Back-to-back with the meeting of its Implementation Committee on 2-3 December 2019, the Water Convention are partnering with University of Geneva, Geneva Water Hub and Geneva Center for International Dispute Settlement on a round table entitled: ‘Water disputes: how to prevent and solve them?’

The prevention of water disputes and their effective resolution when they arise is a concern shared at the local, regional and universal levels. A variety of questions will be address at this roundtable, including:
•    What are the means for avoiding water disputes?
•    Can the rule of law play a role in this context?
•    When a dispute crystallises, what are the best methods - be they diplomatic, judicial or institutional - for solving them?
•    How can the prevention of water disputes be integrated in international diplomacy?
•    What is the role of the Implementation Committee of the UNECE Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses in this context?

The roundtable will consist of the following eminent experts, including members of the Water Convention Implementation Committee:
•    Chair: Laurence Boisson de Chazournes, Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Geneva
and Co-Director, Geneva Center for International Dispute Settlement; Member of the Global
High-Level Panel on Water and Peace, Geneva Water Hub.
•    Valentin Zellweger, Ambassador, Permanent Representative of Switzerland to the United
Nations.
•    Stephen McCaffrey, Carol Olson Endowed Professor of International Law, McGeorge School
of Law, University of the Pacific and former Special Rapporteur of the International Law
Commission on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses.
•    Ximena Fuentes Torrijo, Ambassador and Director of National Directorate of Borders and
State Boundaries (DIFROL), Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Chile; Associate Professor, Faculty of
Law, Universidad de Chile.
•    Attila Tanzi, Full Professor, Department of Legal Studies, University of Bologna and Chair of
the Implementation Committee of the UNECE Convention on the Protection and Use of
Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes; Associate Member, 3VB Chambers,
London (UK).

A program for the conference is available here.

To register to the conference; click here.

A cocktail will be served after the conference.

For any questions, please contact: oeykue.irmakkesen@unige.ch.