International Law Prof Blog

Foreign and Comparative Law Webinar on Artificial Intelligence in the European Union

The Law Library of Congress -- the world's largest law library -- will hold a Foreign and Comparative Law Webinar on August 27 on legal developments regarding the use of Artificial Intelligence in the European Union and its Member States, with an emphasis on the role of A.I. in the interactions between citizens and governments. Topics discussed will include predictive policing, facial recognition, and the use of A.I. in administering welfare benefits.

Click here for more information about this free webinar on "Hot Topics in Global AI Regulation." The webinar will be held at 2pm EDT on Thursday, August 27, 2020.

(mew)

UNH Law is Hiring an Academic Dean

The University of New Hampshire Law School in Concord, New Hampshire, is looking for an academic dean. Click here for more information.

Hat tip to Amy Vorenberg.

(mew)

Special Tribunal for Lebanon -- Postponement of Verdict in HARIRI ASSASSINATION CASE to 18 August 2020

In February 2005, the then-former Prime Minister of Lebanon Rafiq Hariri was assassinated in Beirut in a suicide truck bombing that also claimed the lives of 21 others and injured approximately 220 more.

For the past six-plus years, four alleged members of Hezbollah have been on trial in absentia before the Special Tribunal for Lebanon ("STL"), being prosecuted for their alleged roles in the 2005 bombing.

Originally scheduled for issuance in May 2020, the verdict was deferred due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and was to be handed down last Friday. But because of the devastation wreaked by the massive explosions at the Port of Beirut last Tuesday, the STL postponed issuance of its verdict until Tuesday, 18 August 2020.

The Special Tribunal, which sits in The Hague, was established in 2009 based on a U.N. Security Council resolution. The STL has been described as the world's "first tribunal of international character to prosecute terrorist crimes." The court has also faced criticism of its work and its cost.

Click here for more information about the court and the upcoming verdict.

Hat tip to Lisa Ridgway

Convention No. 182 prohibiting the worst forms of child labor receives universal ratification

More good news in the fight against child labor: all 187 member countries of the International Labor Organization (ILO) have ratified Convention No. 182 which bans the worst forms of child labor, such as slavery, sexual exploitation, and use of children in armed conflict. The Convention achieved this milestone in less than two decades, making it the most rapidly ratified treaty in United Nations history. The UN estimates that a shameful 152 million children are involved in child labor worldwide.

For more information, visit this UN news story.

(cgb)