Today, a press conference took place at Riga Graduate School of Law to brief the mass media on the prestigious annual conference of the European Society of International Law (ESIL) which this year takes place on 8-10 September in Riga at the Latvian National Library. The theme of this high-level Conference is “How International Law Works in Times of Crisis”.
The press conference was attended by RGSL Rector, Professor George Ulrich, RGSL Professor and Latvian Constitutional Court judge Ineta Ziemele, Saeima Deputy Speaker Inese Lībiņa-Egnere and Deputy State Secretary for Strategy of the Latvian Ministry of Justice Inguss Kalniņš. The press conference was moderated by Dina Gailīte, editor of the legal journal “Jurista Vārds”.
As Professor Ineta Ziemele noted: “Global challenges have become a part of life today. As Latvia is a part of this world, we have to take part in solving these issues.” Saeima Deputy Speaker Inese Lībiņa-Egnere stressed: “With this Conference we are putting Latvia on the world map of international law.”
Over 420 participants from the legal sphere of 43 countries are expected to attend the Conference, among them Judge James Crawford from the International Court of Justice, Judge Danute Jočiene from the Lithuanian Constitutional Court, Vice President Jean-Marc Sauvé from the French Council of State, Professor Catherine Redgwell from the University of Oxford, Professor Lauri Malksoo from the University of Tartu and Associate Professor René Värk from the University of Tartu,as well as high ranking professionals from Latvia – Ilze Juhansone, Deputy Secretary-General of the European Commission, Nils Mužnieks, Commissioner for Human Rights of the European Council, as well as Edgars Rinkēvičs the Latvian Minister of Foreign Affairs.
During the ESIL Conference, participants will discuss 20 significant global international law themes, including cyber security, the refugee crisis, the role of international law in crisis situations and future prospects, national management challenges in global crisis situations, terrorism, new forms of warfare, human rights and minority rights in crisis situations, economic and financial crises, and the role of international law in the 21st century in solving territorial disputes.
The 12th annual ESIL Conference is hosted by Riga Graduate School of Law and the Latvian Constitutional Court in cooperation with the Latvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Latvian Ministry of Justice and the European Commission.
The ESIL Conference will be in English. However, the opening events on 8 September from 9:00-13:00 will be translated into French. All discussions at the ESIL Conference from Ziedonis Hall will be broadcast live from 8-10 September in English at www.esil.rgsl.lv/en/live.
More information on the ESIL Conference and programme is available on the official web page: http://esil.rgsl.lv/en/
Video from the press conference:
Prepared by:
Laura Majevska
RGSL PR and Marketing Manager
Laura.Majevska(abols)rgsl.edu.lv">Laura.Majevska(abols)rgsl.edu.lv
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