Business and Human Rights as a field encompasses many areas of law, from domestic criminal, tort, contract and corporate law to private international law and comparative law, as well as other disciplines, such as business management, business ethics, sociology and economics.

In addition, it is relevant in many fields of public international law, including international human rights law, international investment law, international humanitarian law, international criminal law, international environmental law, international organisations law and the law of the sea.

This conference will explore the impacts of business and human rights on public international law. The impacts considered could be to challenge core principles of public international law, such as the sovereignty of states and international legal personality, and impacts in the application of public international law in different situations, including the attribution to states of corporate activity, its use in domestic law and what is a breach of international law in diverse contexts.

Discussion could also cover the impacts of business and human rights on specific areas of international law, such as international human rights law, international investment law, etc. The rapid development of business and human rights has also raised issues about what is public international law, to whom it applies and how it is enforced.