Monday, December 16, 2024, 1:00-2:30PM EST / 10:00-11:30AM PST / 11:00AM-12:30PM MST / 6:00-7:30PM GMT / 7:00-8:30PM CET / 8:00-9:30PM IDT

This International Center for the Study, Prevention and Treatment of MultiGenerational Legacies of Trauma webinar is held to mark the adoption by the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 79/122 of December 4, 2024, entitled “United Nations Conference of Plenipotentiaries on Prevention and Punishment of Crimes against Humanity”. This resolution launches a treaty-making process toward a new Convention for the Prevention and Punishment of Crimes against Humanity, which should culminate in a diplomatic conference to be held at the UN in 2028 and 2029. A Preparatory Committee tasked with the mandate to draft a compilation of proposals that may integrate the text of the Draft Articles adopted by the UN International Law Commission (ILC) in 2019 is scheduled for January 2026. 

Experts from States, NGOs, and academia will discuss the way forward towards the first comprehensive treaty in this critical area of International Law for the protection of victims’ rights, including gender issues, slavery and the slave trade, crimes against the environment, persecution, and other key issues that the progressive development and codification of crimes against humanity may address.

Speakers:

Prof. Leila Sadat

James Carr Professor of International Criminal Law at Washington University School of Law, affiliated with Yale Law School (2021-2024) and Chair of the American Branch of the International Law Association (ABILA), she served as Special Adviser on Crimes Against Humanity to the ICC Prosecutor (2013-2023). In 2008, she founded the Crimes against Humanity Initiative. She has more than 175 publications on International Law, including the ICC primer “The International Criminal Court in a Nutshell”. Leila is a member of the Advisory Council of the ICMGLT.

Dr. Victor Silveira Braoios

Victor Braoios holds a law degree from the University of São Paulo. He has been a member of the Brazilian diplomatic service since 2004. He was posted to the Brazilian Embassies in Moscow and Maputo and Mission to the EU. He was also the general technical coordinator of MERCOSUR in the free trade agreement negotiations with Canada. He is currently a Legal Adviser and Sanctions Coordinator at the Brazilian Mission to the UN. 

Elise Keppler

Executive Director of the Global Justice Center, she has over two decades of experience working to promote justice for serious crimes committed in violation of international law, including sexual and gender-based violence, before national, hybrid and international courts. Prior to joining the GJC, Elise worked in Human Rights Watch’s International Justice Program from 2003 to 2024.

Bieta Andemariam

Legal Director at Avaaz – The World in Motion, she leads the Avaaz team covering negotiations at the UN towards a crimes against humanity treaty. Bieta’s advocacy focuses on climate change, the environment, and indigenous rights. She holds a JD from NYU School of Law and an M.Sc. from Oxford University. She has been a lecturer in International Law at New School.

Charles C. Jalloh, Ph.D.

Professor of International Law and Richard A. Hausler Chair at the University of Miami Law School, he is a Member of the UN International Law Commission (Special Rapporteur on “Subsidiary means for the determination of rules of international law), founding editor of the African Journal of Legal Studies, editorial board member of American Journal of International Law, Canadian Yearbook of International Law and Max Planck Yearbook of UN Law, he worked at ICTR and Special Court for Sierra Leone.

Moderator:

David Donat Cattin, PhD.

An Adjunct Professor of International Law and Climate Change and Human Rights at NYU Center for Global Affairs, since 1995 he has been a leading civil society actor in the processes of negotiation, adoption, ratification and domestic implementation of the Rome Statute of the ICC. Formerly Secretary-General of Parliamentarians for Global Action (2014-22), he is a member of the Advisory Council of the ICMGLT.

Opening Remarks:

Dr. Yael Danieli

A Clinical psychologist, traumatologist, victimologist and psychohistorian, Dr. Danieli is Founder, Executive Director and Senior Representative to the United Nations of the International Center for MultiGenerational Legacies of Trauma (ICMGLT); Director, Group Project for Holocaust Survivors and their Children and Past-President, International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies.