The Jagiellonian Law Society (JLS) invites you to a webinar on Lemkin, UN Genocide Convention and the likelihood of prosecution of the crime of genocide. Five distinguished academics who will discuss Lemkin and the Genocide Convention in light of the recent Russian aggression in Ukraine. Lemkin was Polish and Jewish and survived WWII. He had complex, divided loyalties and life experiences that influenced his work. He is often portrayed as a lone ranger, but he was quite effective in gaining support for his ideas, especially among women groups who made the Convention possible. Lemkin had a complex relationship with Stalin, which influenced his approach to the Convention.

The first part of the webinar is on December 1st, and the second is the third week of January 2023.

One can register right now for Part 1. There is no charge. CLE credits are available for a small fee.

The Part 1 of the webinar in December 1, 2022 at 12pm EST.

The link to register is here.  

Speakers

Professor Donna Lee-Frieze (Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia, Genocide Studies scholar specializing in memory and aftermath studies, with a focus on the Stolen Generations, the Armenian genocide, the Holocaust, and the Bosnian genocide. 

Editor of Raphael Lemkins autobiography Totally Unofficial (Yale 2013). Topic: Lemkin, his Polish-Jewish roots and his identity, and the role of womens organizations in enacting Lemkins idea of the crime of genocide as the U.N. Genocide Convention.

Professor Doug Irvin-Erickson (Assistant Professor of political science and history of law, Carter School Director of the Genocide Prevention Program, G. Mason University), author of Raphaël Lemkin and the Concept of Genocide, Univ of Pennsylvania Press, 2017, https://douglasirvinerickson.org/). Topic: Lemkin and the Soviets: Political History of the U.N. Genocide Convention

Professor A. Dirk Moses (Anne and Bernard Spitzer Professor of Political Science at the City College of New York, CUNY. His first book, German Intellectuals, and the Nazi Past (2007), was awarded the H-Soz-Kult "Historical Book of the Year" prize for contemporary history. He has written extensively about genocide and global history. Recent anthologies include Postcolonial Conflict and the Question of Genocide(2018), The Holocaust in Greece (2018), and Decolonization, Self-Determination, and the Rise of Global Human Rights Politics (2020), more info at https://www.dirkmoses.com/). Topic: Axis Rule in Occupied Europe and Lemkins intellectual debts in writing it.

Professor Roman Kwiecien (Professor and Chair, Dept of Intl law, Jagiellonian University, an arbitrator at the Permanent Court of Arbitration (the Hague) and an arbitrator at the Court of Conciliation and Arbitration within the OSCE (Geneva), recent publication Aggression and Responsibility Under International Law – A Case of the Aggression of the Russian Federation Against Ukraine, "Osteuropa-Recht" 2022). Topic: Crime of genocide under the International Court of Justices approach.

Professor Marcin Marcinko (Professor of Law, Jagiellonian University, Chairman of the National Commission for Dissemination of International Humanitarian Law at the Main Board of the Polish Red Cross, and a lecturer and co-organizer of the Polish School of International Humanitarian Law of Armed Conflict, two recent publications: "A little war that shook the Court": Comment on the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights in the case of Georgia v. Russia (II) of January 21st 2021, "Polish Review of International and European Law" 2022, Vol. 11, Issue 1, p. 117–149, and The legal status of civil defense organization during armed conflict and belligerent occupation, "Security. Theory and Practice" 2022, No. 3 (XLVIII), p. 323–335). Topic: The crime of genocide in the jurisprudence of the Polish Supreme National Tribunal (it may be worth reminding the U.S. audiences that genocide prosecution did not start at Nuremberg and Poland has a significant contribution here).