Full program: Live sessions

a) The first session will address issues concerning territorial sovereignty. Territory is intimately linked to statehood and it has been at the heart of most wars between States. But territory is also a natural feature whose acquisition and delimitation are governed by international law. The session will unpack those rules through the analysis of various important cases decided by international courts and tribunals that will be assigned as readings.

b) The second session will be dedicated to the United Nations and to the role played by international law in the UN context, in particular the Security Council, the General Assembly and the Human Rights Council. Taking a specific international crisis as a reference point for analysis, it will navigate the various bodies and procedures in order to observe how States behave and use international law.

Live session by Pierre d’Argent

a) Extending the prohibition of discrimination to discrimination on grounds of poverty or socio-economic disadvantage

The fight against discrimination on socio-economic grounds has a key role to play in the eradication of poverty, and particularly in combating the inter-generational transmission of poverty. “Social origin” and “property” are listed as prohibited grounds of discrimination in article 2(2) of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and in its General Comment No. 20 on non-discrimination (2009), the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights reiterated that: “Individuals and groups of individuals must not be arbitrarily treated on account of belonging to a certain economic or social group or strata within society. A person’s social and economic situation when living in poverty or being homeless may result in pervasive discrimination, stigmatization and negative stereotyping which can lead to the refusal of, or unequal access to, the same quality of education and health care as others, as well as the denial of or unequal access to public places” (para. 35). In practice however, the requirement to protect people from discrimination on grounds of social status is, at best, highly uneven, and there are in fact few examples of this ground being used effectively. And people in poverty still experience various forms of discrimination, based mostly not on the level of incomes per se, but on family relationships, on the schools the person has attended, or on childhood circumstances. This live session, organized in the form of an interactive debate, will take as departure point the 2022 report of the Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights on this issue.

b) The non-take-up of rights: an obstacle to the effective implementation of social rights

As discussed in a 2022 report of the Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, “non-take-up” refers to the phenomenon of intended beneficiaries not claiming certain benefits — for instance, the child allowances, unemployment benefits, social assistance, or old-age pension. While a model of rational behaviour can explain certain instances of non-take-up (the costs of claiming certain forms of assistance, where the level of support is small or eligibility uncertain, may exceed the benefits; specific hurdles may exist; etc.), many scenarios of non-take-up in fact require that we move beyond that model to understand the cognitive barriers people in poverty face, using the tools of behavioural psychology. Some instances of non-take-up may also be explained by the institutional and social abuse people in poverty may have experienced, their fear not to be able to comply with certain conditionalities, or the digitilization of welfare. In this live session, we will seek to understand non-take-up; contrast the various explanations; and draw certain policy implications, including as to the impacts on the interpretation of the requirements of human rights norms

Live session by Olivier DE SCHUTTER

The two live sessions will be devoted to presentations by practitioners, including military staff, members of NGOs, ICRC or Red Cross/Crescent delegates, lawyers or any other persons involved in IHL on the ground. Those presentations will address a specific issue examined during the MOOC from the point of view of the practice, such as the targeting, the humanitarian assistance, the role played by the ICRC or the implementation of IHL.

Live session by Raphaël van Steenberghe & Jérôme de Hemptinne

a) In the first session, we will discuss the extent to which international investment law and arbitration hampers the exercise by States of their normative prerogatives. For that purpose, we will focus on indirect expropriation and the fair and equitable treatment. This discussion will build on the analysis of the relevant arbitral practice and of recent trends in treaty practice.

b) In the second session, we will discuss the on-going reform of the settlement of investor-state disputes. The focus will be twofold. We will first of all focus on the reform of investor-State arbitration, as illustrated by the amendment in 2022 of the ICSID Rules and Regulations. We will then focus on the options implemented in treaty practice, and more generally discussed, to replace investor-State arbitration with other methods of dispute settlement.

Live session by Yannick Radi

a) One of the main challenges for the international protection of asylum seekers is safe access to territories where they could benefit from the principle of non-refoulement and the granting of effective protection. This issue is linked to the territorial applicability of the principle of non-refoulement and to the intervention of private actors on migration routes.

b) The year 2022 saw the Temporary Protection Directive applied for the first time by the European Union. Within days, the Council decided to implement it to offer an ad hoc status to people fleeing Ukraine. What are the contours of this protection? How does it differ from refugee status on the basis of the Geneva Convention? Is this a sign that the Geneva Convention has not fallen into disuse and could be a useful instrument in the future?

Live session by Dr Sylvie Saroléa & Jean-Yves Carlier