Immunities of Heads of States & the International Criminal Court

Presented by: Professor Dapo Akande, Professor of Public International Law, University of Oxford

Monday October 28th, 12:30pm – 2:00pm

Osgoode Hall Law School, Room 1004

This talk will consider the recent decision by the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Court, in the case against former Sudanese President Omar Al Bashir, that heads of states and other senior state officials are not immune, under customary international law, from the jurisdiction of international tribunals. It will be argued that the finding is not only wrong as a matter of law but failed to properly understand the legal basis on which the Court exercises its criminal jurisdiction. There was a clearer and more persuasive basis on which to hold that the former President Bashir was not immune from arrest and surrender to the Court. The talk will explore the implications of the ICC’s ruling for the Court as an international institution.

Dapo Akande is a Fellow at Exeter College and co-director of the Oxford Institute for Ethics, Law and Armed Conflict (ELAC). Before moving to the Blavatnik School, he was Professor of Public International Law at Oxford Law Faculty and was, from 2012 to 2017, co-director of the Oxford Martin Programme on Human Rights for Future Generations. He has held visiting professorships at Yale Law School, the University of Miami School of Law and the Catolica Global Law School, Lisbon. He was the 2015 Sir Ninian Stephen Visiting Scholar at the University of Melbourne Law School’s Asia-Pacific Centre for Military Law. Before taking up his position in Oxford in 2004, he held positions at the University of Nottingham and the University of Durham, and from 1994 to 1998, he taught part-time at the London School of Economics and at Christ’s and Wolfson Colleges, Cambridge

Dapo Okande – Event Poster

On the need for Intellectual Property Rights in ECOWAS

Presented by: Juliet Ogbodo, School of Law, University of Eastern Finland

Thursday October 31st, 3:30pm – 5:00pm

Osgoode Hall Law School, Room 2028

In the present digital economy era, the nexus between trade and intellectual property rights (IPR) is undeniably stronger. IPR have become an imperative part of bilateral and multilateral trade negotiations. Thus, the new generation of trade agreements all make provisions for the protection of IPR. In the global south countries, however, specifically, in West African countries, the struggle to negotiate implementable and beneficial IPR terms in trade negotiations is apparent. The contributory factors to this struggle, besides the lack of capacity, include the failed legal transplantation of IP laws into West Africa during the colonisation period. This research thus examines the limiting factors that exist for West African countries in negotiating IP terms contained in trade agreements. It questions the existing IP legal frameworks in West Africa and argues that the de-colonisation of IP laws in these countries, followed by a tailored IP framework, regulated on the regional level in ECOWAS, has the potential of equipping West African countries to negotiate practical IP terms in future trade negotiations. 

Juliet Ogbodo is an early stage researcher at the School of Law, University of Eastern Finland. Her doctoral research focuses on the nexus between intellectual property rights and trade, specifically in the West African region. Juliet holds a master’s degree in International Economic Law from the University of Eastern Finland. Her research interests include regionalism approaches in West Africa, legal transplants, EU law, and the ECOWAS Free Movement of Goods provisions.

Julie Ogbodo – Event Poster

On the need for Intellectual Property Rights in ECOWAS

Presented by: Juliet Ogbodo, School of Law, University of Eastern Finland

Thursday October 31st, 3:30pm – 5:00pm

Osgoode Hall Law School, Room 2028

In the present digital economy era, the nexus between trade and intellectual property rights (IPR) is undeniably stronger. IPR have become an imperative part of bilateral and multilateral trade negotiations. Thus, the new generation of trade agreements all make provisions for the protection of IPR. In the global south countries, however, specifically, in West African countries, the struggle to negotiate implementable and beneficial IPR terms in trade negotiations is apparent. The contributory factors to this struggle, besides the lack of capacity, include the failed legal transplantation of IP laws into West Africa during the colonisation period. This research thus examines the limiting factors that exist for West African countries in negotiating IP terms contained in trade agreements. It questions the existing IP legal frameworks in West Africa and argues that the de-colonisation of IP laws in these countries, followed by a tailored IP framework, regulated on the regional level in ECOWAS, has the potential of equipping West African countries to negotiate practical IP terms in future trade negotiations. 

Juliet Ogbodo is an early stage researcher at the School of Law, University of Eastern Finland. Her doctoral research focuses on the nexus between intellectual property rights and trade, specifically in the West African region. Juliet holds a master’s degree in International Economic Law from the University of Eastern Finland. Her research interests include regionalism approaches in West Africa, legal transplants, EU law, and the ECOWAS Free Movement of Goods provisions.

Julie Ogbodo – Event Poster

Established with a grant from the Harry Arthurs Fund, the International Law in the Global South (ILIGS) research seminar series was inaugurated during the 2015-16 academic year by a group of faculty from Osgoode Hall Law School. Open to all, this seminar series focused on International law from a TWAILian perspective, with discussions centred on a work-in-progress presented by younger academics from around the world.  An assigned “discussant” led the way during the question-and-answer periods that followed each such seminar.

During this inaugural edition, the seminars were generally held in the afternoon in two hour slots between 3:30 and 5:30 pm on the appointed days. Four such seminars were held in the 2015/2016 academic year. They had in attendance a core group of TWAIL scholars, or those interested in TWAIL who teach or study at Osgoode/York University, as well as scholars from other universities and institutions in and around Canada.  At the conclusion of each seminar, the presenter was taken to dinner by a group of faculty members and other scholars in the field.

The core group of Osgoode faculty that founded this seminar series included Professors Obiora Okafor (Convenor), Ikechi Mgbeoji, Gus van Harten, Robert Wai, Ruth Buchanan, Faisal Bhabha and Amar Bhatia. Professor Hengameh Sabieri greatly assisted this group.