A Case for Justice? The Role of International Law and Justice in a Changing Global Landscape

The role of international law, especially international humanitarian law and international criminal law, in protecting civilians in conflict and promoting accountability after conflict has been a recurrent topic of the Joakim Dungel Lectures of International Justice. Over the past 15 years, we have explored changes in international humanitarian law, progress on prosecuting sexual and gender-based war crimes, environmental war crimes, and the role of international criminal law.

With the help of speakers who have contributed to past lectures, this year’s panel discussion takes stock of past decades’ developments of international law and investigates future spaces for justice in a changing global landscape. 

Agenda

14:15 Welcome

• Joachim Åhman, Department of Law, School of Business, Economics and Law
• Emilia Dungel, The Association in Memory of Joakim Dungel

Panel Discussion: International Law and Justice in a Changing World 

Overarching Questions

• Rules-based Multilateralism – Where are we? Where are we going
• International Criminal Law - What future for accountability?
• International Humanitarian Law - What are the possibilities to ensure protection of civilians in current conflicts?

Discussants

• Niki Ganz, Office of the Assistant Secretary-General for Middle East, Europe, the Americas, Asia and the Pacific, United Nations
• Wendy MacClinchy, Centre for Civilians in Conflict
• Moderator: Sari Kouvo, Department of Law International Law, School of Business, Economics and Law

15:15 Break

15:30 Dedicated Student Q&A

15:50 Closing Remarks

• Emilia Dungel
• Sari Kouvo

Biographies

Niki Ganz serves as Deputy Director of the Middle East Division of the United Nations Office of the Assistant Secretary General for Middle East, Europa, Americas, Asia and the Pacific. Ganz has previously served as a political officer and special assistant in United Nations field missions in Sierra Leone, Afghanistan, Lebanon, and UN Headquarters in New York. 

Wendy MacClinchy is the Director of the United Nations program at Center for Civilians in Conflict (CIVIC). She has previously worked as a UN agency Representative in Liberia, Head of the Integrated UN Resident Coordinator’s Office in Lebanon during the Syrian refugee crisis, Chief of the Humanitarian Section in the UN Office of the Special Coordinator in Lebanon (UNSCOL), as a Senior Researcher in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and as a UN Senior Advisor to the Governments of Iraq and Afghanistan. She has served in senior policy advisory roles at UN Headquarters, including in the Office of the UN Secretary-General (EOSG), the office of the UN High-Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the UN Department of Peace Operations, and the UN Department of Field Support. 

Emilia Dungel is chairperson of the Association in Memory of Joakim Dungel. Emilia currently works at the Swedish Defence Research Agency. She has previously worked for UNDP in Belgrade, the Small Arms Survey in Geneva, and UNRWA in Jerusalem before embarking on her current role at the Swedish Defense Research Agency. She holds an MA in Conflict, Security, and Development from the Department of War Studies at King’s College London and BAs in Political Science and Mandarin from Lund University.

Sari Kouvo is Associate Professor in International Law at the Department of Law at Gothenburg University. She has held several policy position at the European External Action Service. Other previous engagements include Co-Director of the Afghanistan Analysts Network and Head of Program at the International Centre for Transitional. She has held visiting lectureshios and/or scholarships at Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Kent University, Birkbeck University, NATO Defense College, Kent University, Abo Academy and the Australian National University.

Joachim Åhman is professor of public international law in the Department of Law, University of Gothenburg. He received a LLB and a LLM from Lund University (2004), a BA in history from the University of Gothenburg (2008), a LLD in public international law from the University of Gothenburg (2011), and has been appointed docent in the School of Business, Economics and Law, University of Gothenburg (2017).

About the Joakim Dungel Lectures

The Joakim Dungel Lectures in International Justice aim to analyse and discuss various challenges through an international law lens. The Lectures were instituted in 2012 to honour the life and work of Joakim Dungel, an alumnus of Gothenburg University who was killed while working as a human rights officer for the UN in Afghanistan in 2011. To continue the work he was not able to, the seminars have tried to understand complex and controversial issues. Previous lectures have dealt with issues such as sexual violence in conflict, weapons of mass destruction, the global arms trade, and contextualizing terrorism. There are not clear-cut solutions to the topics at hand, but the Lectures aim to encourage the discussion as a means towards progress.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Read more about the Joakim Dungel Lectures in International Justice here.