LawTransform

Today we mark 80 years since the start of the International Military
Tribunal in Nuremberg. While the tribunal came with its flaws it paved the way for the successful application of International Human Rights Law and finally the creation of the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
To learn more about it, read Dorothee Alberts' new blog post:
https://www.lawtransform.no/news/the-international-military-tribunal-in-nuremberg-80-years-on/

Picture credit: National Archives, College Park, MD, USA

Bergen Exchanges On Law & Social Transformation 2025 Every year, the Bergen Exchanges on Law and Social Transformation brings together scholars, lawyers, activists and policymakers from a...

BOOK LAUNCH: Child Protection and the European Court of Human Rights

Join us for the launch of "Child Protection and the European Court of Human Rights: Lessons from Norway in the Development and Contestation of Children’s Rights" and a conversation with the editors Hege Stein Helland, Marit Skivenes & Siri Gloppen.

The book brings together leading scholars in law, political science, and social work to explore how the ECtHR shapes—and is shaped by—child protection litigation and mobilisation. Focusing on Norway, the country with the highest number of ECtHR child protection cases, the book sheds new light on the balance between parental rights, state authority, and children’s best interests.

When: Thursday, October 16, 2025, 14:00–15:00
Where: Babelstuen, Faculty of Humanities Library, University of Bergen
(Haakon Sheteligs plass 7, 5007 Bergen)

Looking forward to your enthusiasm for hearing and joining the talk!

All of the streamed panels are now available on YouTube 💥 check out the playlist here!

BeEx2025 AUTOCRATIZATION DYNAMICS * INDIGENOUS RIGHTS & LAND CHILDREN’S RIGHTS * CLIMATE CHANGE * ACADEMIC FREEDOM FUTURE OF INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS LAW * GENDER &...

Thank you everyone for a great Bergen Exchanges 2025! 🥳

We so appreciate every single one of our participants, panelists, students, key-speakers, commentators, lecturers, moderators and volunteers for joining us throughout this inspiring week of exchanges! This year we were fortunate to have perspectives represented from at least 35 countries across 6 continents 🙌💥🤸‍♀️

Here are some of the many highlights from . Hope to see you all next year! 😍

Recap Day 5 of
The final day of BeEx2025 focused on how children’s rights can shape the future of welfare systems. Sessions addressed global attitudes and adherence to children’s rights, constitutional recognition of children’s rights, children’s participation and access to justice, and legal accountability. Today’s keynote speaker lectured on how courts apply the best interest of the child, comparing global approaches, focusing on shared values and local differences. During the book launch session, the European human rights rulings on Norwegian child protection, sparked broader discussions on legal and policy reform. In the closing remarks, PhD-course participants from Effects of Lawfare: courts and law as battlegrounds for social change gathered for a last roundtable, exchanging learning experiences. In this roundtable they discuss challenges and possibilities of co-creating digital and academic spaces, rethinking hierarchies, and integrating critical perspectives into legal and social science education and research.

The BeEx team thanks every single participant, volunteer and attendee for making this year’s conference such an amazing experience of learning and unity! 😍🥰🙌

Recap Day 4 of
Day 4 of BeEx covered the topic of decolonizing education, indigenous land rights, autocratization & climate governance, legal identity and belonging, transformative judicialization, climate litigation, SLAPPs & protest rights and planetary health governance. Though keynotes and join panel sessions, today’s program challenged us to rethink dominant epistemologies and rethink climate governance and migration, indigenous rights, legal pluralism, climate litigation, protest repression, and planetary health governance. Further on, the discussions highlighted how law, identity, and activism intersect in struggles for justice, autonomy, and sustainability across diverse contexts.

Recap Day 3 of :
During Day 3 of BeEx we explored how law is shaped by language, culture, and power. We also explored the topics of legal translation, Islamic finance in Norway, global abortion rights, and judicial reform amid democratic backsliding.
Keynotes and roundtables addressed reproductive justice, and speech conflicts in autocratizing regimes. Through comparative and socio-legal lenses, the events highlight how legal concepts evolve across borders and how law can both empower and constrain in turbulent times. Together with for politikk og forvaltning, Department of Government, keynote speaker Tom Keck from the Syracause University lectured on how courts worldwide have addressed free speech challenges amid democratic decline, focusing on censorship, disinformation, in the U.S Trump-era. The keynote was followed by a roundtable on “Academic Freedom and Obligation in Dark Times,” featuring Tom Keck, Anwesha Dutta, and Malcolm Langford, moderated by Elisabeth Ivarsflaten (University of Bergen). The discussion focused on threats to academic freedom and scholars' roles in challenging political and financial contexts.