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Summer might be the season of taking things easy—but not for New England Law | Boston Professor Lisa Laplante.

She’s been busy traveling the globe sharing her expertise on international and human rights law, most recently with two conference appearances focused on transitional justice: one at the University of Oxford’s Justice for Transnational Human Rights Violations conference and one at the Law and Society Association’s 2019 Annual Meeting.

For the University of Oxford event, held June 19–20 at the Bonavero Institute of Human Rights and St. Antony's College in England, Professor Laplante spoke on the Responsibility of Businesses in Transitional Justice Settings panel. She joined Rodrigo Uprimny of Dejusticia, Victoria Basualdo of the National Council of Scientific Research in Argentina, Maria Paula Hoyos of the Special Jurisdiction for Peace in Colombia, and Lina Chaparro-Martínez of the University of Los Andes also in Colombia.

As Director of New England Law’s Center for International Law and Policy, Professor Laplante shared findings from the center’s recent work fostering peace-building efforts in Colombia (What’s Business Got to Do With It? The Role of the Private Sector in Peacebuilding and Transitional Justice). A recognized expert in transitional justice, Professor Laplante focuses much of her research on the role businesses play in fostering—or hindering—international human rights, particularly holding businesses accountable for human rights violations, whether through prosecutions, truth gathering, restorative justice processes, or reparations.

The Oxford conference covered such issues as justice in a transnational world, protecting the rights of migrants and refugees, and corporate accountability and the protection of the environment, tapping into the “burgeoning interest in the transnational aspects of human rights,” particularly as they pertain to “environmental protection, the responsibility of international businesses and corporations, the emergence of transnational non-state actors such as the Islamic State, as well as migration and human trafficking.” The event was organized by the Bonavero Institute of Human Rights and the Oxford Transitional Justice Research & Latin American Centre.

For the Law and Society Association 2019 Annual Meeting, held May 30–June 2 in Washington, D.C., Professor Laplante chaired and moderated a discussion on Evolving Transnational Dimensions of Statebuilding and Transitional Justice. The panel explored the legal, social, and political implications of contemporary institution building.

Hosted by the Law and Society Association, an “interdisciplinary scholarly organization committed to social scientific, interpretive, and historical analyses of law across multiple social contexts,” the event’s  overarching theme was “dignity,” particularly the role and different forms dignity assumes in the context of the law and social justice.

Learn more about Professor Laplante’s work with the Center for International Law and Policy.