During the Spring Meeting a subject of current interest relating to public international law or private international law is discussed. For this meeting two or sometimes three speakers are invited to give a brief introduction on the chosen subject. This is followed by a debate. Usually, this meeting is held in The Hague during the evening hours. In 2020, the Spring Meeting took place online, in light of COVID-19. Often, English is spoken to render the meeting accessible to a broader audience.
Spring Meeting 2022
SPRING MEETING
OF THE ROYAL NETHERLANDS SOCIETY OF INTERNATIONAL LAW
SANCTIONS AS THE GO-TO-TOOL:
DO THEY WORK AND WHAT ROLE FOR INTERNATIONAL LAW?
24 MAY 2022 16.00 – 18.00
IN THE HUMANITY HUB, THE HAGUE, AND ONLINE
Already before the Russian aggression against Ukraine the stalemate in the UN Security Council increasingly led to a wave of unilateral sanctions. Economic sanctions may seem to have become the instrument of choice to deal with international crises, but the role of the UN Security Council has diminished.
Prof. Peter van Bergeijk (Erasmus University) and Prof. Larissa van den Herik (Leiden University) put the expanding sanctions practice into the perspectives of international relations and international law.
Do sanctions work at all? What drives their success and failure? Why is coordination of sanctions so difficult? Should international law have a more prominent role in governing sanctions?
Importantly, although targeted sanctions remain very present on the sanctions’ menu, there is again a trend towards the recomprehensivation of sanctions, a return to the more comprehensive sanctions of before. What is the future of the sanction instrument?
The speakers will each give a presentation of 20 minutes, followed by the opportunity to ask questions and a discussion.
Date and time: Tuesday 24 May 2022, from 16.00-18.00
Location: The Humanity Hub, Fluwelen Burgwal 58, 2511 CJ, The Hague, or online via Zoom
Registration: Please send an email to gro.r1652687564ivnk@1652687564tcatn1652687564oc1652687564 by 19 May 2022 indicating whether you would like to attend the meeting in person or online. If you are attending via Zoom, the link will be sent to the email you use for registration, unless you indicate otherwise.
For questions, please contact the Secretary via gro.r1652687564ivnk@1652687564draob1652687564.
Spring Meeting 2021
INTERNATIONAAL PRIVAATRECHTELIJKE GEVOLGEN VAN DE BREXIT
The Society devoted its Spring Meeting of 3 June 2021, which was held online and in the Dutch language, to the theme: ‘Internationaal privaatrechtelijke gevolgen van de Brexit’ (Private international law consequences of the Brexit). The recording of the meeting, which was hosted by The Hague Humanity Hub and co-organised by the Internationaal Juridisch Instituut and the legal journal Nederlands Internationaal Privaatrecht, can be viewed here. Speakers were: Prof. Dr. Ian Sumner, University of Tilburg, Dr. André Berends LL.M. (Dutch Ministry of Finance), Tess Bens LL.M. (Radboud University), Dr. Fieke van Overbeeke LL.M. (Internationaal Juridisch Instituut). The meeting was introduced by Prof. Willem van Genugten (President KNVIR) and moderated by Prof. Marta Pertegás (member executive board KNVIR).

Spring Meeting 2020
The WTO Before, During and After Corona
Speaker
- Prof. Peter van den Bossche
Professor of International Economic Law, University of Bern, Director of Studies, World Trade Institute, Bern, honorary professor at Maastricht University, visiting professor at the LUISS Guido Carli University, Rome, Italy, and the Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Ecuador, and at the College of Europe, Bruges, Belgium.
Spring Meeting 2019
The UN In Times of Global Challenges
Insights from The Security Council
Speaker
- Ambassador Karel van Oosterom
Permanent Representative of The Kingdom of The Netherlands to The United Nations
Meeting jointly organised by
The Netherlands United Nations Association (Nvvn), The Royal Netherlands Society Of International Law and The Hague University of Applied Sciences (Hhs) Leiden University
The Minutes of the KNVIR Spring Meeting will be made available here.
Spring Meeting 2018
The Children of the Caliphate and International Law
Speakers
- dr. Bibi van Ginkel, LLM
Senior research fellow, Netherlands Institute for International Relations ‘Clingendael’ and research fellow, International Centre for Counter-Terrorism, The Hague (ICCT) - drs. Mattie van der Molen
Behaviourist, Dutch Council for Child Protection
Spring Meeting 2017
Fake News and National Sovereignty
The dangers of politically and militarily motivated fake news and its impace on national interests
Speakers
- mr. Jan Kleijssen
Director of Information Society and Action against Crime, Council of Europe - Rosa S.E.V. Toxopeus, M.A.
Analyst National Security, National Coordinator for Security and Counterterrorism, Analysis and Strategy Department (DAS) - drs. Carmen Gonsalves
Head International Cyber Policy, Ministry of Foreign Affairs
The Proceedings of the Spring Meeting 2017 are available here.
Spring Meeting 2016
Migration, Refugees and
International Law
Speakers
- drs. Bram van Ojik
Special Envoy for Migration, Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs - prof. dr. Ashley B. Terlouw
Professor of Sociology, Radboud University, Nijmegen
Board Member Centre of Migration Law, Nijmegen - dr. Hans van Loon
Former Secretary General of the Hague Conference onPrivate International Law
Spring Meeting 2015
Arbitration as a means of solving international disputes
Advantages and Risks
Speakers
- mr. Hugo H. Siblesz
Secretary General of the Permanent Court of Arbitration - prof.dr. Jamal Seifi
Judge at the Iran-United States Claims Tribunal and Professor of Global Law (2015) at Tilburg University - prof.dr. Vesna Lazic
Senior Researcher at the T.M.C. Asser Institute, Associate Professor of International Commercial Arbitration at Utrecht University and Professor of EU Civil Procedure at the University of Rijeka, Croatia
Spring Meeting 2014
Looting of Cultural Property
during Foreign Occupation
Speakers
- mr. Taco Dibbits
Director of Collections of the Rijksmuseum - prof.dr. Liesbeth Lijnzaad
Legal Adviser, Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Professor Practice of International Law at Maastricht University - mr. Rob Polak
Formerly partner De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek, and Chairman of the Association of Art, Culture and Law
Spring Meeting 2013
Business and Human Rights: Issues of Legal Accountability
Speakers
- dr. Liesbeth F.H. Enneking
Post-doctoral Research Fellow at UCALL, Utrecht University’s Centre for Accountability and Liability Law and co-author of one of the amicus curiae briefs in the Kiobel case before the U.S. Supreme Court - prof.dr. René J.M. Lefeber
Professor of International Environmental Law at the Amsterdam Centre for Environmental Law and Sustainability of the University of Amsterdam - mr. Bastiaan Pries
Associate General Counsel in the Legal Department of Shell International B.V.
SANCTIONS AS THE GO-TO-TOOL
Spring MeetingSPRING MEETING
OF THE ROYAL NETHERLANDS SOCIETY OF INTERNATIONAL LAW
SANCTIONS AS THE GO-TO-TOOL:
DO THEY WORK AND WHAT ROLE FOR INTERNATIONAL LAW?
24 MAY 2022 16.00 – 18.00
IN THE HUMANITY HUB, THE HAGUE, AND ONLINE
Already before the Russian aggression against Ukraine the stalemate in the UN Security Council increasingly led to a wave of unilateral sanctions. Economic sanctions may seem to have become the instrument of choice to deal with international crises, but the role of the UN Security Council has diminished.
Prof. Peter van Bergeijk (Erasmus University) and Prof. Larissa van den Herik (Leiden University) put the expanding sanctions practice into the perspectives of international relations and international law.
Do sanctions work at all? What drives their success and failure? Why is coordination of sanctions so difficult? Should international law have a more prominent role in governing sanctions?
Importantly, although targeted sanctions remain very present on the sanctions’ menu, there is again a trend towards the recomprehensivation of sanctions, a return to the more comprehensive sanctions of before. What is the future of the sanction instrument?
The speakers will each give a presentation of 20 minutes, followed by the opportunity to ask questions and a discussion.
Date and time: Tuesday 24 May 2022, from 16.00-18.00
Location: The Humanity Hub, Fluwelen Burgwal 58, 2511 CJ, The Hague, or online via Zoom
Registration: Please send an email to gro.r1652687564ivnk@1652687564tcatn1652687564oc1652687564 by 19 May 2022 indicating whether you would like to attend the meeting in person or online. If you are attending via Zoom, the link will be sent to the email you use for registration, unless you indicate otherwise.
For questions, please contact the Secretary via gro.r1652687564ivnk@1652687564draob1652687564.