13th United Nations Forum on Business and Human Rights

León Castellanos-Jankiewicz is Senior Researcher in International Law at the Asser Institute for International and European Law, and supervisor of the International Law Clinic on Access to Justice for Gun Violence at the University of Amsterdam Faculty of Law. His work focuses on the human rights implications of irresponsible arms trade.

Castellanos-Jankiewicz leads the project on 'Enabling Civil Society Efforts to Address the Misuse, Diversion and Abuse of Arms Exports in Latin America' within the Asser Institute, which is supported by a competitive research grant.

He lectures regularly in universities across Europe in English, Spanish and French. Overtime, he has written for print and online publications including El País, NRC and Just Security. He is a listed expert in the Forum on the Arms Trade and sits on the Advisory Committee of Global Action on Gun Violence.

Previously, he was Max Weber Postdoctoral Fellow at the European University Institute. He has held visiting positions at the University of Giessen (2023), the University of Cambridge (2017) and Harvard Law School (2015-16). He holds a PhD in International Law from the Geneva Graduate Institute.

At the 12th UN Forum on Business and Human Rights, León is interested in discussing: Ensuring access to justice for gun violence, with a focus on dismantling jurisdictional barriers faced by victims; initiating strategic civil litigation against gun companies and governmental entities issuing export licenses, and; improving regulatory regimes for arms exports and licensing to prevent downstream damage.

Recent publications:"The armor of the European arms industry, El País, July 31, 2023."Access to Justice for Gun Violence. Seeking Accountability for European Arms Exports", University of Amsterdam International Law Clinic (supervisor, authored by Jasmijn van Dijk, Felix Hartner, Viktoria Schmidt and Nada Ben Yahia), July 28, 2023."Including the Arms Sector in the EU Corporate Due Diligence Directive," Verfassungsblog (with Melanie Schneider), May 19, 2023.