The Contribution of the United Nations War Crimes Commission to International Criminal Law Hybrid workshop

Last year, marked 80 years since the establishment of the United Nations War Crimes Commission (UNWCC) in London. To mark this occasion, the Research Centre in International Justice in Maynooth University is organising a workshop on the contribution of the United Nations War Crimes Commission (UNWCC) to International Criminal Law. This event will take place on 12 July 2024 online and in person.
 
The UNWCC 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 17 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. However, analysis of  the UNWCC and its work and its contribution to international criminal law, is often overlooked and under explored.
 
The event brings UNWCC experts and new scholars together to explore the contribution of the work of the UNWCC to contemporary international criminal law. Such items to be addressed include (and are not limited to):
 

• The influence (or potential influence) of the UNWCC to International Criminal Law.
• Lessons learned from the limitations and barriers faced by the UNWCC.
• The legal treatment of questions of immunity in the work and trials under the UNWCC.
• The prosecution of international crimes under the UNWCC framework.
• The right to a fair trial in UNWCC practice.
• The UNWCC as an early example of complementarity.
• The prosecution of crimes against cultural heritage in UNWCC practice.
• The organisational structure of the UNWCC as an institution.

 
Submissions should be composed of a single pdf or Word doc file, and should include:
 

• The applicant’s name and institutional affiliation.
• An abstract (max. 300 words).
• Key words (max. 5).
• ‘UNWCC workshop’ in the email subject line.

 
Submissions should be emailed to amina.adanan@mu.ie before 3 May 2024.
 
The event is funded by the Maynooth University Social Sciences Institute and the School of Law and Criminology in Maynooth University.
 
For more information, please email amina.adanan@mu.ie