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Online Conference The Development of Normative Powers of UN Investigative Mechanisms

The Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies in collaboration with the University of Geneva, the Chinese Journal of International Law (ChineseJIL, OUP) and the European Society of International Law (ESIL), are pleased to invite public international scholars and researchers to attend a conference that will take place online on 28 January 2021 with the title “The Development of Normative Powers of UN Investigative Mechanisms”.

In the last decade, a substantial body of literature has explored the increasingly frequent resort to UN Commissions of Inquiry (CoIs), Fact-Finding Missions (FFMs), Independent Investigative Mechanisms (IIMs) and other similar UN bodies (collectively described as “Investigative Mechanisms” or “IMs”) to provide some measure of accountability for widespread violations of human rights, international humanitarian law and international criminal law. The extent to which these mechanisms can provide accountability heavily depends on their powers, not only to prepare a factual record which may (or may not) be subsequently used in criminal prosecutions but, more controversially and interestingly, also on their “normative” powers. One important line of argument is, indeed, that such bodies interpret their mandates making inroads into legal analysis, such as identifying the applicable legal framework, discussing the relevant norms and characterizing the facts in their light. The focus of these contributions is, however, on a specific mechanism, or on some selected examples or, still, on some general features of the phenomenon, particularly the interplay between IMs and international criminal prosecution, the “criminalization” of commissions of inquiry or their impact.

More information about the conference can be found here.

Please find the link to the article below (available in Open Access):

https://academic.oup.com/chinesejil/advance-article/doi/10.1093/chinesejil/jmaa035/6075079

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