Nwamaka Rosemary Okany is a Lecturer-in-Law and a Research Associate of the Department of Public International Law and European Law, Faculty of Law, University of Amsterdam. She is also Lecturer-Tutor within the PPLE (Politics, Psychology, Law and Economics) programme of the University.

Okany’s legal career began in the Republic of Nigeria where she obtained her first law degree and is licensed to practice as Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Nigeria. She holds a Bachelor of Laws degree (With Distinction) from the University of Nigeria (1998), a Master of Laws degree (LL.M)(Cum Laude)  in International Law from the University of Utrecht (2001) and an Advanced Diploma in Public International Law (Magda Cum Laude) from the Institute of Public International Law and International Relations of Thessaloniki, Greece (2003).

Before joining the University of Amsterdam, Okany worked as a solicitor at the Enugu-based commercial law firm of C.H.C. Nwanya and Co. and was a legal assistant at the Office of the Prosecution of the United Nations Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, The Hague.  At the University of Amsterdam, she has held the posts of Graduate Research and Lecturing Assistant (2003 - 2007), Lecturer in Public International Law (2007 - 2008) and Research Associate and Lecturer (2008 till date).  As Lecturer in Public International Law, Okany has taught and coordinated teaching activities for the Masters courses State Responsibility in International Law and International Dispute Settlement. In the Spring of 2006, she was Resident Visiting Fellow at the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law, University of Cambridge, The United Kingdom.

Okany has guest lectured on international law at the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law, University of Cambridge (The United Kingdom), the University of Groningen (The Netherlands) and the University of Utrecht (The Netherlands). She has been a speaker at professional conferences around the world including in The Republic of China, The United States and Switzerland. Her professional affiliations include  The International Law Association (ILA), The Society of International Economic Law (SIEL), The Royal Netherlands Society of International Law (KNVIR), The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), The Dutch Arbitration Association (DAA), The ICC Young Arbitrators Forum and The Ius Commune Research School (a Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences accredited collaboration between The Universities of Amsterdam, Maastricht, Utrecht and Leuven). Okany is fluent in Dutch, English, Igbo and West African Creole and has a basic knowledge of French.

Alongside her other research activities, Okany is carrying out PhD research at the University of Amsterdam. Her PhD examines the responsibility of governments in International law for acts of autonomous State-owned corporations as well as private entities performing functions that have been privatized or outsourced by governments.

From 2017:

• Public International Law
• European Union Law and Moot Court
• Seminar Course - Human Rights and Corporations 
• Skills and Research Methods for Law
• Masters and Bachelor Theses  Supervision

Pre-2017:

• State Responsibility in Public International Law
• International Dispute Settlement
• Masters Theses Supervision
• Supervisor at the Amsterdam International Law Clinic
• Coach,  Jessup Moot Court Team (2007) (team that won the Best Written Memorial Prize & one of the best oralist prizes at the Dutch National Rounds of the Competition)
• Coach, Winning Team Telders Moot Court  Competition (2006)

Okany's current research interests lie both in the field of general public international law and at the intersection between public international law and 3 specialized regimes of international law: international investment law, human rights law and the Law of The European Union.

SELECT PAPERS AND PUBLICATIONS

• Private Law Analogies and International State Responsibility for Acts of Non-Governmental Entities Performing Public Functions in M. Loos and A. Keirse (eds.), Waves in Contract and Liability Law in Three Decades of Ius Commune (Cambridge: Intersentia, 2017) pp. 165 – 207.

• Sovereign Wealth Funds as Investor Claimants and Respondent State Agents in Investment Treaty Arbitration (Paper presented at the International Law Association Asia-Pacific Regional Conference, Taipei, Taiwan/Republic of China, 30 May, 2011).

• Taking the Prevention of Genocide Seriously: Media Incitement to Genocide Viewed in the Light of the Responsibility to Protect in J. Hoffmann &  A. Nollkaemper (eds.), Responsibility to Protect: From Principle to Practice (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2012) pp. 319 – 336.

• State Delegation of Functions to Private and Autonomous Entities: A  Basis for Attribution Under the Rules of State Responsibility, in K. Koufa (ed.), State Responsibility and the Individual, Thesaurus Acroasium, Vol. XXXIV (Athens/Thessaloniki: Sakkoulas Publications, 2006), pp. 327-345.

• The Structure of the International and European Legal System and Its Values (Rapporteur Report) in W.P. Heere (ed.), From Government to Governance: The Growing Impact of Non-State Actors on the International and European Legal System, Proceedings of the 6^th Hague Joint Conference on Contemporary Issues of International Law (The Hague: T.M.C. Asser Press, 2004) pp.  391 - 424.

SELECT PRESENTATIONS       

• State Responsibility for Conduct of Private Actors Affecting Human Rights (Netherlands School of Human Rights Research Annual Research Day, University of Amsterdam, 9 November 2016). 

• Lifting the Corporate Veil in ICSID Arbitration: A Case for a Uniform Approach? (Society of International Law Biennial Conference, World Trade Institute, Bern, Switzerland, 11 July 2014).

• State Responsibility and the State-Business Nexus of the United Nations Guidelines for Business and Human Rights (West Virginia University College of Law Inaugural Conference on Business and Human Rights, State of West Virginia, The United States of America, 24 September 2013).

• The International Law Approach to the Privatization of State Functions: Lessons for National Law? (Guest Lecture, University of Groningen, The Netherlands, 19 May 2011).

• State-Owned Enterprises as Litigants in Investment Treaty Arbitration (Amsterdam Centre for International Law Luncheon Series, 28 April 2011).

• Attribution to the State of Conduct of Semi-Public and Private Corporations Performing Governmental Functions (Lauterpacht Centre for International Law, University of Cambridge,  May 2006; also Centre for Energy, Petroleum and Mineral Law and Policy, University of Dundee, Scotland, 11 October 2006).

Okany is  a member of the Expert Group on Secondary Liability for International Crimes and Serious Human Rights Violations (SLIC) funded by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO)

For other ancilliary activities, visit her Linkedin webpage at Linkedin NR Okany