INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF 31 MAY AND 1 JUNE 2023

BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS

Organization: Professors Andreas R. Ziegler and Damiano Canapa and Maria Izabel Cardozo

PROGRAM OF 31 MAY 2023

Hours	Conferences
13.00	Registration
13.30	Welcome and Opening Remarks
	I. Setting the Floor: Business and Human Rights at a Glance
13.40	Keynote Speech – The International Bar Association’s Update Guidance Note on Business and Human Rights: The Role of Lawyers in a Changing Landscape by Stéphane Brabant, Attorney-at-Law, Trinity International LLP
14.05	From International ‘Soft Law’ to Law in Business and Human Rights: The Role of the United Nations Guiding Principles (UNGPs) in the Development of Formal Sources of International Law by Elena Assenza, PhD Candidate, Bocconi University
14.30	The Role of the Corporate Legal Profession in Climate Justice: A Call for Collective Action by Jasmine Elliott, PhD Candidate, University of Gothenburg and Boudewijn de Bruin, Professor, University of Groningen
14.55	Shifting the Boundaries of Corporate Law: A Transnational Legal Perspective on the EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive by Karin Buhmann, Director of the Centre for Law, Sustainability and Justice, University of Southern Denmark
	and Leonard Feld, Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Southern Denmark
15.20	Break
15.45	The Interface between the Judiciary and National Human Rights Institutes in Business-Related Human Rights Violations by Puspa Pokharel, PhD Candidate, Hong Kong University
	II. Implementation of Human Rights in Conflict-Affected Areas
16.10	Learning from the Conflict Dynamics in Ukraine? Toward a Conceptual Framework for Heightened Human Rights Due Diligence by Daria Nagaivska, PhD and Business and Human Rights Consultant, Izabela Schiffauer, Professor, Adam Mickiewicz University
	and Jan Minksztym, LL.M. Candidate, Adam Mickiewicz University
16.35	Business and Human Rights in Conflict-Affected Africa: Opportunities and Challenges for Conflict Prevention and Peacebuilding by Ilef Kassab, Research Fellow, Equal Rights Trust, Master of Laws, University of Pretoria
17.00	End of Conference

PROGRAM OF 1 JUNE 2023

Hours	Conferences
	III. Implementation of Business and Human Rights Standardsin the Domestic and International Law Domains
	(i) From Soft Law to Hard Law
09.00	The Swiss Legislation on Business and Human Rights: A Reform needed toward Harmonization by Damiano Canapa, Professor, University of Lausanne, Giulia Neri-Castracane, Professor, University of Geneva
	and Teymour Brander, PhD Candidate and Research Assistant, University of Geneva
09.25	From ‘Like’ to Litigation: The Hardening of Soft Law in Platform Governance
	by Paige Morrow, Senior Legal Advisor (External) to the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Opinion and Expression, and Research Associate, Geneva Graduate Institute’s Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy
09.50	The Relevance of Human Rights and Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence for the Greening of Antitrust by Maria Jose Schmidt-Kessen, Professor, Central European University
10.15	Discrimination and Integration of Minorities in the Workplace: What do the UNGPs Bring to the Table? by Morgane Ventura, Counsel, Swiss Ministry of Justice, Professor, University of Neuchâtel
10.40	Break
	(ii) Responsibility to ‘Respect Human Rights’ across Different Industries
11.10	Risk-Creating Industries’ Obligation to the Right to Health by Alice Bryk, Researcher and PhD Candidate, University of Neuchâtel
11.35	Shared Responsibility for Human Rights in the Algorithmic Age: Why Business Should Be The States’ Ally to Eliminate Discrimination by Fabian Luetz, Maître en droit (Paris), LL.M. (Bruges), PhD candidate, University of Lausanne
12.00	From Non-Discrimination to the Guiding Principles: How the Olympics Have Addressed Human Rights by Jean-Loup Chappelet, Professor, University of Lausanne
12.25	Standing Lunch
13.45	Venture Capital and Human Rights Due Diligence: Time to Act by Michel Jaccard and Christof Cardinaux, Attorneys-at-Law, id est avocats
	IV. Access to Remedy
14.10	Private International Law Questions: Jurisdiction and Applicable Law from an European and Swiss Perspective by Andrea Bonomi, Professor, University of Lausanne
14.35	Investor Obligations: Using Investment Treaties to Support the Business and Human Rights Agenda by Klara Polackova Van Der Ploeg, Professor, University of Nottingham
15.00	Using the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises to Address Climate Change-Related Issues: Which Contribution from the Case-Law of the NCPs? by Francesca Mussi, Professor, University of Trento
15.25	Break
15.50	Investors Human Rights Obligations and Access to Remedy: New Generation Investment Treaties after the EU Directive on Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence
	by Isidore Ngueuleu, Postdoctoral Researcher, Unidistance and Nicolas Bueno, Professor, Unidistance
16.15	Is Arbitration the Answer? An Analysis of Applicable Substantive Law under the Hague International Business and Human Rights Arbitration Rules in the Context of the ICT
	by Max Ebdon, Researcher, T.M.C. Asser Institute, Master of Laws, University of Groningen
16.40	Human Rights Compliance: Challenges from the New Latin American Constitutionalism by Fernando Escobar, Attorney-at-Law, LL.M. Candidate, University of Lausanne
17.05	Farewell Remarks and Follow-up
	The Conference will be followed by cocktails.

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF 31 MAY AND 1 JUNE 2023

BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS

PROGRAM OF 31 MAY 2023

PROGRAM OF 1 JUNE 2023

Registration Fee