The American Journal of International Law and AJIL Unbound are planning a major study on the topic of reparations to be published in 2025. Kicking of the project will be an Agora in the print journal featuring pieces by Tendayi Achiume, Antony Anghie, Anne Orford, Lavanya Rajamani, Steven Ratner, and Dire Tlade. Among other topics, these eminent scholars will tackle theoretical and philosophical aspects of reparations, traditional approaches to reparations, as well as more specific aspects of reparations for racism and discrimination, jus cogens violations, and climate change damage. 

The conversation will then continue through a series of symposia in AJIL Unbound. We would like to invite submissions for these symposia. Submissions might investigate topics such as:

• Theoretical, philosophical, and historic aspects of reparations, including what role law plays in the context of determining reparations and what aims reparations seek to achieve

• Methods of determining reparations, including quantification of damages, lump sum agreements, etc

• Reparations for slavery, indigenous peoples, and other historical rights violations 

• Climate change and environmental damage

• War reparations 

The editors of this Symposium are interested in work that offers new approaches to reparations. We especially encourage proposals tackling case studies at the local, national, and international levels. We invite submissions from scholars from different fields and adopting a range of different methodologies: philosophical, empirical, historical, comparative, and other.

Those interested in contributing to this Symposium are invited to submit an abstract of up to 300 words to [email protected] by 30 July 2024 along with a cover email indicating name, institutional affiliation (if any), and phone and email contact information, as well as a brief statement of interest in the Symposium topic. We are especially interested in submissions from members of groups traditionally underrepresented in the international legal academy and profession, including scholars or practitioners based in the Global South. 

Those applicants selected, on the basis of these abstracts, to submit a full essay will be advised by 1 September 2024 and will be expected to submit a full draft of their essay (up to 3,000 words in length including footnotes) by 1 December 2024 prepared in accordance with AJIL Unbound’s instructions for contributors. As authors are writing their full drafts, we hope that they will take the opportunity to enter conversation with the authors of the print Agora.

We expect to invite submissions of 6 or 7 full draft essays. These submissions will be subject to peer review in accordance with AJIL Unbound’s standard editorial processes and the invitation to submit a full draft essay does not guarantee publication. It is anticipated that essays included in the Symposium will be published in April/June 2025.

Any questions concerning this Symposium may be directed to [email protected].

Symposium Editors: Harlan Cohen, Veronika Fikfak, Chantal Thomas.