Ben Chigara

Professor of Law

Qualifications

BA Hons. (Law & Psychology) Keele
LLM (with Distinction and Josephine Ono Prize) Hull
PhD Nottingham

Ben joined Brunel University as a Research Professor from Warwick University in 2003. He is the founding Director of the Centre for International and Public Law (CIPL) that was inaugurated by Lord Bill Brett on 11 May 2004. He is the founding Director of Brunel University’s flagship Master of Law programmes in International Economic Law; International Intellectual Property; and European and International Commercial Law. He was the founding Deputy Head (Operations) of Brunel Law School during and after its 2006 transition and advancement from a law department to a fully independent school.

Ben has also held lectureships at Warwick University (2001-03); Leeds University (1999-2001); Oxford Brookes University (1998-99); and various teaching positions at Nottingham University (1997-1999); Denmark (1989-1990) and Zimbabwe (1984 -1989).

He is the author of several refereed books, book chapters and journal articles. He is consultant to the European Scientific Foundation (ESF); European Commission (EC); the International Labour Organization (ILO); and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s (OSCE) Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR). He has links with Public Administration International (PAI); The Oxford Research Group (ORG); and The British Institute of International and Comparative Law (BIICL).

He coached and mentored Sagee Sasikumar, and Sethu Nandakumar for the International Manfred Lachs Space Law Moot Competition. The pair who were his students, both studying for the Masters degree in International Economic Law at the University of Warwick Law School in 2002 won in Spain the European round of the world-wide competition and went on to represent Europe in Texas, USA at the final stage of the competition which was adjudicated by judges of the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

This was the first time in its eleven-year history that the European round of the Manfred Lachs Space Law Moot Court Competition had been won by students studying at a British University. To achieve that, Sagee and Sethu first had to win the UK round of the Competition held in London.

Candidates had to assume the role of lawyers using current law to present legal arguments on behalf of international clients in fictitious cases set in the near future. The main fictitious case concerned a dispute which arises over issues of surveillance from space and which escalates into conflict and damage to satellite equipment and space stations. The competition or “Moot” was named in memory of Manfred Lachs, the renowned Polish educator, diplomat, and jurist, space law expert and longest-serving member of the International Court of Justice.

Ben has recently given talks on contemporary legal issues at The London School of Economics; Birmingham University; Brunel University; The University of Peshawar - Pakistan; Abo Akademi Institute of Human Rights - Turku, Finland; University of Cape Town - South Africa; Brandeis Law School - University of Louisville, Kentucky, USA.

I am the School's Learning Resources Co-ordinator.

Teaching

Development and Enforcement of Human Rights
International Economic Law
International Labour Law
Public International Law
Public Law

Research Interests

Validity, legitimacy and sustainability of legal processes and practices; Development and enforcement of International Human Rights Law, especially, Individual, Constitutional, and Labour Rights; Law making processes, especially Customary International Law; and also Regional and International Institutions and processes.

Research Areas

Human rights
International economic law
International trade law
Legal theory and jurisprudence
Public international law
Southern African Development Community

Research Groups

CIPL Centre for International and Public Law

External Activities

Guest lectures, radio, television and media interviews.

Publications

Journal Papers

(2009) Chigara, B., On the jurisprudential significance of the emergent state practice concerning foreign nationals merely suspected of involvement with terrorist offences, Maastricht Journal of European and Comparative Law 16 (3) : 315- 340

(2009) Chigara, B., Southern African Development Community (SADC) tribunal: Mike Campbell (Pvt) Ltd and Others v. Republic of Zimbabwe: introductory note by Ben Chigara, International Legal Materials 48 (3) : 530- 548

(2008) Chigara, B., Social justice: the link between trade liberalization and Sub-Saharan Africa’s potential to achieve the United Nations Millennium Development Goals by 2015, Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights 26 (1) : 9- 42

(2007) Chigara, B., Book Review: Noortmann, M. (2005). Enforcing international law: From self-help to self-contained regimes. Aldershot, UK: Ashgate, Pp. vii, 194, International Criminal Justice Review 17 (2) : 131- 132

(2007) CHIGARA, B., "The unfinished business of human rights protection and the increasing threat of international terrorism", Asian Yearbook of International Law 13 3- 22

(2007) Chigara, B., Land Rights and Human Rights in Transitional States, Mediterranean Journal of Human Rights 11 (1)

(2007) Chigara, B., Latecomers to the ILO and the authorship and ownership of the international labour code, Human Rights Quarterly 29 (3) : 706- 726 Download publication

(2007) Chigara, B., To discount human rights and inscribe them with fakeness and unreliability, or to uphold them and engrave them with integrity and reliability? – UK experiences in the age of international terrorism, Nordic Journal of Human Rights 25 (1) : 1- 16 Download publication

(2006) Chigara, B., Short-circuiting international law, Oregon Review of International Law 8 (2) : 191- 214

(2004) Chigara, B., The right to democratic entitlement: Time for change?, Mediterranean Journal of Human Rights 8 (1) : 53- 89 Download publication

(2003) Chigara, B., The contest for labels in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) land issue, Nordic Journal of International Law 72 (3) : 369- 397 Download publication

(2002) CHIGARA, B., "Peace Agreements and Human Rights", Modern Law Review 65 (1)

(2002) CHIGARA, B., "Trade Liberalization: Saviour or Scourge of SADC Economies?", University of Miami International and Comparative Law Review 10 (1) : 7- 21

(2001) CHIGARA, B., "Building the Rule of Law", International and Comparative Law Quarterly 50 (4) : 1007-

(2001) CHIGARA, B., "From Oral to Recorded Governance: Reconstructing Title to Real Property in 21st Century Zimbabwe", Common Law World Review/Anglo American Law Review 30 (1) : 36- 65

(2001) CHIGARA, B., "Genocide", British Yearbook of International Law 72

(2001) CHIGARA, B., "Humanitarian Intervention Missions: Elementary Considerations, Humanity and the Good Samaritans", Australian Journal of International Law 66- 89

(2000) CHIGARA, B., International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea and Customary International Law, Loyola of Los Angeles Comparative and International Law Review 22 (4) : 433- 452

(2000) CHIGARA, B., Operation of the SADC Protocol on Politics, Defence and Security in the Democratic Republic of Congo, African Journal of International and Comparative Law 12 (1) : 58- 69

(1999) CHIGARA, B., ’The SAD Community – a litmus test for the UN’s resolve to banish oppression’, Remarks on the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Protocol on Politics, Defence and Security (1977), African Journal of International and Comparative Law 11 (3) : 522- 528

(1998) CHIGARA, B., "Delimiting the Law", Modern Law Review 61 (1) : 121-

(1995) CHIGARA, B., Article 2 of Convention No.87: Precepts and Their Application, a Global Assessment, Managerial Law Journal 37 (6) : 1- 20

(1995) CHIGARA, B., Human Rights: International Rights, Absolute Rights, Inalienable Rights, African Journal of International and Comparative Law 358- 363

(1994) CHIGARA, B., International aspects of Industrial Democracy, Managerial Law Journal 36 (2) : 1- 16

Book Chapters

(2012) CHIGARA, B., "Deconstructing Southern African Development Community land relations challenges: Towards a new, sustainable land relations policy?". In: Re-conceiving Property Rights in the New Millennium: Towards a new sustainable land relations policy. London : Routledge 198- 230

(2012) CHIGARA, B., "Introduction: deconstructing land relations issues of the SADC". In: Southern African Development Community Land Issues: Towards a new sustainable land relations policy. London : Routledge 3- 7

(2012) CHIGARA, B., "Tentative Reflections on the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights". In: The African Regional Human Rights System 30 Years after the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights. The Hague : Martinus Nijhoff (107) : 401- 419

(2011) CHIGARA, B., “The Humwe principle: A social-ordering grundnorm for Zimbabwe and Africa?”. In: Essays in African Land Law Vol.1. Pretoria : Pretoria University Law Press (World Bank Project) 113- 133

(2010) Chigara, B., The ILO, harbinger and chief protagonist for the recognotion and promotion of of the inherent dignity of Sub-Saharan Africa labour. In: Abass, A. ed. Protecting Human Security in Africa. Oxford University Press

(2008) Chigara, B., Terra nullius. In: Cane, P. and Conaghan, J. eds. The New Oxford Companion to Law. Oxford University Press 1160- 1161

(2008) Chigara, B., The ILO’s contribution to the development of international human rights law and human security in Sub-Saharan Africa. In: ILO Century Project: Ideas, Policies and Progress. Geneva -

(2007) Chigara, B., The advent of proportional human rights and the dignity inherent in individuals qua human beings. In: Rehman, J. and Breau, SC. eds. Religion and human rights law: A critical examination of Islamic law and practice. The Hague : Martinus Nijhoff Publishers (6)

(2000) CHIGARA, B., Pinochet and the Administration of International Criminal Justice. In: Woodhouse, D. ed. The Pinochet Case: A legal and Constitutional Analysis. Hart Publishing 115- 128

Books

(2012) CHIGARA, B., Reconceiving Property Rights in the new millennium: Towards a New Sustainable Land Relations Policy. Routledge

(2012) CHIGARA, B., Southern African Development Community Land Issues: Towards A New Sustainable Land Relations Policy. Routledge

(2004) Chigara, B., Land reform policy: The Challenge of International Human Rights law. Ashgate Publishing Company

(2002) Chigara, B., Amnesty in International Law: The Legality under International Law of National Amnesty Laws. Longman

(2001) Chigara, B., Legitimacy Deficit in Custom: A deconstructionist critique. Ashgate Publishing Ltd