Konf: Strengthening International Criminal Law: 80 Years since Nuremberg
From 10 to 12 October 2025, the International Nuremberg Principles Academy is organising the Nuremberg Forum 2025. The international, interdisciplinary conference will be held at Courtroom 600 of the Nuremberg Palace of Justice, the historic venue of the Nuremberg trials.
From accusations of Siegerjustiz to the establishment of international structures espousing their values, the acceptance of the Nuremberg trials and principles has been an extraordinary and non-linear process. Eight decades after aggressive war was outlawed at Nuremberg, multilateralism, international law and relevant international and regional human rights frameworks are facing renewed contestation and tremendous pushback. Drawing lessons from the Nuremberg trials and other pioneering international, regional and domestic proceedings, the panellists will reflect on the historical evolution of the law´s foundational norms and procedures. The discussions will further contextualise the key challenges faced by international criminal law today and elaborate on the role of courts, the UN, states, civil society, survivor communities and other key stakeholders in confronting them.
The conference will incorporate a historical lens to various facets of the discussion; in this context, the panellists will reflect on the absence of contemporary witnesses from the trial, the enduring and poignant symbolism of courtroom 600 and potent legacy of the Nuremberg trials while reflecting on the importance of confronting totalitarian pasts.
This year's panellists include a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, the United Nations Legal Counsel, judges from international and domestic courts, leading scholars and members of international human rights organisations. Detailed information on the conference programme is available on the website of the International Nuremberg Principles Academy (https://www.nurembergacademy.org/public-discourse/events/detail/1170-nuremberg-forum-2025).
The International Nuremberg Principles Academy is a foundation dedicated to the advancement of international criminal law and related human rights. It is located in Nuremberg, the place of the first international trial before the International Military Tribunal. Conscious of this historic heritage, its main fields of activity include providing a forum for dialogue by convening international conferences and expert meetings, conducting interdisciplinary and applied research, engaging in specialised capacity building for practitioners of international criminal law and human rights education.
The Nuremberg Forum 2025 is open to all public free of charge and will be conducted in a hybrid format. To attend the conference, please register here: https://event.nurembergacademy.org/b?p=nurembergforum2025.
Friday, 10 October 2025 – Opening Day
3–3.40 pm: Opening Remarks
- Christoph SAFFERLING, Director, International Nuremberg Principles Academy
- Thomas DICKERT, President, Higher Regional Court of Nuremberg
- Marcus KÖNIG, Lord Mayor, City of Nuremberg
- Tania VON USLAR-GLEICHEN, Legal Advisor and Head of Legal Department, Federal Foreign Office of Germany
- Silvia FERNANDEZ DE GURMENDI, President, Advisory Council of the International Nuremberg Principles Academy
3.40–4.50 pm: Opening Discussion
- Jody WILLIAMS, Chairperson, Nobel Women´s Initiative and 1997 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate
- Panellist tbc
4.50–5.30 pm: Keynote Addresses
- Silvia FERNANDEZ DE GURMENDI, President, Advisory Council of the International Nuremberg Principles Academy; former President, International Criminal Court and former President, Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court
- Elinor HAMMARSKJÖLD, Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs and Legal Counsel, United Nations
Saturday, 11 October 2025 – Lessons from International, Regional and Domestic Experiences
10–11.30 am: Panel I "Law, States and Individuals"
- Sarah CLEVELAND, Judge, International Court of Justice
- Neha JAIN, Professor of Law, Northwestern University and Co-Director of the Academy of European Law, European University Institute
- William SCHABAS, Professor of International Law, Middlesex University
- Gerry SIMPSON, Professor of Public International Law, London School of Economics and Political Science
12–1.30 pm: Panel II "Lessons from the Domestic Experience"
- Ute HOHOFF, Judge, Federal Court of Justice of Germany
- Leila SADAT, James Carr Professor of International Criminal Law, Washington University Law School and former Special Adviser on Crimes Against Humanity to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court
- Jean-François THONY, President, Siracusa International Institute for Criminal Justice and Human Rights
- Rene Fernando URENA HERNANDEZ, Professor of International Law, University of Los Andes and Special Adviser on Complementarity to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court
2.30–4 pm: Panel III "Lessons from the International and Regional Experience"
- Piotr HOFMANSKI, Director, Kraków Center for International Criminal Justice and former President, International Criminal Court
- Brenda HOLLIS, former Prosecutor, Special Court for Sierra Leone and former International Co-Prosecutor, Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia
- Patricia Viseur SELLERS, Special Advisor for Slavery Crimes for the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court and former Prosecutor and Legal Advisor for Gender, International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda
- Panellist tbc
4–4.30 pm: Discussion "Commemorating Nuremberg in Courtroom 600"
- Herbert REGINBOGIN, Collegiate Fellow, The Catholic University of America
- Rebecca WEISS, Research Associate, Documentation Centre Nazi Party Rally Grounds
Sunday, 12 October 2025 – Cooperation, Legitimacy, Universality and Prevention
10.30 am–12 pm: Panel IV "Reinforcing Frameworks and Cooperation"
- Adama DIENG, Special Envoy for the Prevention of the Crime of Genocide and other Mass Atrocities, African Union; former UN Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide and former Registrar, International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda
- Mykola GNATOVSKYY, Judge, European Court of Human Rights and former President, European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
- Päivi KAUKORANTA, President, Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court
- Panellist tbc
1–2.30 pm: Panel V "Legitimacy, Prevention and Universality"
- Juan E. MENDEZ, Professor of Human Rights Law, American University – Washington College of Law; former UN Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide and former UN Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment
- Kaari Betty MURUNGI, Former Commissioner, Kenya Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission and former Chairperson, United Nations International Commission of Human Rights Experts on Ethiopia
- Priya PILLAI, Director, Asia Justice Coalition
- Anna Myriam ROCCATELLO, Deputy Executive Director and Director of Programs, International Center for Transitional Justice
2.30–3.30 pm: Closing Discussion" Confronting Totalitarian Pasts"
- John Q. BARRET, Benjamin N. Cardozo Professor of Law, St John’s University School of Law
- Andreas WIRSCHING, Director, Leibniz Institute for Contemporary History
3.30-3.40 pm: Closing Remarks
- Viviane DITTRICH, Deputy Director, International Nuremberg Principles Academy
