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Saturday 18 March (0900 - 0930)

Saturday 18 March (0930 - 0945)

Saturday 18 March (1020 - 1120)

Session details

Over the last decade, efforts to clear paths to justice have resulted in what have been described as innovations in the field of international criminal accountability. This has included the establishment of the International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism for Syria in 2016, the establishment of the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar in 2018, and the national efforts of support for case-building in Ukraine. Increasingly, we see multiple jurisdictions being engaged, more brightly illuminating the justice landscape’s multiple co-existing centres of gravity. Among them are domestic cases in third states, International Criminal Court investigations and, in the case of both Ukraine and Myanmar, recourse to the International Court of Justice.

Our speakers, focusing primarily on accountability efforts in and for Ukraine, Syria, and Myanmar, will provide critical insights of efforts thus far. How truly innovative are these new entities and recent approaches been? What is their impact? And what more remains to be done?

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Session/Workshop Chair(s)

Saturday 18 March (1120 - 1135)

Saturday 18 March (1140 - 1240)

Session details

Following the withdrawal of international troops from Afghanistan in August 2021, the Taliban takeover has led to the denial of the fundamental human rights of women and girls, among other marginalised groups. Just over a year later, Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian woman, died in the custody of Iran’s ‘morality police’ after she was arrested for allegedly wearing her hijab improperly.

In both countries, women have been at the forefront of the protests that spilled out on the streets at great risk to their lives. Afghan and Iranian women have been met with violence, including killings and sexual violence. Evidence continues to surface of higher levels of brutality being committed against those with intersecting marginalised identities – including, notably, women from the Hazara and Kurdish communities in Afghanistan and Iran, respectively.

In this conversation, the speakers will reflect on both regimes’ long history of impunity, including for gender-based persecution and violence against women, and the ongoing violence today. They will seek to shed light on how the violence is impacting women and other marginalised groups, what justice could – or should – look like, and what the international community needs to do to support those who, once again, are under attack.

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Saturday 18 March (1245 - 1400)

Session details

“A living hell crimes against humanity in North Korean detention centers and the quest for accountability” - a 12-minute documentary on crimes against humanity in Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to be screened on the quarter hour.

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Saturday 18 March (1420 - 1525)

Session details

After decades of study, debate, drafting and delay, we are at last approaching an opportunity for substantive state discussion on the merits of the draft articles for the first multilateral treaty on the prevention and punishment of crimes against humanity. Since they were first prosecuted at Nuremberg in 1945, crimes against humanity have never been the subject of a comprehensive international convention, despite the international community’s adoption of ground-breaking treaties on genocide and war crimes. This absence introduces enormous practical and legal roadblocks, creating uncertainty for the rights of victims and defendants across jurisdictions, and inhibiting timely, consistent inter-state cooperation on issues such as extradition and mutual legal assistance. Although the International Law Commission adopted a draft text in 2019, the document spent three years stalled in the Sixth Committee, until a resolution helped to break through the impasse this fall. As we approach the critical spring session in the Sixth Committee, this panel features some of the world’s foremost experts on crimes against humanity and invites them to explore opportunities to advance a progressive text in the upcoming negotiations, which accounts for the full spectrum of atrocities that should be addressed by the convention.

Our experts will outline the core areas where they will be hoping to focus states’ attention in the months ahead and offer remarks on the ways in which the treaty text could help to address sexual and gender-based violence.

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Saturday 18 March (1530 - 1545)

Saturday 18 March (1545 - 1645)

Session details

Having opened the day by highlighting innovation in international criminal justice, we close with an assessment of some of the pervasive blind spots in the field. While creative paths to accountability are developed for some communities, other atrocity situations persist with an apparent lack of resources, attention, and political will to pursue justice. In this panel, we will explore some of the ongoing crimes that have received relatively little momentum for accountability, such as the situations in Ethiopia, Sri Lanka and Nigeria, as well as communities of victims that are often ignored, such as children.

Our distinguished panel will be invited to not only shed light on the particular blind spots within their area of expertise, but also to discuss commonalities between the types of crimes that go unprosecuted, the types of victims that often deserve greater consideration, and opportunities to push for more consistent, systematic accountability in our profession.

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Session/Workshop Chair(s)

Saturday 18 March (1650 - 1700)

Saturday 18 March (1730 - 1930)

War Crimes Committee (Lead)