Call for papers

The Research Group for Human Rights and International Law at UiT The Arctic University of Norway will host a seminar on Developments in the Law of State Immunity on 20 November 2025 in Tromsø.

The seminar will feature discussions on the law of state immunity, which is taken to include the immunity of the State and its property, as well the immunity of State representatives, both functional immunity (ratione materiae) and personal immunity (ratione personae).

Keynote speakers: 

• Professor Roger O’Keefe (Bocconi University)
• Professor Astrid Kjeldgaard-Pedersen (University of Copenhagen)

A number of recent developments raise questions about where the law of state immunity stands. These include:

• The ILC’s work on Immunity of State officials from foreign criminal jurisdiction
• The ICC’s arrest warrants against sitting State leaders (Putin, Netanyahu), and the failure of Mongolia and Hungary to enforce them
• The establishment of the Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine
• Discussions on the confiscation of Russian State assets, for example on the possible use of countermeasures as a legal basis

The organizers welcome the submission of abstracts on these and related themes. Ph.d. students are especially encouraged to apply.

Selected papers will be published in a special issue of the Nordic Journal of International Law.

Abstracts of up to 500 words and a CV should be sent to Gaiane Nuridzhanian (gaiane.nuridzhanian@uit.no) by 1 August 2025.