The International Criminal Court (ICC) has launched an investigation into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The investigation has been backed by an unprecedented number of countries. Karim Khan, the chief prosecutor for the ICC, has committed to staring the investigation as soon as possible. What can we expect to be the outcome of the investigation, and do Western countries have the power to actually prosecute responsible individuals?

To answer some of these questions, we will also look back into the Yugoslav wars  – and the practices adopted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY).

The Henry Jackson Society is pleased to gather a panel of world experts to discuss these issues.

Ms. Nataša Kandić, the Founder of the HLC, has won over 20 international, regional and national awards for human rights. In 2000, she was presented with the Martin Ennals award, a prestigious award for human rights defenders. Nataša Kandić is one of the names on the list of 36 European heroes in 2003 chosen by the American magazine Time. In 2004, the People in Need Foundation awarded the Homo Homini award to Nataša Kandić and the HLC, and this award was presented to Nataša Kandić by Vaclav Havel. In 2005, she was pronounced an Honorary Citizen of Sarajevo, and Slobodna Bosna magazine elected her Person of the Year in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In September 2006, Time magazine pronounced Nataša Kandić one of the heroes of the past 60 years. In March 2007, Nataša became a member of the International Journal of Transitional Justice (Oxford University Journals), and in August 2008, she was invited to join the Advisory Council of the Weiser Centre for Emerging Democracies, University of Michigan. The Kosovo Institute of Peace presented Nataša with ‘The Peace Award’ in November 2012, “for her extraordinary work and contribution for reconciliation among the nations in the Balkans”. In 2013, Nataša was named the ‘Civil Rights Defender of the Year’, she was the winner of the ‘Days of Sarajevo 2013’ award, given by the Youth Initiative for Human Rights in Serbia, and also received the ‘Hrant Dink’ award from the Turkish ‘Hrant Dink Foundation’.

Taras Kuzio is a Research Fellow at the Henry Jackson Society and Professor in the Department of Political Science, National University of Kyiv Mohyla Academy. His previous positions were at the University of Alberta, George Washington University, and University of Toronto, International Institute of Strategic Studies, and School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University. Taras Kuzio holds a PhD in political science from the University of Birmingham, England, an MA in Area Studies (USSR, Eastern Europe) from the School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University of London, and a BA in Economics from the School of European Studies, University of Sussex. He held a Post-Doctoral Fellowship at Yale University. Taras Kuzio is the author and editor of 22 books, 38 book chapters and over 130 scholarly articles on Soviet, Eurasian, Russian, and Ukrainian politics, colour revolutions, nationalism, geopolitics, and international relations.

Photo Credit: The Atlantic Council

Jomana Qaddour is a resident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Rafik Hariri Center and Middle East Programs, where she leads the Syria portfolio. Qaddour is a doctoral student at Georgetown University Law Center, focusing on ethno-sectarianism and its impact on constitutional frameworks in Iraq, Bosnia, and Syria. She is currently a member of the UN-facilitated Syrian Constitutional Committee, as part of the Civil Society Group. She is the co-founder of Syria Relief & Development, a humanitarian organization working in northwest Syria that has implemented over $120 million worth of aid; she also serves on the Executive Committee of the American Relief Coalition for Syria, an umbrella group of 10 Syrian American humanitarian organizations. Qaddour previously served as a Senior Policy Analyst at the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom and as a Senior Research Assistant and Publications Manager for the Project on U.S. Relations with the Islamic World at the Brookings Institution’s Center for Middle East Policy. Prior to that, she worked as a patent attorney.

Dr William (Bill) Wiley is the Executive Director of the Commission for International Justice and Accountability – the first (and still only) private international criminal-investigative body. The 150 staff of the non-profit CIJA operate at the present time in Syria, Iraq, Libya and Myanmar to extend the criminal-investigative reach of Western law enforcement and prosecutorial bodies. Prior to establishing the CIJA in 2012, Wiley worked for the Canadian war-crimes programme, the Yugoslavia and Rwanda Tribunals, the International Criminal Court and the Iraqi High Tribunal.  Before starting his career in the field of war-crimes investigations in 1997, Wiley was an infantry officer in the Canadian Army.

Helena Ivanov is a PhD Candidate in International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Her research focuses on the relationship between propaganda and violence against civilians. In her thesis, Helena examined the role propaganda played during the Yugoslav Wars and produced a model for studying propaganda which details the key phases, functions, discourses, and techniques of propaganda (the model itself is applicable to other contexts). Additionally, Helena also served as a Manager at the Centre for International Studies at the LSE.

Prior to her PhD, Helena completed an MPhil in Political Theory at the University of Oxford, and holds a BA in Politics from the University of Belgrade.

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EVENT SUMMARY

On the 21^st of April Helena Ivanov, Associate Research Fellow at the Henry Jackson Society, Jomana Qaddour, Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council, Dr Taras Kuzio, Research Fellow at the Henry Jackson, Nataša Kandić, founder of the Humanitarian Law Center, and Dr William Wiley, Executive Director of the Commission for International Justice and Accountability, discussed the expected outcomes from an investigation into war crimes committed during the Russian invasion of Ukraine and whether the West has the power to prosecute the individuals responsible.

Helena Ivanov began the event by introducing the topic and introduced the speakers. Nataša Kandić spoke about the important role the Ukrainian judiciary has in collecting and documenting the evidence of war crimes and what steps will be needed to prepare it for this task. Especially when it comes to practical training and rebuilding trust between the Ukrainian public and the judiciary. Jomana Qaddour drew on her experience studying the Syrian Civil war and Russian crimes committed there, such as with repeated attacks on medical facilities and civilian infrastructure. She explained that these tactics are being employed in Ukraine. Dr Kuzio spoke about why the war is happening, what Putin’s goals are and what is going to happen next. He explained the historical context and revisionism behind the war and that Putin ultimately wants to eradicate Ukrainian national identity. Dr Wiley discussed the steps needed to investigate war crimes and who would be prosecuted for crimes. He described how recordings of crimes will only form a small part of any prosecution as investigations are focused on targeting those most responsible. Dr Wiley spoke about how successful prosecutions require documentary evidence gathered by Ukrainian security services. None of the panellist were optimistic about people being successfully indicted and prosecuted for war crimes.

The discussion closed with a series of questions from the audience including whether there is enough evidence to say genocide is being committed in Ukraine, how comparable Putin is to Stalin, could sanctions cause an uprising in Russia and are we going to see any changes to the application of international law.

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