Young Scholars’ Workshop of the Conference “Human Rights in the Extractive Industries: Conflicts and Regulatory Responses”

Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main

20 to 22 July 2016

Conference subject

The activities of the extractive industries (mining, oil and gas) often have considerable negative effects on human rights. 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: Analysing the main human rights challenges of extractive industries; assessing regulatory responses at the home and host state level as well as through international law and soft law instruments; discussing case studies illustrating the aforementioned challenges and responses.

The topics will be explored by renowned experts from different regions and with different professional backgrounds. Amongst others, Pacifique Manirakiza (Chair-Person of the Working Group on Extractive Industries of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights) will shed a light on human rights violations by corporations in Africa, while James Stewart (University of British Columbia) examines the potential of international criminal law for ensuring the accountability of corporations.

Young Scholars’ workshops

Two Young Scholars’ workshops allowing doctoral and post-doc researchers to present their work form an integral part of the conference. They will be chaired and commented by eminent scholars and practitioners in the field. These workshops provide a unique forum for younger researchers to present their research to a wider audience and receive feedback from renowned experts.

The conference adopts an interdisciplinary approach, so we call for submissions from different disciplines such as law, political science, economics, international relations and peace and conflict studies.

The papers should be related to the topic of the conference. They could focus on the three main themes, but could also address different aspects or take a different approach. Potential topics could include labour rights in extractive industries, the right to Free, Prior and Informed Consent, the impact of human rights violations on conflicts, the Dodd Frank Act, the EU regulation on conflict minerals, investment and trade agreements, international criminal law, the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Corporations, the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) or the Kimberley Process. Papers could also discuss specific cases.

Submission and Selection of Papers

The deadline for submitting an abstract is 30 April 2016. The abstract should be in English, no longer than 300 words and accompanied by a CV. Please forward it to ricarda.roesch@fau.de.

Successful applicants will be informed by mid-May. We particularly welcome submissions from female researchers as well as from non-European countries. As the conference will be held in English, very good language skills are required.

Travel stipend

A stipend for successful applicants will be provided. It covers both the conference fee and part of their travel expenses. The amount depends on their origin and the possibility of getting a travel allowance from their host institution.