarian Policy and Conflict Research (HPCR) of Harvard University –Speakers: Gabor Rona (Human Rights First), Philip Alston (NYU Law), Monica Hakimi (Michigan Law)
Synopsis: “Emerging Challenges in the Age of Drones: Targeted Killings and Humanitarian Protection.”
The Web Seminar addressed the following questions: 1) What limits, if any, does international law impose on targeted killings? 2) What are the appropriate criteria for identifying legitimate targets in current conflicts? 3) How does the simultaneous reliance on the law of war and the right of self-defense to justify targeted killings defy the rules for the protection of civilians in the battlefield and outside combat zones? 4) What strategies and legal mechanisms can be implemented in order to minimize arbitrary targeting decisions and promote accountability for violations of international law resulting from the use of drones?

February 1, 2013
Guest Speaker: Presentation via podcast from the London School of Economics. Fred Pearce, an environment, science, and development writer, who writes regularly for New Scientist and the Guardian, and is author of When The Rivers Run Dry and The Landgrabbers.
Synopsis: “The Landgrabbers: The New Fight Over Who Owns The Earth.” Land grabbing has been described as the most profound ethical, environmental, economic and social issue in the world today. Financial speculation and concerns over food security are driving the acquisition of vast areas of land by foreign entities from beneath the feet of its occupiers in Africa, South-east Asia, South America and Eastern Europe. This debate examines the relative impact of land grabbing on the lives of poor people across the globe.

April 4, 2013
Guest Speakers: Antonin I. Pribetic, Prof. Peter Mazzacano, and James M. Klotz (via videoconference from Davis LLP Toronto)
Synopsis: “The UN Convention on the International Sale of Goods.” The UN Convention on the International Sale of Goods is a commercial treaty in force for Canada and implemented both in BC and federal law. Leading Canadian CISG practitioners and academics explained the CISG and its importance to lawyers' work in the drafting, interpretation and litigation of international sale of goods contracts.

May 23, 2013
Guest Speaker: Live webinar presentation by Professor Emmanuel Melissaris, Professor of Law at London School of Economics
Synopsis: “Legal Pluralism and the Regulability of the Internet.” Emmanuel Melissaris, Senior Lecturer at the London School of Economics spoke on how a theory of legal pluralism can help in understanding the possibility of regulating the digital space contained in the Internet.

Comments and Observations of the Chair

The Section aims to provide a mix of public and private international law presentations and this objective was fulfilled in this past year.

I am particularly excited by the opportunities which are provided by the technology which allows the hosting of 'remote speakers'. The May 2013 webinar which was presented by a professor at the London School of Economics (who kindly agreed to do the presentation in the evening so that we could run it 'live' at noon in BC) went spectacularly well from a technical point of view. For the International Law section, in particular, this opens many possibilities.