The 17th Annual Conference of the European Society of International Law (ESIL) took place on 1-3 September 2022 in Utrecht. The conference, titled "In/Ex-clusiveness of International Law," hosted over 400 participants.
The Secretariat of the Society is based at the EUI's Academy of European Law (AEL). EUI Law Professor Neha Jain is co-opted as a Board member, acting as liaison between ESIL and the EUI.
The Annual Conference was an opportunity for researchers, scholars, and practitioners from across Europe and beyond to participate in a critical reflection on the in/ex-clusiveness of international law from historical, political, and economic perspectives. The conference revisited some of the underlying assumptions about international law practices and theories.
In addition to the 20 panels analysing the theme of in/ex-clusiveness across different facets of international law, the conference also featured a mentoring event for early career researchers and a session with publishers and editors of international law journals. The full programme of the event can be found on the conference website.
The main part of the conference was preceded by 15 workshops organised by ESIL’s interest groups. The topics discussed during these sessions ranged from inquiries on how inclusive or exclusive international organisations and businesses are, to debates about the in/ex-clusiveness of international migration and refugee law.
On the occasion of the conference, the ESIL Book Prize is awarded to an outstanding publication in the field of international law in order to encourage high-level scholarship and promote greater awareness on international law.
This year, for the first time, two prizes were awarded: the ESIL Monograph Prize for International Law and the Politics of History, by Anne Orford, and the ESIL Collaborative Book Prize for the Research Handbook of International Law and Cities, by Helmut Philipp Aust and Janne E. Nijman. In addition, in line with ESIL’s goal of supporting younger researchers, the ESIL Young Scholar Prize was awarded to a paper submitted by early-career scholar Florenz Volkaert.
The 2023 Annual Conference will be held in Aix-en-Provence on 31 August - 2 September 2023. The theme of next year's conference is "Is International Law Fair?", with the call for papers published in late September.
Membership to the Society is open to anyone with an interest in international law. Full details of the Society can be found on the ESIL website.