INTERNATIONAL LAW WEEKEND 2024 

Call for Panel Proposals

Powerless law or law for the powerless?

Deadline: April 15, 2024 May 1, 2024

The American Branch of the International Law Association (ABILA) is pleased to invite panel proposals for International Law Weekend 2024 (ILW 2024)—the premier international law event of the fall season. ILW 2024 will take place October 24-26, 2024 in New York City.

The ILW Organizing Committee (Committee) invites panel proposals to be submitted online by May 1, 2024 through this Google form.

The unifying theme for ILW 2024 is Powerless law or law for the powerless?:

“International law faces an existential threat as history unfolds at unprecedented speed worldwide. Indeed, international law and international institutions at times appear incapable of protecting vulnerable persons against war, disease, hunger, exploitation, climate change, and other human and natural catastrophes. Some people–both individually and collectively–are openly eschewing legal values and frameworks in order to pursue results through other means, including dangerous and destabilizing ones. Is international law, in fact, powerless or does it remain a source of power that vulnerable persons can utilize to protect and advance their rights and interests? This year’s ILW is focused on engaged, interactive, and inclusive discussions about how international law can transcend perceptions and misperceptions of its powerlessness and fulfill its aspirations of balancing power through principles of justice, equality, and dignity.”

ILW 2024 will explore these issues through a diverse set of engaging and provocative sessions addressing both public international law and private international law topics. Consistent with the aim of furthering discussion, ILW 2024 will move away from classic panel presentations and lectures and instead embrace more interactive formats like roundtables, fireside chats, practica/simulations, and other, more inclusive and interactive forms of engagement.

Dedication: In honor of the 100th anniversary of the 1924 Geneva Declaration of the Rights of the Child, ILW 2024 is dedicated to the promise of the Declaration’s preamble recognizing that humanity owes to children the best that we have to give.

When submitting your proposal, please consider the following points: 

• ILW 2024 will promote representation and dialogue among diverse voices. Per the ILA Guidelines for Diversity of Conference and Panel Speakers, all panels must contain gender parity. Further, the Committee will give preference to panels that include representation of historically underrepresented groups and promote dialogue across different professional perspectives, including scholars and practitioners.
• Panel proposals may concern any aspect of contemporary international law and practice including, but not limited to, the use of force, international economic law (including trade and investment), human rights, equality and social justice, international humanitarian law, international organizations, international environmental law, national security, cyber law, international criminal law, international intellectual property, the law of the sea and outer space, and legal theory. When submitting your proposal, please identify the primary area(s) of international law that your proposed panel will address.
• Please provide the names, titles, and affiliations of the moderator and speakers and indicate whether these speakers have confirmed their intent to participate if the proposal is chosen.
• Please keep in mind that while speakers may be proposed for multiple sessions, it is the Branch’s policy that individuals may only speak on one panel at ILW in order to ensure a diversity of voices.
• Please identify what format you are proposing for your panel. We encourage you to think beyond the traditional panel presentation or lecture.
• Please indicate whether you are an ABILA member and whether your panel is sponsored by an ABILA committee(s). Sponsorship requires the agreement of the committee chair. Preference will be given to panels submitted by one or more committees, and particularly to joint submissions. Committees may submit multiple proposals, but a maximum of one panel per committee will be selected.

For questions regarding ILW 2024, please contact: [email protected].