Bonavero Discussion Group: Human Rights and Island Futures: Critical perspectives on International Law

Islands and island communities occupy a distinctive place in contemporary scholarship, shaped by their geographies, histories, and relationships with the sea. Questions of island futures, in particular, have been widely examined in disciplines such as geography, anthropology, and environmental studies, yet they have received comparatively limited attention within international [human rights] law. In recent years, climate change has become a central focus of international legal debate concerning islands, culminating in the ICJ’s 2025 Advisory Opinion on climate change, which clarifies states’ obligations in responding to climate impacts. At the same time, the challenges facing islands extend well beyond climate change. This event explores these intersecting issues, examining how international [human rights] law responds – and where it must evolve – to better reflect the lived experiences and rights of islanders, on the occasion of the newly established ILA Study Group on “International Law, Human Rights and Islands”.

Aikaterini [Katerina] Tsampi is Assistant Professor of International Law at the University of Groningen, specializing in European and international human rights law. Her research on islands explores the intersection of human rights and island studies, advancing context-sensitive approaches to international law for island communities. She develops the concept of “islandness” in human rights law, exploring the interplay between island contexts and human rights standards from an interdisciplinary perspective.

Her scholarship appears in both legal and interdisciplinary journals, including the Netherlands International Law Review, Island Studies Journal, and Journal of Marine and Island Cultures. Dr. Tsampi is Rapporteur of the International Law Association (ILA) Study Group on “International Law, Human Rights and Islands” and co-leads the “Islands and Sustainability Lab” at the Rudolf Agricola School for Sustainable Development. She is also involved in the “Island Feminisms” project, contributing to research that foregrounds gender and justice in island contexts.

 is a DPhil in Law student at the Faculty of Law and the recipient of the Faculty's BAME DPhil in Law Scholarship in conjunction with Oriel College. Her main research interests are in Public International Law, looking specifically at extraterritorial human rights obligations of States in relation to environmental harm and climate change. She is supervised by Professor Lavanya Rajamani and Dr. Ekaterina Aristova. Lara completed the BCL in 2022 with Distinction and read for the papers International Human Rights Law: Theory, Practice and Critique, International Environmental Law, International Law of the Sea, and Comparative Human Rights. 

During the 2023/2024 academic year, Lara was a Judicial Fellow at the International Court of Justice, working with the Vice-President of the Court. Lara is also a Blog Editor for the Oxford Human Rights Hub, and a Graduate Resident Researcher at the Bonavero Institute of Human Rights.

Prior to studying at Oxford, Lara completed her LLB and an LLM in International Law and Global Justice at The University of Sheffield, for which she received full funding in the form of a Sheffield Postgraduate Scholarship. She graduated first in her LLB cohort, receiving the 2020 Vaughan Bevan Memorial Prize. In Sheffield, Lara co-founded the Lawyers Without Borders Student Division, and competed in the 2020 Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition.