Opening Speaker: Professor Cedric Ryngaert (University of Utrecht)<\/p>\n Panel on “Non-State Actors and the Future of International Law” at Lancaster Castle:\u00a0 Professor Andrea Bianchi (Graduate Institute Geneva); Penelope Nevill (20 Essex Street Chambers); Dr Marco Odello (University of Aberystwyth)<\/p>\n After-Dinner Speaker: Sir Michael Wood (International Law Commission\/20 Essex Street Chambers)<\/p>\n Closing Speaker: Sir Nigel Rodley (Human Rights Committee)<\/p>\n![\"Ashton](\"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/ila-spring2016\/files\/2016\/02\/ashton-memorial.jpg\")
<\/a>Non-state actors lie at the heart of many developing trends in international law: in business, human rights, the environment, and international humanitarian and criminal law: and drive its agendas.\u00a0Equally though, they are also defined by exclusion: by not being the principal subject of international law, the sovereign state. Correspondingly, non-state actors are a wide and diverse group, defined in essence not by their varied contributions but by a lack of sovereignty. This two day conference will first explore the implications of non-state actors for the structure of international law: its sources, boundaries, functions and obligations, and in dispute settlement and responsibility. Second, it will investigate the role of prominent non-state actors: corporations, international organisations, organised armed groups and terrorist networks. These will be\u00a0considered in ten panels with thirty speakers.<\/p>\n