United Kingdom – 03/11/2021
Law for Palestine, in partnership with Birzeit University and the Independent Commission for Human Rights – Palestine, announces the launch of its first conference (online) titled “Palestine and International Law: Effectiveness and Prospects”, which will be held on Monday, November 29, 2021, that marks the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.
According to Ihsan Adel, chair of Law for Palestine Organization, the conference consists of several discussion sessions where it hosts senior experts on the raised topics, including the three United Nations Special Rapporteurs on the occupied Palestinian territories over the past 20 years: Prof. John Dugard, Prof. Richard Falk, and Dr. Michael Lynk.
Besides, the conference hosts Palestinian, Arab and international experts in law, politics, civil society and media. Among the discussed topics is the status of Palestine at the United Nations: the constant and the variable, the present and the future.
The conference also deals with the perspective of international law on cases under occupation and the effectiveness of internationalization (Cases of Jerusalem and the prisoners as examples), as well as the international legal scene with regard to Palestine: opportunities and challenges on levels of academia, media, and civil society.
The conference will dedicate one of its sessions to discuss ways of networking and cooperation between researchers, jurists, lawyers and experts interested in the Palestinian cause, since the conference comes to celebrate the closing of the first season of the Jurists for Palestine Forum, one of Law for Palestine’s pioneering projects, which includes, so far, about 1,000 members from different countries around the world, according to Adel.
In its artistic break, the conference will host the artist Aya Khalaf, from the village of Jat Al-Mothalath, who is regularly present in the currently under the threat of displacement Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood. Aya’s performance shall include songs from Palestinian folklore.
Adel noted that this international conference on the Palestinian issue is one of the exceptional conferences that deal with the Palestinian issue from a legal perspective, in both Arabic and English.
Adel indicated that this event comes in light of that Palestine has been one of the most prominent topics addressed in the international legal literature, since its first joint to the United Nations in 1974 (as a Liberation Organization), all the way until it was upgraded to the status of a non-member observer state, ending with its current path before the ICC.
Accordingly, Adel asserted that the conference aims to discuss ways and prospects for networking and joint cooperation among all concerned stakeholders in order to reach greater effectiveness of the international law with regard to the Palestinian cause, especially in the issues of Jerusalem, prisoners and the statehood.
Finally, Adel calls on all those interested in the Palestinian cause from all countries of the world, including researchers, jurists, scholars, and specialists in political science and international relations, to actively participate in the conference to come up with the best outcomes that can be built upon in order to improve and develop the international legal scene for the Palestinian cause.
