Editor-in-Chief

Aman Kumar, Assistant Professor of Law - Aman did his LL.M. in International Law from the South Asian University, New Delhi. He has done his BA LLB with honors in ‘International Law’ and ‘Human Rights’ from National Law University, Assam. His recent publications include ‘A relook at the Principle of Uti-Possidetis in the context of Indo-Nepal border dispute’ [Jindal Global Law Review - Springer], ‘Resolving the Dispute under Article 119(1) of the Rome Statue’, [Asian Journal of International Law - Cambridge University Press]. Prior to joining IFIM, he had been Editor of three law journals. Currently, he is on the Editorial Board of asia-blogs. He also writes on his own international law blog (Indian Blog of International Law).

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Student Editorial Board

Shinjinee Namhata, BBA LLB Student
Paulomi Parekh, LLB Student
Namisha Mohan, BBA LLB Student
Medha Vinod Vinod, BBA LLB Student

Annual Colloquium

The ILR aims to provide a systematic platform to early career scholars, PhD candidates, post-graduate students and under-graduate students to present their ideas at an Annual Colloquium. Researchers are asked to submit an Abstract for the Colloquium. If selected, they are asked to submit a full paper before the Colloquium. Those who register and submit a full paper are then invited for the Colloquium. At the Colloquium, the researchers get an opportunity to present their paper before a panel. Post the Colloquium, the Authors are asked to submit a revised draft of their paper based on the comments received at the Colloquium. These draft-papers are then sent for a Peer-Review. Based on the comments received from the peer-reviewers, the Authors are asked to edit their paper for the final time. After receiving the final draft from the authors, the papers are published in the ILR.

Theme: Business and Human Rights

Historically, the Human Rights framework developed on the understanding that States were the only subjects of international law. Traditionally, therefore, much of the Human Rights’ obligations were given to the States. However, with the rapid rise of globalisation, today, many Multi-National Corporations (MNCs) and International Financial Organisations (IFOs) have become bigger players than some of the states. The resources at their disposal, both human and capital, are enormous. Some of these MNCs/IFOs are even capable of influencing policy making (see Outer Space regime for example). Therefore, slowly, but surely, the human rights framework is being expanded to include the MNCs/IFOs into its ambit. In 2011, the United Nations adopted the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGP-BHR). This year marks the 10-year anniversary of the UNGP-BHR. It is an appropriate time to assess the success and failures of the UNGP-BHR in the last ten years.

In the domestic sphere, however, States have always had the obligation of protecting and upholding human rights. Here, States’ obligations arise from their commitment under international law and under domestic law. In the recent past, the Indian government has had run-ins with social media platforms Facebook and Twitter. Claims of breach of privacy have been made against these social media platforms. It has also been argued that these sites have failed to check propagation of hate-speech, which has resulted in loss of life in some cases. In the past, human rights defender were allegedly attacked by MNCs/IFOs in India. When taken to court, some of the MNCs/IFOs try to take the defence of sovereign immunity. A 2018 decision by the Supreme Court of the United States of America ruled that IFOs cannot claim absolute immunity (Jam et. al.).

In this background, the IFIM Law Review calls for expressions of interest for a research colloquium. Researchers are encouraged to submit their works in progress which specifically answer some of the following questions or their likes: What has been the impact of the UNGP-BHR in safeguarding human rights?

• What kind of liability mechanisms have developed since the adoption of the UNGP-BHR?
• What is the efficacy of the existing liability mechanisms of the heads of the MNCs/IFOs?
• What has been the response of parliamentary committees as far as human rights’ violations by the MNCs/IFOs are concerned?
• To what extent can the social-media platforms be held responsible for violation of human rights, under domestic laws of a state?
• To what extent can the heads of the MNCs/IFOs be held individually liability for violations of human rights?
• How can the Artificial Intelligence, used by MNCs/IFOs, be brought under the purview of human rights regime?

Early career scholars, PhD candidates, post-graduate students and under-graduate students are encouraged to submit an abstract (300 words) of their works to lawreview@ifim.edu.in by 25th August 2021. Selected abstracts will be notified by 31st August 2021. Draft papers (5000-8000 words) will be due by 30th September 2021. The Colloquium will take place on 23rd October 2021.

Post the Colloquium, authors will be asked to submit a revised version of their paper to lawreview@ifim.edu.in by 10th November 2021. Selected paper will be published in the IFIM Law Review by 15th December 2021.

For any question, please write to lawreview@ifim.edu.in.

Submission Guidelines

ILR is published online only. All the paper published in ILR will be open for all. No fee will be charged for accessing the papers. Word Limit The papers shall be of 5000-8000 words. However, if an author wants to publish a longer paper they are encouraged to discuss the possibility of the same with the Editors, before submitting their paper. The ILR does not publish case comments. However, papers discussing a same theme involved in two or more cases are welcome.

Citation

The ILR follows OSCOLA (Oxford University Standard for the Citation of Legal Authorities) method of citation.

Publication Ethics

The ILR aims to apply for a membership of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), one it is eligible for that. With that aim in mind, ILR follows all the ten Core Practices of COPE. [ https://publicationethics.org/core-practices]