Joakim Dungels minne: Seminarier i internationell rättvisa

21 februari 2025

The responsibility of states to protect the climate system is an ongoing and continuously evolving topic. When international and national politics fall short of solutions for the climate crisis, states and non-state actors are turning to international law and its courts. The emerging cases and advisory opinions are shaping international law and jurisprudence.  

A coalition of 132 nations, led by the Republic of Vanuatu, has requested the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to provide an advisory opinion on states’ obligations to protect the climate system and their responsibility in harming it. Similarly, the International Tribunal of the Law of the Sea (ITLOS), upon request from the Commission of Small Island States on Climate Change and International Law (COSIS), has unequivocally confirmed that states have an obligation to prevent and reduce greenhouse gas emissions to mitigate the impacts of climate change on the marine environment. Further, the Government of Ukraine-established High-Level Working Group on the Environmental Consequences of the War has published an Environmental Compact for Ukraine. This Compact identified accountability as one of its three priorities – reigniting discussions about the recognition of ecocide, the wilful and severe damage to the environment, as an international crime. 

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2024 års upplaga av Joakim Dungel Lectures in International Justice gör en djupdykning i den roll som privata militär- och säkerhetsföretag (PMSCs) spelar i dagens konfliktzoner. Närvaron av privata aktörer i krig eller som säkerhetsvakter för   viktiga tillgångar i konfliktsituationer är inte ett nytt fenomen, men det har blivit mer känt i och med konflikterna i Afghanistan, Irak, Centralafrikanska republiken, Mali och nu senast Ukraina.

För stater kan PMSC vara ett sätt att komplettera otillräckliga eller ineffektiva säkerhetsstyrkor, men också ett sätt att dölja intressen och engagemang i en viss konflikt, samt även dölja ansvar för eventuella överträdelser av krigets lagar och de mänskliga rättigheterna. För privata aktörer kan tillhandahållande av säkerhet eller aktivt deltagande i konflikter innebära lukrativa affärsmöjligheter.

Genom konkreta exempel från fältet kommer detta Joakim Dungel seminarium att försöka reda ut konsekvenserna för det internationella rättssystemet av den ökande förekomsten av PMSC-aktörer. Föreläsningen kommer också att behandla viktiga frågor om hur PMSC-aktörer bör regleras och hur de kan hållas ansvariga för eventuella brott mot mänskliga rättigheter och humanitär rätt.

Se seminariet här.

9 februari 2023

The nuclear threat is growing. Escalating warfare, political posturing, and geopolitical shifts raise the immediacy of concerns regarding the immense destruction that the use of nuclear weapons would leave in their wake. 

The 2023 edition of the Joakim Dungel Lectures in International Justice will seek to make sense of the issue as our speakers help us understand the technology, history, legality, and politics of nuclear weapons. The speakers will also draw on their extensive experience and research to shed light on efforts to regulate nuclear weapons, and what this regulation and the multilateralism it depends on mean in an increasingly conflict-prone and polarized global setting.

See the lecture here.

See the lecture

In response to the September 11 attacks, the United States and its allies entered Afghanistan in 2001 to remove the Taliban from power. The US-led “War on Terror” intervention prompted the United Nations and other international allies to engage in a broad range of state-building and development activities in Afghanistan. There were a number of important initial successes, including the adoption of a new Constitution, elections, and roll-out of primary school programs. Quickly though, cracks were showing in the new democratic institutions, the Afghan security apparatus, and the reach of development programs.

Twenty years later, in the summer of 2021, the US withdrew its troops from Afghanistan. Within weeks, the Taliban had seized power and the Afghan government—backed since its establishment by the international community—had fallen. Criticism against the military operations led by the US and NATO and the state-building exercises sponsored by the UN and the international community has been harsh, but merited. The collapse of the Afghan government represents a failure of international interventions military as well as civilian.

However, a closer look at developments in Afghanistan over the past two decades shows a more complex picture of conflicting international, national, and local agendas, and similarly reveals a morphing conflict that has provided opportunities for a broad spectrum of actors of differing convictions and interests. How can we understand the oft-criticized Western-led interventions in this context, and what will it mean for the future of such efforts?

The 2022 edition of the Joakim Dungel Lectures in International Justice takes its starting point in the developments over the past two decades in Afghanistan, looking at how the intervention unfolded and why it failed. We ask:

• How is the War on Terror changing international law and interventions?
• Drawing on lessons from the past decades of state-building and military interventions, what are the main challenges for international law and justice?

Session I
Polarization and International Law: Government and Legal Perspectives  

Polarization from a Global Perspective: Viewpoints from Diplomacy
Ann Wilkens, Ambassador

Polarization and International Law: Viewpoints from Academia
Sari Kouvo, Associate Professor, Department of Law, Gothenburg Univeristy

Session II
Working with Human Rights in Polarized Times: Regional and National Perspectives  

Polarization, Human Rights and International Law: Lessons from the Middle East
Habib Nassar, Director of Policy and Research, Impunity Watch

Freedom of Media and Expression in Contemporary Europe: Possibilities and Challenges
Andrew Stroehlein, European Media Director, Human Rights Watch 

Session 3
Future Challenges for Human Rights and International Law in a Polarized World: Concluding Discussion 

Polarization and Human Rights in a Digitalized World: What Can We Expect?
Professor Susan Perry, American University, Paris

Session I

International Perspectives on the Arms Trade Treaty: Law, Politics and Conflict
Sari Kouvo

The Global Authorized Arms Trade: Facts, Figures, and Context
Paul Holtom

The Arms Trade Treaty: Background, Aims, and Context,
Paul Beijer and Paul Holtom

Session II
Swedish Perspectives on the Arms Trade Treaty and Sweden: Law, Politics, and Business
Paul Holtom

The Swedish Defense Industry and Arms Trade: Facts, Figures and Developments
Linda Åkerström

Sweden’s Role in Implementing the Arms Trade Treaty
Paul Beijer

The international legal framework to address climate change
Marianna Bolshakova, Legal Officer, Legal Affairs Programme, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

Land: Land and the Protection of Human Rights, the Guarantee of Justice, and the Realization of World Peace 
Richard Byron-Cox, Action Programme Alignment and Capacity Building Officer, The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD)

Sea: Environmental Justice in the Oceans—A Conceptual Analysis of Legal Frameworks Applicable to the Remediation of Sea-Dumped Chemical Weapons
Grant Dawson, Principal Legal Officer, Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW)

See the lecture here

Session I

Biological and Chemical Weapons
Dr. Robert Heinsch, Associate Professor, University of Leiden
Dr. Valeria Santori, International Consultant, Former Senior Policy Officer with the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons

Session II

Nuclear Weapons
Dr. Tytti Erästö, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI)

Panel discussion and Q&A session
Josefin Lind, Swedish Physicians Against Nuclear Weapons
Dr. Mikael Baaz, Associate Professor, University of Gothenburg
Dr. Robert Heinsch, Dr. Valeria Santori, Dr. Tytti Erästö

Moderator: Dr. Andreas Moberg, Associate Professor, University of Gothenburg

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International Core Crime vs transnational crime – where does the crime of terrorism stand? 
Philipp Ambach, Chief of the Victims Participation and Reparation Section in the Registry of  the International Criminal Court (ICC)

Combatting terrorism “bottom-up”- globalisation of States’ responses to an emerging global threat
Nicolas Guillou, Chef de Cabinet to the President of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon

Combatting terrorism “top down” – the UNSC’s initiatives to tackle a new global problem
Kimberly Prost, Chef de Cabinet to the President of the International Criminal Court

See the lecture here

Global Context
Presentation on the evolution of the foreign terrorist fighter phenomenon and the response of the international community. 
Nikolaus Schultz, UN Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate, New York

Local Context
A perspective from those working with the topic in the Swedish society will give the audience contextual knowledge a in order to further understand both the problem and the proposed legislative measures to combat it. Are the trends and underlying reasons the same as in the global context? 
Evin Ismail, Uppsala University and Zan Jankowski, City of Gothenburg

Swedish law
Currently voices are calling for the Swedish legislator to act. The Swedish government has ordered a number of inquiries, some of which have received quite heavy criticism when presented. What proposals for legislation are currently on the table? Is there Swedish Law in force prohibiting the active participation as an FF/FTF? 
Gustaf Almkvist, Uppsala University

Comparative law
There is an on-going debate about how to counter the ongoing recruitment of men and women into terror groups operating mainly in the Middle East. Swedish Media tends to focus on the shortcomings of the authorities in this endeavour. What is the current state of legislation to combat terrorism and in particular to prevent the travel of foreign fighters in other jurisdictions? 
Manuel Eising, Senior Legal Adviser, OSCE Secretariat - Action against Terrorism Unit

International law
In order to tie everything together, a session on International Law connects the topic to available international legislation. What rules of contemporary international law are applicable? What future change is envisaged? What is the difference, if any, between a mercenary, PMC, FF, FTF? 
Svetlana Martynova, UN Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate, New York (Via Videolink)

Criminalisation of participation through terrorist organisations in armed conflict
Is there a need to criminalise participation in armed conflict on the side of a terrorist organisation? This question is currently on the table, as a Swedish government inquiry works with this delicate issue in the interface between national law and International Humanitarian Law.
Ola Engdahl, Swedish Defence University, Expert counselor to the Inquiry to prevent and combat terrorism

Mikael Bernardini, Gothenburg University
Christer Mattson, Segerstedtinstitutet, Gothenburg University

See the lecture here

Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflicts: Lessons from the EU crisis management and the Afghan conflict
Sari Kouvo, EEAS, Department of Law, Gothenburg University

Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflicts: Survivors and Protection Mechanisms, with a Focus on Serbia
Milica Kostic, Humanitarian Law Center, Belgrad

Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflicts: Mechanisms to Ensure Accountability, with Particular Focus on the ICC
Diane Brown, Women’s Initiative for Gender Justice

Scattered Reflections on Challenges of Adjusting Vintage Rules to Modern Armed Conflict
Judge Bakhtiyar Tuzmukhamedov, International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia. He is currently based in the Hague. (keynote speaker).

What is a Drone?
Peter Bull, Swedish Defence College.

Disciplining drones: is there a role for the UN and international law?
Gleider I Hernández, Lecturer at Durham Law School. Former Associate Legal Officer at the International Court of Justice.

The Changing Nature of Warfare and the Long-Term Needs of Victims of ConflictKirsten Kirsten Roberts, PhD candidate and Dickson Poon Scholar, King’s College London. Previous Acting Deputy Chief Executive and Director of Research, Policy and Promotion of the Irish Human Rights Commission (IHRC).

Panel discussion: Cecilia Tengroth, Red Cross Sweden.
Moderator: Per Cramér , Dean of the School of Business, Economics and Law, University of Gothenburg.

Lessons in Humility: Working in Conflict and Post-Conflict Settings
Niki Ganz, Political Affairs Officer for the Middle East and Western Asia Division, United Nations Department of Political Affairs, New York

The Libya Operation from a Nordic Perspective: Identifying the Parties to an Armed Conflict in a Multinational Operation Context
Ola Engdahl, Docent in International Law, Swedish National Defence College. 

About Responsibility
Judge Wolfgang Schomburg, honorary and teaching Professor at Durham University. Judge Schomburg was elected the first German Judge by the General Assembly of the UN to join the UN- ad hoc Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague (NL) in 2001. 

Moderator: Professor Per Cramér, Dean, School of Business, Economics and Law at Gothenburg University.

Tribute to Joakim Dungel’s Unfinished Work: Whether the Incident at Wounded Knee Creek on 29 December 1890 Was a Crime Under the Applicable Law of the Time. 
Grant Dawson, Legal Officer United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

The International Criminal Court: The Next Step Towards a Comprehensive International Criminal Justice System. 
Dr. Philipp Ambach, Special Assistant to the President, International Criminal Court.