Localizing International Law
Visiting Kleh Professor Prieto-Ríos encourages conversation to improve on international human rights.
Localizing International Law
Visiting Kleh Professor Prieto-Ríos encourages conversation to improve on international human rights.
For Enrique Alberto Prieto-Ríos, the journey to Boston began with a concern for human rights in Colombia.
As an undergraduate student working toward his Bachelor of Laws at Universidad del Rosario in Colombia, Prieto-Ríos joined a research group studying human rights at the domestic level, but soon realized that a deeper understanding would require widening his lens to consider international law. He wanted to explore how international legal frameworks mediate the role of foreign companies in dictating the lived experience of his fellow Colombians, so he went to England to earn a master’s in international law at University College London. He kept going deeper down the rabbit hole when it became clear to him that international investment law adds another critical layer of governance, focusing on that field during his PhD at Birkbeck, University of London.
His studies led him back to Universidad del Rosario, where he is research director of the Faculty of Law and head of the Research Group on International Law. As this semester’s William & Patricia Kleh Visiting International Professor of Law at BU Law, he’s now sharing what he’s learned in two seminars — one on international arbitration, the other on business and human rights.
In a globalized world undergoing sudden swings, it’s never been more important to understand the ways that international law affects everyday people, Prieto-Ríos says.
“Domestic norms and policies are changing so much in different countries,” he says. “The only thing that remains stable is international law, so we need to pay more attention.”
On November 17, Prieto-Ríos will bring some of that attention to his areas of study when he delivers the Annual Kleh Lecture, titled “UN Guiding Principles (UNGPs) on Business and Human Rights in Turbulent Times: Systemic Violence and Global Inequality.” The lecture will analyze the efficacy of the UNGP’s international policies through the lens of a case that directly impacted his fellow Colombians.
In June 2024, a federal jury in the Southern District of Florida found the multinational banana purveyor Chiquita Brands liable for financing a Colombian paramilitary group that was designated a terrorist organization by the United States. The company was ordered to pay $38 million to the families of eight of the paramilitary group’s victims, in a verdict hailed as a landmark for international law. The Chiquita case offers legal scholars and students an opportunity to re-assess whether and how non-binding international legal frameworks can support the pursuit of human rights, Prieto-Ríos says.
On November 18, Prieto-Ríos will follow the lecture with a conference on business and human rights, organized alongside Professor Erika George, the BU Law associate dean for equity, justice, and engagement and the Ernest Haddad Faculty Scholar. Prieto-Ríos wants it to be an opportunity to bring together scholars from the global north and global south in a space that can promote “conversation, reflection, and analysis” on the relationship between international law and human rights, he says.
“In these hazardous times for human rights, creating these spaces for different people to relate to each other is very important,” Prieto-Ríos says. “We need to create more and more spaces to discuss what is happening. Because if we don’t discuss it, we don’t see it. And if we don’t see it, we create blind spots and we normalize situations that should not be normalized in any part of the world.”
Prieto-Ríos, who is currently the chief editor of the journal Estudios Socio-Jurídicos, has also consulted with the Colombian government on business and human rights, helping to develop the country’s first baseline for how current international laws affect people from all over Colombia. In doing so, he says, he helped his country better understand the role of international investment law as one of the primary restraints in the development of a meaningful human rights framework.
He’s hoping his time at BU Law can encourage a closer relationship between the law school and his home country, bringing more Colombian students to Boston “to create a bilateral conversation that goes beyond borders.” Already, though, he’s seen the value of expanding that conversation.
“The students here are amazing,” Prieto-Ríos says. “Although I’m teaching, I’m learning at the same time.”
At BU Law, he wants to help his students expand their worldview with an international lens, opening doors they hadn’t realized they might one day walk through.
“This thing we call international law that we perhaps consider to be so far away from us is actually very close, and it affects our lives,” he says. “And there is a professional opportunity for them in the future to work in those areas — international investment law and business and human rights.”
Despite the challenges of protecting human rights in Colombia and beyond, Prieto-Ríos has seen that a sturdy framework of international laws — and the right attorneys enforcing those laws — can be a lifeline for countries facing elevated threats.
“Coming from a region that has had so much trouble throughout the years, I can confirm that the last resort that really works when things go bad with the government is international law,” he says. “It takes a lot. It takes a long time. But it works.”
