Registration is now open for the conference “Human Rights in the Extractive Industries” jointly organized by the University of Frankfurt and us. It will be taking place in Frankfurt from July 20 to 22.

While extractive industries (mining, oil and gas) contribute significantly to the economy in many countries of the global South, their activities often have a considerable negative effect on the human rights of the local population and on domestic and international peace and stability. The conference “Human Rights in Extractive Industries” provides an overview of the potential human rights violations arising in the context of the extractive industries and assesses different regulatory responses ranging from host and home country measures to international law and from binding rules to voluntary guidelines.

The conference is organised along three main themes: It begins with analyses of the main human rights challenges by looking at the rights of the local population and the impact of extractive industries on local and international conflicts. It then moves to a first set of regulatory responses at the home and host state level. Subsequently, international law developments and soft law instruments are discussed. The last part of the conference looks at a set of case studies which illustrate the challenges and responses discussed previously.

The conference will also provide a unique forum for younger researchers (PhD and early Postdoc) to present their research on the topics of the conference in two workshops. The selection of the papers will be based on a call for papers.

It is aimed to develop the conference contributions into a concise and comprehensive volume to be published by an international publisher.

Organisers:

Centre for Human Rights Erlangen-Nürnberg (CHREN), University of Erlangen-Nürnberg House of Finance, Goethe-University of Frankfurt am Main

 Conference Hosts:

Prof. Dr. Markus Krajewski (Erlangen)

Prof. Dr. Isabel Feichtner (Frankfurt am Main)

 Venue:

Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main

Dates

Wednesday, 20 to Friday 22 July 2016

 Programme

 Wednesday, 20 July 2016

8:30     Registration and coffee

9:00     Welcome and introductory remarks

Markus Krajewski (Erlangen) and Isabel Feichtner (Frankfurt)

 

1. Human Rights Challenges and Conflicts

Chair:  Markus Krajewski (Erlangen)

9:30     Workers’ rights in the extractive industries

Martin Georg Hahn (Geneva)

Right to land, water, and healthy environment of affected communities

Pacifique Manirakiza (Ottawa)

11:00 Coffee

11:30   Participation, information, consultation, consent

Cathal Doyle (London)

Prior Consultation and Conflict Transformation in Resource Governance

Almut Schilling-Vacaflor (Hamburg)

13:00   Lunch

 

1. Regulatory Responses: Home and host state regulations

Chair: Isabel Feichtner (Frankfurt)

14:30   Domestic legal frameworks

Evaristus Oshionebo (Calgary)

Home state regulation

Charis Kamphuis (Kamloops)

16:00   Coffee

16:30   Transparency and disclosure requirements in US Law

Patrick Keenan (Champaign)

EU regulation on conflict minerals

Marc Bungenberg (Saarbrücken)

 

Thursday, 21 July 2016

III. Regulatory responses: International level

Chair: Phillip Donath (Frankfurt)

9:00     Bilateral and multilateral agreements on natural resources

Markus Krajewski (Erlangen)

Trade agreements including Kimberley-Process

Krista Nadakavukaren Schefer (Basel)

10:30   Coffee

11:00   Investment agreements and investment guarantees

Tara van Ho (Aarhus)

Investor-State-Contracts

Nora Götzmann (Lund)

12:30   Lunch

14:00   The crime of pillage and corporations

James G. Stewart (Vancouver)

International criminal law as an instrument of transitional justice

Larissa van den Herik (Leiden)

15:30   Coffee

16:00   Young Scholars‘ Workshop 1

Accountability of Canadian mining corporations for their overseas conduct

Chilenye Nwapi (Calgary)

Ending Violence Against Women in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s mining industry: What role for international law?”

Jean-Claude Misenga (Leicester)

Improving Tax Strategy Transparency in the Extractive Industries Sector for the Advancement of Human Rights

Wasima Khan (Rotterdam)

 

17:30   Young Scholars‘ Workshop 2

The corporate responsibility to respect consultation rights in the Americas

Carlos Ignacio de Casas (Buenos Aires)

Reimagening FPIC using a Fourth World Approach to International Law

Armi Beatriz Bayot (Makati City)

Stabilisation Clauses and Human Rights: The Role of Transparency Initiatives

Frank Sotonye (Port Harcourt)

 

Friday, 22 July 2016

 

1. Regulatory responses: Soft law and corporate standards

Chair: Karsten Nowrot (Hamburg)

9:00     UN Guiding Principles and OECD Due Diligence Guidance

Melba Kapesa (Nairobi)

            Corporate standards: Responsible mining

Radu Mares (Lund)

10:30   Coffee

11:00   Implementation of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI)

Heidi Feldt (Berlin)

Enhancing the effectiveness of soft law approaches

Melanie Coni-Zimmer (Frankfurt)

12:30   Lunch

 

1. Best and worst practices: Learning from case studies

Chair: Richard Meeran (London)

14:00   Mining and conflicts in sub-Saharan Africa

Melanie Müller (Berlin)

14:30   Shell (Nigeria)

Liesbeth Enneking (Utrecht)

15:00   Coal mine Phulbari (Bangladesh)

Heather Bedi (Carlisle)

15:30   Chevron-Texaco (Ecuador)

Judith Kimerling (New York)

16:00   Concluding Remarks

Isabel Feichnter (Frankfurt) and Markus Krajewski (Erlangen)

 

Coffee and farewell