Conference programme

Speakers

Mark Ellis Executive Director, International Bar Association, London

Andriy Kostin Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to the Kingdom of the Netherlands; Kyiv; former Prosecutor General of Ukraine

As states increasingly focus on defence budgets, international justice mechanisms face a chronic funding crisis. This contributes to conflict by undermining the capacity of institutions such as the ICC and human rights bodies to deliver justice. This panel will also consider the relationships between judicial and quasi-judicial efforts, and the interrelationship of these with core international bodies, examining apparent duplications, overlaps and who loses out in the fight for global attention.

Corporate, financial and legal actors are increasingly (or less opaquely) implicated in atrocity crimes, from supplying weapons to facilitating sanctions evasion. Conflicts in Ukraine, Sudan, Myanmar and Israel/Palestine highlight the entanglement of business, state policy and serious violations of international law.

Artificial Intelligence presents myriad challenges and opportunities for both protecting and attacking civilian populations. This panel will focus on challenges and opportunities for civil society, militaries, combatants, and despots. How do we govern this new conflict arena, harness the benefits, and establish sound and robust ethical guard rails? Who will set the agenda?

Climate change is fuelling conflict, driving displacement, and increasingly being used as a weapon of war. Flora and fauna are caught in the crossfire of severe military actions leading to mass ecological harms that will echo for generations. Calls to recognise ecocide as the fifth international crime at the ICC are gaining traction, emphasising climate justice as firmly within the war crimes discourse.