Workshop “Community Interests in International Law: Theory, Adjudication and Human Rights”

Community interests have become one of the most consequential yet conceptually unsettled ideas in contemporary international law. In his 1994 lecture ‘From Bilateralism to Community Interest in International Law’, Bruno Simma argued that “there probably exists no other ‘community interest’ so far detached from individual State interests as that of enforcing human rights worldwide.” Three decades on, the concept has steadily gained attention in both scholarship and practice: Proceedings before the International Court of Justice concerning allegations of genocide based on erga omnes
(partes) obligations, the advisory opinions on climate change, the establishment of the Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine, and the expansion of jus cogens by the IACtHR,
all point to the growing recognition of interests that transcend bilateral relations and concern the international community as a whole.

And yet, despite this growing attention, the theoretical foundations and operationalization of norms protecting community interests remain underexplored. Who constitutes the ‘international community as a whole’, whose interests are at stake? Which interests qualify as sufficiently fundamental to transcend bilateral State relations? To what extent do international courts and tribunals differ in the way they conceptualize, interpret, and protect these interests? And what is the conceptual link to international human rights law?

The workshop organizers invite submissions examining how community interest norms are conceptualized, addressed by international courts and tribunals, and how the nexus between serious human rights violations and breaches of community interests norms can be assessed. Find the corresponding CfA here.

Workshop Format
Accepted contributors will each give a presentation of approximately 10-15 minutes, followed by a moderated Q&A discussion. This is a discussion-oriented workshop, and we ask participants to attend
for the full day so that everyone can engage with each other’s work.

The workshop is planned as an in-person event.

Selected papers may be considered for a special edition of a peer-reviewed international law journal.

Date and Location
The workshop will take place in person at Radboud University, Nijmegen (Faculty of Law), Montessorilaan 10, 6525 HR Nijmegen, on 11 June 2027.

Contact
For any questions about the workshop or the submission process, please contact johanna.ritter@ru.nl and d.e.uribe@rug.nl.

Workshop Convenors
Johanna Ritter, PhD Candidate, Radboud University
Diego Uribe, PhD Candidate, University of Groningen
Sarah Thin, Assistant Professor, Radboud University
André De Hoogh, Associate Professor, University of Groningen