Maynooth University Law Department and the Centre for International Studies and Diplomacy in SOAS are holding a joint online joint conference on the United Nations War Crimes Commission (UNWCC), which will take place on 19 November 2021. The conference organisers invite presentations from scholars in all disciplines, including but not limited to: law, history, international relations and political science. Many renowned scholars have written on the UNWCC, and we welcome further exploration of the UNWCC and its Archives. This call for presenters is open to researchers at all career levels; established scholars and researchers new to this subject are welcome to apply. This event aims to bring together UNWCC scholars (both established researchers and researchers new to the subject) to explore new avenues of exploration. In particular, the conference seeks to open this area to scholars new to the UNWCC.
The UNWCC, which operated from 1943-48, was a UN agency that supported localised prosecutions of international crimes committed during the Second World War. The Commission was composed of representatives from 16 Allied States and through its work war crimes and crimes against humanity were prosecuted in tribunals located in Europe and the Far East. Over the course of its lifetime, more than 2000 trials took place. The work of the UNWCC gives an insight into substantive and procedural international criminal law in the post war period. Since 2017, the UNWCC Archives have been made available to the public online.
This virtual conference is organised by Dr Amina Adanan of Maynooth University Law Department and Prof. Dan Plesch of the Centre for International Studies and Diplomacy in SOAS in University College London. This project is funded by the Royal Irish Academy.
Submissions should be in a Word doc. file, and should include:
- The applicant’s name, academic position and institutional affiliation.
- An abstract (max. 500 words).
- Key words (max. 5).
- ‘UNWCC conference’ in the email subject line.
Submissions should be emailed to [email protected] before 10 September 2021. Successful applicants will not be required to submit a full paper to participate in the conference in November.
Conference presentations will be 10-15 mins and the event will include keynote lectures by leading scholars on the UNWCC. The best presentations from the conference will be invited to participate in a blog symposium on the UNWCC. To encourage participation from scholars new to the subject, there will be honorarium of £100 each for the best abstract and presentation from an undergraduate, post graduate and doctoral student. The conference will be open to presenters and non-presenters alike and details of how to attend will be publicised in advance of the event.