Crimes against humanity, genocide, and ecocide: Of rights, responsibilities, and international order
The eighth annual Justice Stephen Breyer Lecture on International Law
Past Event
On April 8, 2022, as part of the eighth annual Justice Stephen Breyer Lecture on International Law, Foreign Policy at Brookings hosted Philippe Sands, professor of law at University College London and Samuel and Judith Pisar visiting professor of law at Harvard Law School, for a keynote address on rights, responsibilities, and international order.
Sands explored the evolution of the rights of individuals and groups under international law, from the introduction of the ideas of aggression, crimes against humanity, and genocide — introduced at the Nuremberg Trial, in the autumn of 1945 — to the treatment of these issues in current times, including ISIS and the Yazidis; the Rohingya in Myanmar; the Uighurs in China; and the Chagosians and the Chagos Archipelago. He also addressed the current situation in Ukraine and touched on new ideas to extend the reach of international law to criminalize severe harm to the environment.
After the keynote address, Nonresident Senior Fellow Ted Piccone joined Sands for a conversation on the role of international law in prosecuting crimes against humanity, genocide, and ecocide. A panel discussion of distinguished experts on these issues followed their conversation.
Viewers submitted questions by email to events@brookings.edu or on Twitter using #InternationalLaw.
Agenda
Welcome remarks
Constanze Stelzenmüller
Director - Center on the United States and Europe
Senior Fellow - Foreign Policy, Center on the United States and Europe
Fritz Stern Chair on Germany and trans-Atlantic Relations
Keynote address and conversation
Philippe Sands
Professor of Law - University College London
Samuel and Judith Pisar Visiting Professor of Law - Harvard Law School
Ted Piccone
Nonresident Senior Fellow - Foreign Policy, Strobe Talbott Center for Security, Strategy, and Technology
Panel discussion
Diane Marie Amann
Regents' Professor of International Law, Emily & Ernest Woodruff Chair in International Law - University of Georgia School of Law
Sean D. Murphy
Manatt/Ahn Professor of International Law - The George Washington University Law School
Philippe Sands
Professor of Law - University College London
Samuel and Judith Pisar Visiting Professor of Law - Harvard Law School
Jane Stromseth
Francis Cabell Brown Professor of International Law - Georgetown School of Law
Ted Piccone
Nonresident Senior Fellow - Foreign Policy, Strobe Talbott Center for Security, Strategy, and Technology
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China has a strategic dilemma. They’re frustrated by the status quo, and they’re probing for ways to change it. But taking big, bold actions would come at an extraordinary cost to them. You can’t eliminate the possibility that they would be willing to pay that cost, and so we have to be prepared for it. But if you accept the proposition that war is inevitable, and we must do everything we possibly can to prepare for it now, then you risk precipitating the very outcome that your strategy is designed to prevent.