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BOĞAZİÇİ INTERNATIONAL LAW CONFERENCE (BILC 2025) 

Justice and Reconstruction in Post-conflict Societies

5-6 July, 2025, Istanbul

 

[Programme]

 

DAY 1 (5 July 2025)

 

REGISTRATION (9.00-10.00) 

 

OPENING SESSION (10.00-11.00) / Albert Long Hall

 

Prof. Ali Emrah Bozbayındır – Dean, Boğaziçi University Faculty of Law

Prof. Mehmet Naci İnci – Rector, Boğaziçi University.

 

COFFEE BREAK (11.00-11.30)

 

PANEL SESSION 1 (11.30-13.00)  

 

Stream 1: ‘International Criminal Law After Conflict: Rethinking Accountability and Justice’ Demir Demirgil Hall

Moderator: Prof. Ali Emrah Bozbayındır (Boğaziçi University, Türkiye)

  • ‘The Turn to Arts-based Approaches in International Criminal Justice: A Step Towards Dialogical Justice?’ – Prof. Carsten Stahn (Leiden University, Netherlands)
  • ‘Laying the Groundwork for Prosecuting ISIS for Core International Crimes before an Iraqi Special Tribunal 2.0’ – Prof. Mohamed Elewa Badar (Northumbria University, United Kingdom)
  • ‘Islamic Law and the International Criminal Court’s Tepid ‘Inclusivism’ Project:  What Can We Learn from the Al-Hasan Case?’ – Dr. Fajri Matahati Muhammadin & Aqiela Syalaisa (Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia)
  • ‘Corporate Accountability and Post-Conflict Justice: Legal Reforms for Addressing War Profiteering and Human Rights Violations’ – Assoc. Prof. Pierpaolo Petrelli (O.P. Jindal Global University, India) 

 

Stream 2: ‘Refugees: From Exile to Reconstruction?’ Özger Arnas Room

Moderator: Prof. Satvinder Juss (King’s College London)

  • ‘Voices of the Displaced: Identifying Prospective Solutions through the Experiences of IDPs in Afghanistan’ – Prof. Ali Wardak (University of South Wales, United Kingdom)
  • ‘Rethinking the Temporary Protection Regime and Voluntary Return under Refugee Law: The case of Türkiye in Light of Recent Developments’ – Dr. Naziye Dirikgil (Sakarya University, Türkiye)
  • ‘After War: Navigating the Legal and Political Complexities of Syrian Refugee Return’  –  Dr. Yasemin Karadağ Avcı (Hitit University, Türkiye)

 

LUNCH BREAK (13.00-14.00)

 

PANEL SESSION 2 (14.00-15.30)  

 

Stream 1: ‘International Law and Post-Conflict Economy’, Demir Demirgil Hall

Moderator: Dr. Ömer Erkut Bulut (Boğaziçi University, Türkiye) 

  • ‘State Succession Issues arising in the Context of International Investment Law in Post-conflict Situations’ – Prof. Patrick Dumberry (University of Ottawa, Canada) 
  • ‘Benefits of WTO Membership for A Civil War-torn Country with Tattered Institutions’ – Assoc. Prof. Hüseyin Çağrı Çorlu (Necmettin Erbakan University, Türkiye)
  • ‘State-Centric Development v. Civil Society Resistance: The Belt and Road Initiative’s Contested Role in Post-Conflict Reconstruction’ – Dr. Yi Lu (Peking University, China)
  • ‘Still an Obstacle to Peacebuilding? The International Financial Institutions in the Normative Environment of Peace Processes’ – Leon Seidl (Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law, Germany)


Stream 2: ‘Maritime Justice and Economic Recovery’ Özger Arnas Room 

Moderator: Assoc. Prof. Ali Osman Karaoğlu, (Yalova University, Türkiye)

  • ‘Avoiding a Secondary Conflict in The Eastern Mediterranean: Holding Maritime Grounds’ – Dr. Deniz Tekin Apaydın (Boğaziçi University, Türkiye) 
  • ‘Post Conflict Reconstruction of the Most Affected Eastern Mediterranean Countries under Current International Trading System’ – Prof. Ademuni Odeke (Ankara University National Center for the Sea and Maritime Law - Dehukam, Türkiye)
  • ‘The Law of the Sea as a Catalyst for Reconstruction in Post-Genocide Societies:  The Case of Gaza’ – Prof. Mutaz M. Qafisheh (Hebron University, Palestine) 


 

COFFEE BREAK (15.30-16.00)

KEYNOTE SESSION I (16.00-17.30) Albert Long Hall

Moderator: Prof. Berdal Aral (Istanbul Medeniyet University, Türkiye)

  • ‘Gaza: The Quest for Justice and Reconstruction—Post-Conflict Nightmares and Dreams’ – Prof. Richard Falk, Former UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Occupied Palestine (Princeton University, United States)


 

DAY 2 (6 July 2025)

PANEL SESSION 3 (10.00-11.30)  

 

Stream 1: ‘Sanctions Reconsidered’ Demir Demirgil Hall

Moderator: Dr. Mustafa Akgün (Boğaziçi University, Türkiye) 

  • ‘The Role of Sanctions in Contemporary International Relations’ – Prof. Satvinder Juss (King’s College London, United Kingdom) 
  • ‘Sanctions Reimagined: From Instruments of Coercion to Tools of Reparative Justice in the Digital Age’ – Dr. Zeynep Erhan Bulut (Çankırı Karatekin University, Türkiye)
  • ‘Constraint on Central Bank Assets: Countermeasure, Self-defense, or New Paradigm?’ – Illia Chernohorenko (University of Oxford, United Kingdom) 


Stream 2: ‘Constitutions Under Pressure: Power, Rights, and Justice After Conflict’, Özger Arnas Room

Moderator: Dr. İsmail Mutlu (Boğaziçi University, Türkiye) 

  • ‘Current Constitutional Developments in Syria’ – Dr. Bahia Mardini (National Organization for Human Rights, Syria)
  • ‘Beyond Reconciliation: Gender, Power, and Transitional Justice in Timor-Leste’ – Prof. Selver B. Şahin (Boğaziçi University, Türkiye)
  • ‘Codifying Dispossession: Legal Architecture of Settler Colonialism in Occupied Kashmir’ – Nasır Qadri (International Islamic University, Pakistan)
  • ‘Are Transitional Constitutions in Post-conflict Africa a Pathway to Stability or a Tool for Power Control? The Case of South Sudan’ – Kennedy Owor (University of Pretoria, South Africa) 

 

COFFEE BREAK (11.30-12.00)

 

KEYNOTE SESSION II (12.00-13.00) / Albert Long Hall

 

Moderator: Prof. Mohsen Al Attar (Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, China)

  • Prof. Siba N’Zatioula Grovogui (Cornell University, United States)

 

LUNCH BREAK (13.00-14.00)

 

PANEL SESSION 4 (14.00-15.30)  


 

Stream 1: ‘Poetics of Post-Conflict Law’, Demir Demirgil Hall

Moderator: Dr. M. Behesti Aydogan (Boğaziçi University, Türkiye) 

  • ‘From Fever to Freedom Dreams: Using the Counterfactual Method to Imagine a Post-Genocidal State’ – Prof. Mohsen al Attar (Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, China)
  • ‘Dreaming of a Systemic Response to the High Mortality Rate of Young Democracies: Moving Jus Post Bellum from Academic Description to an Active International Project’ – Dr. Jens Iverson (Leiden University, Netherlands) 
  • ‘Arms, Lyrics and the Law: Exploring the Normative Relevance of Musicians in African Countries in Conflict’ – Prof. Babatunde Fagbayibo (University of Pretoria, South Africa) 
  • ‘Distances in the Adjudicative Gaze’ – Dr. Niccolò Ridi (King’s College London, United Kingdom) 


Stream 2:’ Recovering through Civil Society’, Özger Arnas Room

Moderator: Dr. Hasan Basri Bülbül (Boğaziçi University, Türkiye) 

  • ‘Rebuilding from Within: The Role of Syrian Civil Society in Post-Conflict Recovery’ –  Dr. Yaser Tabbara (Omran Center for Strategic Studies, United States)
  • ‘The Role of NGOs in Justice and Reconstruction in Post-Conflict Societies: Insights from Red Cross and Red Crescent Organisation’ – Dr. Selman Salim Kesgin (Turkish Red Crescent, Türkiye)
  • Civil Society and the Prosecution of Mass Atrocities: Field-Based Insights from the Democratic Republic of the Congo – Jonas Kakule Sindani (University of Pretoria, South Africa)

 

COFFEE BREAK (15.30-16.00)

 

PANEL SESSION 5 (16.00-17.30)  

 

Stream 1: ‘Legal Perspectives on Post-Conflict Ecological Recovery’, Demir Demirgil Hall

Moderator: Dr. Ayşe Didem Sezgin (Boğaziçi University, Türkiye) 

  • ‘Ecological Devastation, Starvation, and Famine in Post-Conflict Situations: A Case of Gaza’ – Prof. Hilal Elver – Former UN Special Rapporteur on Right to Food ( 2014-2020), (University of California Santa Barbara, United States)
  • ‘Towards Resilience, Security and Recovery: Reshaping Post-War Environmental Legal Frameworks’ – Assoc. Prof. Ievgeniia Kopytsia (Yaroslav Mudryi National Law University, Ukraine) 
  • ‘Post-Conflict Legal Remedies for Environmental Damage’ – Dr. Aïda Tamer Chammas (Independent Researcher, United Kingdom) 

 

Stream 2: ‘Post-Intervention Orders and Developing Security’, Özger Arnas Room

Moderator: Dr. Deniz Tekin Apaydın(Boğaziçi University, Türkiye) 

  • ‘Rethinking Global Landscape: Power Shifts, Trade Wars, and the Emerging New World Order’ –  Prof. Mukhtar Hajizada (Carleton University, Canada) 
  • ‘Why Libya and Not Syria? Rethinking Intervention through Realist and Constructivist Lenses’ –  Dr. Haian Dukhan (Teesside University, United Kingdom) 
  • ‘Narrating Intervention, Scripting Reconstruction: Law in Public Discourse, from Iraq to Syria’ –  Dr. Omar Kamel (Sciences Po Paris, France)