Call for Papers

The UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, adopted in 1948, was undoubtedly a breakthrough in the development of international criminal law. Although crimes against national, ethnic, racial or religious groups have been committed throughout history, genocide did not function as a legal concept. It was due to the work of Polish-Jewish lawyer Rafał Lemkin, who studied and documented German atrocities against the Jews during World War II and who was the author of the term "genocide", that the international community realized the need to punish and prevent atrocities directed specifically against certain groups. The Convention itself had a profound impact on the evolution of criminal law. While the definition of genocide adopted in the UN Convention does not contain all the elements specified by Rafał Lemkin, it introduces a certain standard, repeated in the statutes of ad hoc international criminal tribunals and in the Statute of the permanent International Criminal Court. Moreover, it influenced the penalization of genocide in criminal laws of almost all countries of the world and subjected this crime to universal jurisdiction.

The UN convention was a reaction to the atrocities and bestiality of World War II, but it did not prevent further genocides in Asia and Africa, as well as in Europe, where the people had already experienced this crime. The seventieth anniversary of the adoption of the UN Convention is therefore a good opportunity to commemorate Rafał Lemkin’s efforts and achievements concerning the penalization of genocide and to look at his legacy, above all the interpretations of this crime by international criminal tribunals. It is also worth considering the effectiveness of the UN convention and the mechanisms of its application and implementation. However, the multifaceted nature of genocide implies interdisciplinary approach to this issue. Thus, the organizers wish to invite not only lawyers, but also historians, sociologists and political scientists to participate in the anniversary conference, to jointly analyze and present the legal, historical and sociological aspects of the “crime of crimes”, as genocide is defined.

This conference will bring together scholars and practitioners working in different fields of law, history, international relations. Selected papers will be published in an edited collection by a leading publisher.

Paper proposals related to the conference theme are now invited. Possible topics for papers include:

• Rafał Lemkin  - Madrid conference – achievements and legacy
• ICTR and ICTY jurisprudence on genocide
• Genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity – Syria case?
• Current challenges – genocide, hate speech and social media
• Jews genocide on the territory of Poland,
• New developments Cultural genocide
• Education for the prevention of the crime of genocide 

 

Important dates and deadlines

30th November:  deadline for payment of the registration fee

6th December: deadline for the submission of the written paper

Guidance for Contributors

Contributors wishing to submit a paper are kindly asked to adhere to the following formatting instructions:

Font

• Main text: Times New Roman 12 Points
• Footnotes: Times New Roman 10 Points

Spacing

• Main text: 1,5-spaced
• Footnotes: single-spaced

Referencing style

• Please use the Oxford Standard for Citation of Legal Authorities (OSCOLA) referencing style.

Length of paper

• The paper should not exceed 5000 words (spacing and references not included)

Abstracts

• Apart from the paper, please also submit an abstract of up to 500 words.