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Seminars

Explore our past sem­i­nars fea­tur­ing expert speak­ers! Gain valu­able insights and expand your knowl­edge. Don’t miss the oppor­tu­ni­ty to learn from pro­fes­sion­als.

Human Rights in Armed Conflicts: DRC, Sudan and Ukraine

Human Rights in Armed Conflicts: DRC, Sudan and Ukraine

Expert Pan­el Dis­cus­sion on Peace Build­ing and Jus­tice

Date: March 4, 2025
Venue: In per­son Moot Court Room,  Uni­ver­si­ty of Pre­to­ria

https://zoom.us/j/92175340566pwd=0pecUkaFJ9PWZM592Al7O9cZacsKQN.1

Meet­ing ID: 921 7534 0566

Pass­code: 107813
Time: 12.30 for 1 pm — 4.00pm


Event Overview

This expert pan­el dis­cus­sion is focus­ing on ris­ing vio­la­tions of human rights and war crimes, with the spe­cial focus on envi­ron­men­tal war crimes in three rag­ing armed con­flicts in DRC, Sudan and Ukraine. Through pre­sen­ta­tions of doc­u­ment­ed evi­dence and expert analy­sis, the event will illu­mi­nate cur­rent chal­lenges in human rights pro­tec­tion, war crimes doc­u­men­ta­tion, and paths to account­abil­i­ty. The dis­cus­sion aims to fos­ter mean­ing­ful dia­logue between experts from dif­fer­ent coun­tries while shar­ing prac­ti­cal approach­es to human rights pro­tec­tion in con­flict zones.

Pro­gram

   
12.30- 13.00 Reg­is­tra­tion
13.00 – 13.40 Open­ing ses­sion: Human Rights in Armed Con­flict with a spe­cial focus on Envi­ron­men­tal war crimes

Pro­gramme Mod­er­a­tor, Dr Michelle Mazi­wisa.

-          Lloyd Kuveya & Dzvin­ka Kachur -

Intro­duc­tions

-          Pro­fes­sor Kilele Muza­li­wa, Goma Uni­ver­si­ty DRC– overview of the HR sit­u­a­tion in DRC

-          Ms Razan Haroun– overview of the HR sit­u­a­tion in Sudan

-          Dmytro Koval — overview of the HR sit­u­a­tion in Ukraine

Q&A       

13.40 – 14.00 Doc­u­men­ta­tion of Envi­ron­men­tal War Crimes in Ukraine
  • Volodymyr Hryshko (Truth Hounds) &Myroslava Marko­va (PEJ) Expert analy­sis of envi­ron­men­tal war crimes. Case stud­ies of the Kakhov­ka Dam destruc­tion and Zapor­izhzhia Nuclear Pow­er Plant occu­pa­tion.

Q&A
14.00 — 14.10  Break
14.10 – 14.50 Chal­lenges in Defin­ing and Doc­u­ment­ing Envi­ron­men­tal War Crimes(Ecocide) on the African con­ti­nent
  • Sudan & DRC: Kate Met­zer, s Exec­u­tive Direc­tor at Africa account­abil­i­ty Project HRDA LLM Stu­dent 
  •  James Gon­di, Africa Direc­tor Stop Eco­cide Inter­na­tion­al

Q&A
14.50 – 15.40 Pro­tec­tion of Civil­ians, Inter­na­tion­al Jus­tice and Account­abil­i­ty Mech­a­nisms
  • Pro­fes­sor Mag­nus Kil­lan­der, Cen­tre for Human Rights.
  • Pas­cal Turlan: Legal and Pro­gramme Direc­tor at Project Expe­dite Jus­tice, Adjunct Pro­fes­sor at Sci­ences Po, and for­mer ICC OTP mem­ber.
  • Dmytro Koval, Truth Hounds  

Q&A
15.40 – 16.00 Clos­ing Ses­sion 

Sum­ma­ry of key dis­cus­sions and out­line of poten­tial coop­er­a­tion ini­tia­tives. 

Discussion Focus Areas

The event will con­cen­trate on three key areas through both Ukrain­ian and African per­spec­tives:

Doc­u­men­ta­tion of Sys­tem­at­ic Vio­la­tions Expert pre­sen­ta­tions will show­case cur­rent doc­u­men­ta­tion method­olo­gies, evi­dence col­lec­tion prac­tices, and approach­es to inves­ti­gat­ing sys­tem­at­ic human rights vio­la­tions. Speak­ers will share prac­ti­cal expe­ri­ences from Ukraine while explor­ing par­al­lels with African con­texts.

Envi­ron­men­tal and Nuclear Secu­ri­ty Chal­lenges Through the cas­es of the Kakhov­ka Dam destruc­tion and ZNPP occu­pa­tion, experts will exam­ine the envi­ron­men­tal impact of armed con­flicts and approach­es to doc­u­ment­ing envi­ron­men­tal crimes. The dis­cus­sion will include com­par­i­son with envi­ron­men­tal chal­lenges in African con­flicts.

Pro­tec­tion of Civil­ian Pop­u­la­tion Spe­cial atten­tion will be giv­en to the doc­u­men­ta­tion of crimes against civil­ians, par­tic­u­lar­ly focus­ing on chil­dren’s rights vio­la­tions and forced depor­ta­tion. The dis­cus­sion will exam­ine pro­tec­tion mech­a­nisms and inter­na­tion­al response strate­gies.

Expected Outcomes

The dis­cus­sion aims to estab­lish prac­ti­cal con­nec­tions between the human rights vio­la­tions and poten­tial coop­er­a­tion between experts on defend­ing human rights in DRC, Sudan and Ukraine, share effec­tive doc­u­men­ta­tion method­olo­gies, and devel­op frame­works for future coop­er­a­tion in human rights pro­tec­tion.

Environmental and Nuclear Safety Threats: South Africa & Ukraine

Seminar Environmental and Nuclear Safety Threats: South Africa & Ukraine

Join us for a civ­il soci­ety round­table on 6 March 2025, from 10:00 to 14:00 (SAST), either online or in per­son at the Desmond & Leah Tutu Lega­cy Foun­da­tion in Cape Town.

Nuclear and envi­ron­men­tal issues affect us all. When the Chornobyl nuclear dis­as­ter struck in 1986, the radioac­tive cloud cir­cled the globe twice, with con­t­a­m­i­na­tion reach­ing as far as West Africa. This cat­a­stro­phe led to major reforms in nuclear safe­ty reg­u­la­tions.

Today, a new and urgent chal­lenge is unfold­ing in Ukraine, where the largest nuclear pow­er plant in Europe is under mil­i­tary occupation—once again putting our planet’s safe­ty at risk.

This round­table will bring togeth­er indi­vid­u­als and organ­i­sa­tions con­cerned about nuclear safe­ty and the envi­ron­men­tal impact of armed con­flict.

In part­ner­ship with Project 90 by 2030, SAFCEI, Koe­berg Alert, Truth Hounds, Project Expe­dite Jus­tice and the Ukrain­ian Asso­ci­a­tion of South Africa, this event will fos­ter open dis­cus­sions on:

- The envi­ron­men­tal impact of war

- Nuclear safe­ty risks in con­flict zones

- Strate­gies for inter­na­tion­al mon­i­tor­ing and advo­ca­cy

Be part of the con­ver­sa­tion that dri­ves real change.RSVP at [email protected]

To watch online please click here.

Justice For The Environment: The Icc’s Role In Ukraine And On The African Continent

UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN CAPE

SEMINAR: JUSTICE FOR THE ENVIRONMENT: THE ICC’S ROLE IN UKRAINE AND ON THE AFRICAN CONTINENT

Date: 7 March 2025

Time: 10 am — 1 pm

Venue in Per­son: Kad­er Asmal Moot Court, Fac­ul­ty of Law, UWC 

Online: https://uwc.zoom.us/meeting/register/_gzQVQKpTjKHaHCT_dtxyw#/registration

   
10.00 – 10.15 Open­ing remarks 

Prof Angela Van Der Berg, Direc­tor of the Glob­al Envi­ron­men­tal Law Cen­tre

Dzvin­ka Kachur, the Ukrain­ian Asso­ci­a­tion of South Africa
10.15 – 10.30 Crimes Against the Envi­ron­ment: The African Con­ti­nent  

 Dr Muyi­wa Adi­gun, a Read­er in the Fac­ul­ty of Law, Uni­ver­si­ty of Ibadan, Nige­ria
10.30 – 10.55 Prin­ci­ples of Envi­ron­men­tal Law and some per­spec­tives on Envi­ron­men­tal Dam­age

Prof Jan Glazews­ki, Emer­i­tus Pro­fes­sor at the Insti­tute of Marine and Envi­ron­men­tal Law, Uni­ver­si­ty of Cape Town (UCT), South Africa
10.55 – 11.10 ICC and pol­i­cy ini­tia­tive on crimes against the envi­ron­ment 

Pas­cal Turlan, PEJ Legal Direc­tor, for­mer ICC OTP 
11.10 ‑11.30 Build­ing the ICC Case: Destruc­tion of Kakhov­ka Dam 

Volodymyr Hryshko (Truth Hounds) & Myrosla­va Marko­va (PEJ)
11.30- 11.45 Cof­fee break
11.45 – 12.00 Pros­e­cu­tion Strat­e­gy Analy­sis of legal qual­i­fi­ca­tion chal­lenges and evi­dence col­lec­tion method­ol­o­gy

Dmytro Koval, Truth Hounds Co-Exec­u­tive Direc­tor
12.00- 12.50 Envi­ron­men­tal War Crimes and Inter­na­tion­al Coop­er­a­tion for Glob­al Envi­ron­ment — Dis­cus­sion

Facil­i­tat­ed by Prof Angela Van Der Berg, Direc­tor of the Glob­al Envi­ron­men­tal Law Cen­tre
12.50- 13.00 Clos­ing remarks

Prof John-Mark Iyi, the Direc­tor of the African Cen­tre for Transna­tion­al Crim­i­nal Jus­tice

 

Report overview SUBMERGED: Study of the Destruc­tion of the Kakhov­ka Dam and Its Impacts on Ecosys­tems, Agrar­i­ans, Oth­er Civil­ians, and Inter­na­tion­al Jus­tice”

 

PRIMARY MESSAGE:

The Kakhov­ka Dam case rep­re­sents a cru­cial oppor­tu­ni­ty to acti­vate Arti­cle 8(2)(b)(iv) of the Rome Statute, set­ting a prece­dent for pros­e­cut­ing envi­ron­men­tal war crimes at the ICC.

ICC TIMING AND STRATEGY:

The sub­mis­sion aligns with ICC’s new pol­i­cy ini­tia­tive on envi­ron­men­tal crimes, cre­at­ing momen­tum for advanc­ing account­abil­i­ty for envi­ron­men­tal dam­age dur­ing armed con­flicts.

Global Environmental and Human Rights: Shared Challenges for Ukraine and South Africa

Global Environmental and Human Rights: Shared Challenges for Ukraine and South Africa

Civ­il Soci­ety Dis­cus­sion & Film Screen­ing

Date: March 10, 2025 (Mon­day), Dur­ban

Venue: Diako­nia

Time: 12.30 — 4 pm

In Part­ner­ship: the com­mu­nitues of Mere­bank and Went­worth, UAZA, PEJ, Truth­Hounds, the South Dur­ban Com­mu­ni­ty Envi­ron­men­tal Alliance (SDCEA), UAZA.

Pro­posed Agen­da Flow

12.30 ‑13.00 Wel­come

 
13.00   — 13.15 Open­ing state­ments and intro­duc­tions  SDCEA, UAZA
13.15 – 13.40 Destruc­tion of Infra­struc­ture and Envi­ron­ment: Kakhov­ka Dam case (20 min)

Q&A (5 min)

 PEJ Pas­cal Turlan. Myrosla­va Marko­va
13.40 – 14.00 Infra­struc­tur­al Devel­op­ment and Envi­ron­ment in Dur­ban  SDCEA
14.00 — 14.25 ZaNPP mil­i­tary attacks & human rights vio­la­tions (15 min)

Q&A (5min)

 Truth Hounds

Dmytro Koval, Roman Koval
14.25 – 14.45 Nuclear Safe­ty in South Africa – and the Role of Civ­il Soci­ety

Q&A (5min)

 Bryan Ashe
 

Cof­fee break (15 min)
15.00 – 15.55 Film screen­ing: Big Water, The Reck­on­ing project (40 min)

Q&A 15 min

  

 

 
15.55–16.00  Con­clud­ing remarks (5 min)

 

Ses­sion 1: Pre­sen­ta­tion of the report

Report “SUBMERGED: Study of the Destruc­tion of the Kakhov­ka Dam and Its Impacts on Ecosys­tems, Agrar­i­ans, Oth­er Civil­ians, and Inter­na­tion­al Jus­tice”.