Discussion Topic: ‘Coalition in the Air, Rebellion on the Ground, Sovereignty in the Balance: Where is International Law in the Libyan conflict?’Vik Kanwar will analyze the events unfolding in Libya from the point of view of the applicability of international law to situations of rebellion and intervention. He will situate Libyan sovereignty in terms of the government’s contentious relationship with international community and its peculiar experiments in participatory democracy over the last four decades. He will then discuss the rebellion in terms of doctrines covering civilians directlyparticipating in hostilities (DPH), and the evolving intervention in terms of legal alternatives to the underdeveloped “responsibility to protect” framework . In legal terms, he will argue, a proper point of entry is provided by Common Article 1 (“CA1″) of the Geneva Conventions, which calls on all parties to”respect” and “ensure respect” for international humanitarian law “in all circumstances.”Speaker’s Biography: Vivek (Vik) Kanwar is Assistant Professor, Jindal Global Law School (JGLS). O.P. Jindal Global University, Sonipat, National Capital Region of Delhi, India. Assistant Director, Centre on Public Law and Jurisprudence (CPLJ). He is a Member of the New York Bar and a graduate of New York University School of Law. Professor Kanwar’s research focuses on the history and theory of international law. In the field of International Humanitarian Law, he has served as an expert-consultant to the Control Arms campaign for the regulation of small arms and to the Program on Humanitarian Law and Policy Research(HPCR) at Harvard University’s School of Public Health and the Swiss Foreign Ministry. He has received training in IHL from the North American division of the ICRC and the Emory Clinic In International Humanitarian Law. His publications include “Re-Tooling the Rule of Law: Instrumentalism in the Implementation of International Humanitarian Law” and “Post-Human Humanitarian Law: The Law of War in the Age of Robotic Warfare”. He is currently writing and presenting on critical traditions in the history and theory of international law. Vik Kanwar’s SSRN Author page:http://ssrn.com/author=786892We do hope you will be able to join us for this topical discussion. We look forward to welcoming you to CPR.
