International law for sustainable development

  • April 20, 2018
International law for sustainable development

Harum Mukhayer is the primary coordinator of a conference on international law, sustainable development and natural resources governance.

A Gates Cambridge Scholar is helping to organise a conference on international law, sustainable development and natural resources governance with world-class experts giving their views on recent trends, challenges and innovations.

Harum Mukhayer is the primary coordinator of the event on recent trends in the principle of sustainable use of natural resources in international law and the rules and practices of international law for sustainable resources management. The event consists of two panels and takes place on 27th April in Cambridge.

The first panel will discuss how the principle of sustainable use of natural resources, as expressed in the 2002 ILA New Delhi Declaration and the 2012 ILA Sofia Guiding Statements, is reflected in international law, how the principle is being expressed in treaty instruments and how it is being taken into account by courts and tribunals.

The second panel will address questions such as: What are the rules of international law for sustainable management of key resources? What instruments are proving most effective? How are the rules changing practices towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (”SDGs”)?

Speakers include Professor Dr Nico Schrijver, Professor of Public International Law at Leiden University. He is a member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration,  President of the Institut de Droit International and a member of the Curatorium of The Hague Academy of International Law. During 2010-2012 he served as the president of the worldwide International Law Association and during 2008-2016 he was a member and vice-chair of the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

The event is being hosted by Professor Dr Marie-Claire Cordonier Segger. Senior Director of the Centre for International Sustainable Development Law and Executive Secretary of UN Framework Convention on Climate Change Climate Law and Governance Initiative.

Harum [2016] is doing a PhD in Law on the role of international law in helping communities, in border dispute areas, access and use natural resources and exercise their transboundary right to food, subsistence and property.

For more information and to register, go to  http://www.goo.gl/2zsydg.​ The panels will take place from 2-5pm on 27th April in the Law Faculty.

*Picture credit: Pine palustris forest by Sue Waters on Flickr
Harum Mukhayer

Harum Mukhayer

  • Alumni
  • Sudan
  • 2016 PhD Law
  • Pembroke College

I am an international civil servant, a global nomad and a *policy* activist. I come from Sudan, I was born in the UAE, and grew up in Scotland. I have an LLM in Natural Resources Law and Policy and for the past 8 years have been working with the UN in Sudan, South Sudan and Somalia, and volunteering with the Darfur Development and Reconstruction Agency (DDRA). My career focus is on advising governments on the design and implementation of natural resources laws and policies that better serve the poor. Has my mission been successful? In part, yes, but I admit it is still a work in progress. I am grateful to the Gates Cambridge for recognising the importance of my pledge and commitment to action. My PhD will research the role of international law in helping communities, in border dispute areas, access and use natural resources and exercise their *transboundary* right to food, subsistence and property. I reject the notion that holds political instability or state fragility as an excuse not to secure human rights for those living at the margins. Thanks to the Gates Cambridge, I have an opportunity to pursue my commitment further through my PhD. It is an absolute honour to be joining the Cambridge community as a Gates Scholar. I look forward to reporting on the success of my mission over the next 3 years!

Previous Education

University of Dundee
Ahfad University for Women

Latest News

Inclusive conservation

Rohini Chaturvedi finished her PhD at a difficult time for many students – in the midst of the global economic crisis of the early 2010s. But through a combination of hard work, initiative and serendipity she has found an impressive way to extend the work she did at Cambridge to promote conservation efforts in India. […]

Research impact award for Gates Cambridge Scholar

A Gates Cambridge Scholar is one of two winners of the 2023 Sandra Dawson Research Impact Award for his work on the economics of climate change earlier this month. The annual award was established through a generous donation from Professor Dame Sandra Dawson, a former Director of Cambridge’s Judge Business School. Winners are chosen based […]

AI system self-organises to resemble brains of complex organisms

A team of Cambridge scientists, co-led by a Gates Cambridge Scholar, have shown that placing physical constraints on an artificially-intelligent system – in much the same way that the human brain has to develop and operate within physical and biological constraints – allows it to develop features of the brains of complex organisms in order […]

Scholar wins history of science & medicine essay prize

A Gates Cambridge Scholar has won a prestigious essay competition about the history of early science with a treatise on evidence of knowledge exchange between the Ming-Chinese and Iberian conventions in the 16th century. The essay competition was run by the Early Sciences Forum of the History of Science Society and the Early Science and Medicine journal […]