You are currently viewing Towards a just Peace – Affirming the rights of victims of the Crime of Aggression (Webinar)

Towards a just Peace – Affirming the rights of victims of the Crime of Aggression (Webinar)

Topic: TOWARDS A JUST PEACE – AFFIRMING THE RIGHTS OF VICTIMS OF THE CRIME OF AGGRESSION

Format: Online roundtable meeting and open debate among victims, professionals, parliamentarians, and other stakeholders (via ZOOM)

Speakers:

Dr. Ethan Hee-Seok Shin, Lecturer, Catholic University of Korea (Rep. of Korea); Researcher, Institute for Legal Studies, Yonsei University; Legal analyst, Transitional Justice Working Group (Seoul-based human rights NGO).

  • Analyzing the crime of aggression/crimes against the peace perpetrated by leaders of Axis Powers, in particular the Empire of Japan, and its implications to victimized populations.

Ms. Kathleen Burkinshaw, 2nd generation “Hibakusha” (daughter of a survivor of either of the atomic explosions at Hiroshima in 1945); Award-winning Japanese American author of The Last Cherry Blossom (UN Office of Disarmament Affairs education resource for students and teachers); ICMGLT Advisory Council Member.

  • Visualizing humanity under the mushroom clouds and amplifying the imperative need for nuclear disarmament from the perspective of a descendent of a victim of a crime against humanity (“Hiroshima”) committed within the framework of a war triggered by aggression.

Dr. Galyna Mykhailiuk, MP (Ukraine), Deputy Head, Parliamentary Committee on Law Enforcement, PGA Member.

  • Analyzing the crime of aggression perpetrated against the people and territories of Ukraine and its long-lasting implications for victims, who are demanding an end to the hostilities, the re-establishment of the situation that pre-existed the illegal war, and the attribution of individual criminal responsibility for the leader(s) of the aggressor State.

Mr. Victor Ochen, Founder and Executive Director for African Youth Initiative Network (Uganda); UN Global Ambassador for Peace and Justice (SDG Goal 16); Global advisor on Gender, Forced Displacement, and Protection, UNHCR; ICMGLT Advisory Council Member.

  • Analyzing the victims’ right to truth, justice, and reparations from the perspective of a victim/survivor who has observed the practice of the International Criminal Court.

Prof. Dr. Claus Kress, Special Advisor to the ICC Prosecutor on the crime of aggression; Chair, German and International Criminal Law and Director, Institute of International Peace and Security Law, University of Cologne (Germany).

  • Concluding remarks on the definition of victims of the crime of aggression, which include the populations and military of the victim-State as well as the subordinates in the armed forces of the aggressor-state (who are not protected persons under International Humanitarian Law).

Moderators:

Dr. Yael Danieli, Founder, and Executive Director, International Center for the Study, Prevention and Treatment of Multigenerational Legacies of Trauma (ICMLT); International expert on the life-long and multigenerational legacies of massive trauma; co-founder, Victims’ Rights Working Group (VRWG).

Dr. David Donat Cattin, Secretary-General, Parliamentarians for Global Action (PGA); Adjunct Prof. of Int. Law, NYU Center for Global Affairs; co-founder, VRWG.

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Organizers: International Center for MultiGenerational Legacies of Trauma (ICMGLT) and Parliamentarians for Global Action (PGA).

Objectives: The crime of aggression is not only one of the four core crimes under International Law defined by the Rome Statute’s preamble as the most serious crimes of concern to the International Community as a whole but is also a crime that creates the conditions for the perpetration of the other atrocities, namely, war crimes, crimes against humanity and, at times, even genocide. This is the tragic scenario of the war in and against Ukraine, triggered by a full-scale invasion by the Russian Federation on February 24, 2022. An aggressive war (an act of aggression) is always the consequence of the criminal conduct of the leaders who plan, order, and execute an illegal war. On International Day of Peace, this event is aimed to shed light on who are the victims of the crime of aggression, whose two-fold characteristic is that, on the one hand, aggression represents the gravest violation of the territorial integrity and political independence of a State. On the other, aggression brings about immense suffering and harm, including the death, of a multitude of individuals, including (i) civilians of the unlawfully attacked territories, (ii) members of the armed forces of the victim-State(s), as well as (iii) the ordinary soldiers and other subordinates of the aggressor-State who are sent to die in the battlefield in the name of an aggressive war-plan.

To know more: If you want to learn more about the crime of aggression and its history, whose roots are in both the crimes against the peace adjudicated at the Nuremberg Trial and the progressive development of victims’ rights after WWII, please visit the website of the ICMGLT and watch one of the last interviews given a year ago by Benjamin Ferencz, the last living Nuremberg Prosecutor, in dialogue with Dr. Yael Danieli.

If you want to know more about the proposal to unlock the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court on the crime of aggression, including on the recent war of aggression by the leader(s) of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, please see here the summary of the PGA proposal to “amend the amendments” to the Rome Statute on the ICC jurisdiction on the crime of aggression.