Freya Baetens on sustainable development at Mordenate College Conference
On Friday 27 November 2015, the conference ‘Law & Sustainable Development’ took place at the University of Leiden, organised by the students of the Mordenate College .
The theme of the day was ‘to what extent can law contribute to the ideal of sustainable development?’ This question was approached from different angles, starting with a plenary orientation session, followed by workshops in which participants expounded on more specific subthemes. One of these workshops was led by Freya Baetens, concerning the development and application of the principle of sustainable development by international courts and tribunals.
This workshop first of all offered an overview of the evolution of the sustainable development principle, starting at the conceptual phase, up to the development of a legally binding principle. Subsequently the participants explored a number of case studies to gain an insight in the impact of this principle on the judicial reasoning process, as well as its application and interpretation by various international adjudicatory bodies, including the International Court of Justice, the Permanent Court of Arbitration, the World Trade Organisation and the regional human rights courts.