Bruce Broomhall
Research project
Resources, conflict and rights: how can illicit economies of conflict be regulated?
Project summary
My research program is essentially focused on the development of ideas and collaborations, as well as publications, centered on the problem of the interface between norms (mainly international law) and illicit economies linked to situations of violent conflict. This is a complex issue, and my program is necessarily multidisciplinary and transnational. In particular, it concerns the role of natural resource exploitation in triggering, aggravating and resolving conflicts (diamonds in Africa, hydrocarbons in the Middle East, agricultural products in Colombia and Côte d’Ivoire); the evolution of the international community’s response to this dynamic through several international organizations; and the ongoing debates under the rubric of transnational corporations and human rights, which stem from the work of the United Nations and involve a multitude of transnational corporations, governments and civil society actors. I intend to take advantage of this research leave to organize one or more meetings to develop links between researchers (but also lawyers, civil servants and members of civil society) from the “Network on Business, Conflict and Human Rights” – who are based in Oslo, Geneva, Catalonia, London and Paris, among others, and members of the Iméra and Aix-Marseille University networks.
