Events

PAST EVENTS

The Netherlands - Russia Seminar on Legal Cooperation

"Better Justice for Better Business"

6 March 2013

The Hague, the Netherlands

The occasion for this seminar is twofold. Both the representation by the Dutch Minister of Security and Justice, Mr. Ivo Opstelten, at the International Legal Forum in St. Petersburg in May 2013 and the Dutch-Russian Bilateral Year 2013 (NLRF2013) contributed to the impetus for the seminar. In particular, the broad theme of the Bilateral Year, which emphasized economic partnership, especially influenced the focus of the seminar.

Besides trade and investment relations , the event also focused on cooperation on political and social projects and initiatives , including joint ventures involving the legal system . The aim of this seminar was to discuss how cooperation between the Netherlands and Russia can lead to a solid legal system capable of increasing Dutch-Russian business relations.

The program will be published soon.

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2012 - "Resolving Company-Community Conflicts"

Practical Approaches and Multi-Stakeholder Perspectives

The Hague, the Netherlands
6 - 7 December 2012
Launching Conference of the CSR Conflict Management Center (CCMC)

The CCMC is a unique initiative for the management of CSR related company-community conflicts. It aspires to be the independent international facility supporting and contributing to the implementation of the "access to remedy" pillar of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. As an independent global portal, the CCMC will enable knowledge-building and enhance practical access to non-judicial dispute management as a supplement to traditional court systems.

The conference provided a platform for experts from all over the world to discuss, in plenary sessions and workshops, the current challenges and opportunities in CSR-related company-community conflicts. The conference was unique in that it offered multi-stakeholder perspectives on company-community conflicts, with experts and stakeholders who were involved in disputes around the world ready share their first-hand experience with the audience.

2011 - "Managing Corporate Conflicts"

From Threat to Opportunity for Sustainable Business

Peace Palace, The Hague, the Netherlands
6 December 2011

By bringing together corporate representatives, legal practitioners, policy makers, civil society representatives, and academics from all parts of the world, the World Legal Forum was able to explore different conflict management mechanisms and their applicability in different types of conflicts. The conference contributed to the creation of a more effective, accessible and sustainable vision and procedure for preventing and resolving corporate conflicts. The conference thus also helped to create a mechanism through which companies may begin to perceive conflicts as opportunities rather than as threats to their corporate management.

2 010 - Business and Community in Dialogue

Connecting Corporate Responsibility and Global Governance

Peace Palace, The Hague, the Netherlands
6-7 December 2010

This conference sought to address the challenges globalisation has created for international law as it relates to the interaction between public and private actors. Due to the growing need for increased information exchange between public and private actors, new legal concepts have had to be developed to govern the relationship between public actors and private international businesses. This has resulted in a new relationship between international law and international business, one of mutual need. The conference therefore focused on exploring this new relationship in which business is as dependent on the international legal order as international law is dependent on the support of business.

2009 - "Private International Regulation and Public Supervision"

Peace Palace, The Hague, the Netherlands
7 and 8 December 2009

This conference focused on the important, but often invisible, role played by private parties in international lawmaking and regulation. Because private parties often regulate their international affairs through standard contracts and international sectoral norms, their actions may be overlooked by the public eye in terms of both politics and the media. Without the involvement of private actors, while public regulation may be, to a degree, very effective, it tends to lack legitimacy in areas beyond the domain of committed parties within a given sector. Thus, this conference sought to further examine realtionships between public and private actors to determine the potential of such relationships to be improved and expanded to increase the scope and effectiveness of internatioanl lawmaking and regulation.

2008 - "Public and Private Actors in International Lawmaking"

New Perspectives for International Regulation and Dispute Resolution

Peace Palace, The Hague, the Netherlands
11 December 2008

International lawmaking and dispute resolution is no longer the exclusive domain of governmental organisations. World Legal Forum responded to this development by organising a seminar on 'Public and Private International Lawmaking: Public-private cooperation in normsetting and dispute resolution'. The WLF strives to bring together academics, businessmen, and other practitioners and policy makers and has, since 2007, facilitated many constructive discussions on the contemporary characteristics of this interface. The central question of this seminar was "How can we combine the legitimacy of public lawmaking with the efficiency of private norm setting in order to create more effective and sustainable international law?"

2007 - "Effective International Dispute Settlement for Public and Private Actors"

The Hague, December 10-12, 2007
Peace Palace and World Forum Convention Centre

Since the Hague Peace Conference of 1907, the nature of international law has changed dramatically. Not only has the international balance of power changed substantially; the power of individual countries has been balanced by international law itself. At the same time, companies have developed into new international powerhouses, not only economically but also legally. Moreover, NGOs have become global players and laid the foundation for new international legal structures.

Today, both public and private actors are responsible for managing safe and reliable international interactions. World Legal Forum (WLF) will therefore bring together academics, businessmen and policy makers to discuss "Effective International Dispute Settlement".