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At an event organized by the Kölner Juristische Gesellschaft (Cologne Law Society), Professor Dr. Dr. h.c. Dr. h.c. Angelika Nußberger M.A. and Professor Dr. Dr. h.c. Dr. h.c. Claus Kreß, LL.M. (Cambridge) discussed the implications of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine for the future of the international legal order.
You can find the link to the video here. [German]
Prof. Dr DDr Angelika Nußberger was a guest on the podcast "Literatur und Politik" from the Hessian State Agency for Civic Education and spoke with Mechthild Harting from the FAZ. The topic of the podcast was human rights and the importance and effectiveness of human rights was discussed using the current example of the war between Russia and Ukraine. In addition, the conversation dealt with the historical development of human rights and their sphere of influence in everyday life.
You can listen to the podcast here or at the relevant providers.
On 24 February 2022, Russian forces launched a military attack on Ukraine. They invaded the country from several sides and advanced to the capital Kiev, among other places. Heavy fighting is currently taking place there, as in many other parts of the country. Russia is said to have taken control of a nuclear power plant used by civilians. Despite repeated negotiations, an end to the conflict is not in sight.
Professor Angelika Nußberger, a specialist in Eastern European law and a Slavic scholar from Cologne, has commented on the current situation in Ukraine in the press. The assessments of the director of the Academy for the Protection of European Human Rights and former vice-president of the European Court of Human Rights reflect the developments of the past decades and show the effects of the conflict on the architecture of peace in Europe and the world.
Already on 24.2.2022 our postdoctoral researcher Dr. Julia Miklasová published a classification of Russia's recognition of the separatist territories in Ukraine on the Völkerrechtsblog. (Link)
For the first time since its ten-year existence, a team from the University of Cologne is taking part in the Helga Pedersen Moot Court Competition (HPMCC). The four-member team, consisting of Cologne law students, was able to qualify for the final round in Strasbourg.
The Moot Court is organised by the European Law Students' Association (ELSA) in cooperation with the Council of Europe, the European Society for Human Rights and the European Court of Human Rights. The Moot Court deals with current issues within the framework of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). This year, the focus is on the possible legal responsibility of states for the effects of climate change, especially when these materialise through increasingly frequent extreme weather events.
The team, consisting of Greta Maria Goss, Karin Schröder, Philipp Terfurth and Sharon Woamede, qualified for the final round in Strasbourg in May 2022 after the written phase and the digital regional round in mid-March 2022. Out of more than 60 European teams in three regional rounds, the best 18 teams were selected to compete in the final round by evaluating the briefs and oral presentations. The winning team of the final round, which will take place on the premises of the Council of Europe and the ECtHR, will receive an internship at the Court.
The Cologne students are supported by their coaches Lisa Kujus and Frederic Kupsch, who are also research assistants at the Academy for European Human Rights Protection. We wish the team all the best in Strasbourg!
More information on the team and application information for participation in the Moot Court in the winter semester 2022/23 can be found here.
The Cologne Law Society invites you to the event "Russia's Attack on Ukraine and the Future of International Law". Speakers are Prof. Kreß and Prof. Nußberger. The event will be held in German.
Professor Kreß teaches criminal and international law at the University of Cologne. His research focus concerns the international law of peacekeeping in a broad sense. Since the end of 2019, he has been an ad hoc judge at the International Court of Justice in The Hague in the case of The Gambia v. Myanmar. In 2021, he was appointed Special Adviser to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court for the Crime of Aggression, among other positions.
Professor Nußberger teaches constitutional and international law at the University of Cologne. Her research areas are human rights and legal developments in Central and Eastern Europe; from 2011 to 2019 she was a judge at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, the last three years its Vice-President. Among other things, she is a member of the so-called Venice Commission of the Council of Europe (European Commission for Democracy through Law).
Both of them will classify the Ukraine war and its prehistory in terms of international law, as well as discuss the reactions of the international community and the European and international courts. Current developments up to the evening of the lecture will be included as far as possible. The two papers will be presented in alternating speeches. A debate is planned after the presentations.
The event will be streamed online and will be in German. It will end at 9.30 pm at the latest. You will find the link to the page of the Cologne Law Society here.
Professor Dr. DDr. h.c. Angelika Nußberger was invited to the talk about russia and the future of the council of europe.
Teaser:
The Russian Federation has been expelled from the Council of Europe following its aggression against Ukraine. What implications does Russia’s departure have for the Russian people, the Council of Europe itself, and the wider system of protection under the European Convention on Human Rights? Is there a risk of contagion to other problematic states, and what actions should states supportive of the Council of Europe’s values take now?
Watch the full recording of the event from the 30th of March 2022 here [English].
Since 24 February 2022, the Russian attack on Ukraine has brought war back to Europe. The war of aggression by Russian President Putin not only threatens the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, but also fundamental principles of the international order since 1945. In the public panel discussion, the historian and specialist in Eastern European history, PD Dr. Kirsten Bönker, the former Vice-President of the European Court of Human Rights, Professor Dr. Angelika Nußberger, the historian and Professor of International History and Historical Peace and Conflict Research, Professor Dr. Fabian Klose, will discuss the current situation. Angelika Nußberger, the historian and professor of international history and historical peace and conflict research, Professor Dr Fabian Klose, and the international law expert and special advisor to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Professor Claus Kreß, will jointly place the Russian aggression in a broader historical, political and international legal framework. The discussion will be moderated by historian Prof. Dr Habbo Knoch from the University of Cologne.
Watch the full recording here [German].
On 01.04.2022 the seminar "People with Disabilities in Armed Conflict" will be held online in English.
The virtual event will be chaired by the director of the academy of European Human Rights Protection, Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Angelika Nußberger together with the Disability rights researcher Lilit Grigoryan. Among the invited speakers are the ombudspersons of Ukraine and Armenia
You can find a flyer with futher information and registration here.
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Panel discussion of the MEMOCRACY-Project: When the Past is Abused to Ruin the Future – Putin’s Historic Distortion of History
The Academy for European Human Rights Protection as part of the international MEMOCRACY project invites to a hybrid panel discussion with experts in the field of memory law on April 8, 2022 at 6:30 pm as part of a first workshop. The event will be in English.
"MEMOCRACY - The Challenges of Populist Memory Politics and Militant Memory Laws", a collaborative project funded by the Volkswagen Foundation of the Academy for European Human Rights Protection, the Asser Institute in Amsterdam, the Polish Academy of Science in Warsaw and the University of Copenhagen on memory laws in Germany, Poland, Hungary, Ukraine, Russia and the Baltic States, has started its work. Following the first project workshop on the case study of German memory laws, the public panel discussion is devoted to Putin's distortion of the history of the recent past:
In his escalating speech of 21 February 2022, three days before the Russian invasion in Ukraine, President Putin made clear: In his view, Ukraine is “an inalienable part of [Russia’s] own history, cultural and spiritual space” that needs to be “de-nazified” which gives Russia the right to subjugate it. This narrative, a complete distortion of historical facts, is central for Putin’s claim that its brutal drive for expansion and restoration of the Soviet Union is politically and morally justified. If the rewriting of history, including by legal means, has been part of many States’ foreign strategy for a long time, the weight given to an official narrative of the past and the effects created have rarely been so huge. The questions arising at this beginning of a new era of international relations are numerous: Which factors have contributed to the fact that such a detachment from historical reality could be formulated and are believed by some today; what does it mean – for Ukraine, its neighbours and beyond – when memory governance is no longer limited to serving ontological security interests but openly pursues expansionist purposes; and what can European States do to preserve not only their past but also their core values and an international order that is based on law?
Panelists:
Dr. Uladzilau Belavusau
University of Amsterdam, T.M.C. Asser Institute
Dr. Aleksandra Gliszczyńska-Grabias
Polish Academy of Sciences, Institute of Legal Studies
Prof. Dr. Fabian Klose
University of Cologne, Chair for International History and Historical Peace and Conflict Research
Dr. Maria Mälksoo
University of Copenhagen, Centre for Military Studies
Moderation:
Prof. Dr. DDr. h.c. Angelike Nußberger M.A.
University of Cologne, Academy for European Human Rights Protection
We invite you to follow the event via zoom or in person in room S01, Seminargebäude. Please note that the number of seats in the room is limited.
You can download the flyer of the event here.
‘Evil progresses cunningly, with a minority operating, as it were, to remove the levers of control. One by one, freedoms are suppressed, in one sphere after another. Public opinion and the entire national conscience are asphyxiated. […] It is necessary to intervene before it is too late. A conscience must exist somewhere which will sound the alarm to the minds of a nation menaced by this progressive corruption, to warn them of the peril and to show them that they are progressing down along a road which leads far […].’
The accuracy of this statement by French politician Pierre-Henri Teitgen in 1949 is more evident than ever in present times. Human rights are the foundation of peaceful societies; the protection of human rights is a contribution to peace. External aggression and internal oppression are directly related.
The post-World War II peace architecture building on the prohibition of the use of force and the protection of human rights has not succeeded in preventing a new war between Council of Europe member states in 2022. Nevertheless, it is important, especially in this situation, to pay special attention to human rights. This applies above all to the right to life and the prohibition of torture and inhuman treatment, but also to the rights of refugees, whether they come from Ukraine, Russia, Belarus or other countries. The right to freedom of expression of those who raise their voices against the war is also particularly endangered. We are deeply concerned about the evident violation of human rights in the present situation.
The Academy for European Human Rights Protection shares the assessment of the Institute of International Law on the violation of international law by the armed attack of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, supports the initiative of members of the Russian Academy of Sciences who oppose the war with Ukraine in an open letter, joins the call for the creation of a special tribunal for the punishment of the crime of aggression and would like to draw attention to the particularly difficult situation of persons with disabilities in the conflict in Ukraine.
