King's College London

The Dickson Poon School of Law’s Professor Philippa Webb and Dr Rosana Garciandia have been chosen to deliver their research, 'Modern Slavery: Uncovering and Bridging the Gap,' at the British Institute of International and Comparative Law's International Comparative Law Quarterly (ICLQ) 2020 Annual Lecture.

The ICLQ is the top-ranked peer-reviewed international law journal, according to Journal Citation Reports, and its Annual Lecture, due to take place on 2 March 2020, complements an article published by the ICLQ in its July issue.

The article draws on Professor Webb and Dr Garciandia’s research project, 'State responsibility for modern slavery', which explores the scenarios of State involvement in modern slavery from the perspective of the law of State responsibility.

Professor Webb said: “We are thrilled to be able to open up the dialogue about our research at this event. We seek to take an innovative approach to the involvement of the State in modern slavery, which has attracted little attention until now”.

Dr Garciandia added: “As the UN Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Slavery acknowledged in her address to the UN Human Rights Council in September 2019, States do have a role to play in holding other States accountable through various processes and mechanisms.” (see video).

The research project was developed in partnership with the United Nations University and was funded by the British Academy scheme ‘Tackling the UK’s International Challenges 2017.' Professor Webb and Dr Garciandia developed a set of legal policy recommendations on state responsibility for modern slavery which were launched at United Nations Headquarters in New York in January 2019.

The event, chaired by ICLQ Editor-in-Chief, Professor Sir Malcolm Evans OBE KCMG, is open for registration on the British Institute of International and Comparative Law website.