Expert opinion in EP hearing on international human rights law in occupied territories

On Wednesday March 16, Asser Institute researcher Eva Kassoti will provide expert opinion in the European Parliament's hearing on 'The human rights and trade nexus in the context of non self-governing and occupied territories.'

The debate will assess the implementation of international human rights law in non-self-governing and occupied territories, including how trade policy can support the promotion of human rights considering the specific situation of these territories.

You can watch the livestream here (09.00 – 10.15 hrs CET).

Eva Kasotti has written extensively on the EU’s practice in relation to trade agreements in non-self-governing and occupied territories. Some key publications are:

• The Legality under International Law of the EU’s Trade Agreements covering Occupied Territories: A Comparative Study of Palestine and Western Sahara, CLEER Papers 2017/3, pp. 1-56
• Between Sollen and Sein: The CJEU’s Reliance on International Law in the Interpretation of Economic Agreements covering Occupied Territories, 33 Leiden Journal of International Law 2020, pp. 371-389. 
• The ECJ and the Art of Treaty Interpretation: Case C-266/16 Western Sahara Campaign UK, 56 Common Market Law Review 2019, pp. 209-236.
• Trading with Settlements: The International Obligations of the European Union with Regard to Economic Dealings with Occupied Territories, Policy Brief T.M.C. Asser Instituut (2017-02)
• Duval, E. Kassoti (eds.), Economic Activities in Occupied Territories: International, EU Law and Business and Human Rights Perspectives (London: Routledge, 2020)

About Eva Kassoti
Dr Eva Kassoti is a senior researcher in International and EU Law as well as the academic co-ordinator for the Centre of the Law of EU External Relations (CLEER) at the T.M.C. Asser Instituut.

She is part of the Institute’s research strand ‘Transnational public interests: constituting public interest beyond and below the state’ which examines how public interests shape, and are shaped, below and beyond the state. Researchers investigate what role non-state actors, such as corporations, NGOs, cities and the European Union, play in the constitution and operation of public interests in a transnational context.

Eva Kassoti is further a project leader of the Asser Institute’s Global Europe project, which investigates public interests in the EU’s external action. The project analyses the EU’s external policies and action with a view to establishing the EU’s capacity to exercise principled and value-based global leadership.