The Nuremberg Principles: The Contemporary Challenges brings together lawyers, historians, theologians, and human rights activists from around the world. These luminaries will convene at The Catholic University of America to discuss the applicability of the Nuremberg Principles in protecting human dignity, promoting human rights, and enforcing international criminal law in the context of today.

The Nuremberg Principles: The Contemporary Challenges

March 27, 2023 / 7:15 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
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Catholic University / Washington, D.C.

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Conference will also be livestreamed and hosted virtually.

The conference is hosted by the Institute for Policy Research at The Catholic University of America in partnership with the Federal Ministry of Justice of the Federal Republic of Germany, Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Washington DC, and the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nüremberg

Conference Topics

Perspectives and History of the International Military Tribunal (IMT) and Nuremberg Military Trials (NMT) 1945-1949 at Nuremberg

The IMT 1945-1946 at Nuremberg: US, France, British, Soviet Union, and German Perspectives, and Subsequent NMT (1946-1949) Impact on American Law

The Nuremberg Principles

Judges’ Trial and Trial of the Doctors: Reflections on the Rule of Law & Medical Ethics

Post Nuremberg Trials

Legacy: From International Criminal Ad Hoc Tribunals Rwanda (ICTR), former Yugoslavia (ICTY) to Establishing the International Criminal Court (ICC) and Recent Conviction of Uganda's Leader of the Lord's Resistance Army, Dominic Ongwen, in Terms of Today's Victims and Non-Victims 

Nuremberg Law Principles and Contemporary Challenges
Victor’s Justice—the U.S. and International Criminal Law 75 Years Since Nuremberg: Continuity or Change

Genocide 
The Issue of Genocide Distinguished from Crimes Against Humanity and the Criminalization of War; Crimes and Current International Humanitarian Approaches Drawn from the Nuremberg Principles

The Nuremberg Principles: Theology - Philosophy – Society
Beyond Nuremberg: The Values of Memory, Truth, and Reconciliation

Ukraine's Nuremberg – Alleged War Crimes Issues
Review of Political/Military Situation and Legal Issues as of the Date of the Conference

 

At a time of a direct threat through Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, fundamental challenges to the international world order have once again emerged. The decision of the Russian government to go to war, and the way it has been waging this war, violates all of the fundamentals of international law and order that are reflected in the Nuremberg Principles. Not having seen a war of this size and destructiveness in Europe since World War II, it is significant to convey the message of the six million and to save lessons of history from being swept into a dustbin.

Marshal J. Breger, Professor of Law
Columbus School of Law
The Catholic University of America

Herbert R. Reginbogin, Ph.D., Collegiate Fellow
Institute for Policy Research
The Catholic University of America

People at one of the original Nuremberg Trials
The Nuremberg Principles adopted by the United Nations in 1946 and the subsequent Nuremberg military trials of Nazis formed the basis for modern international law. More than 75 years later, the applicability of these principles are being tested following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — the largest war in Europe since WWII — undertaken in violation of international law.  

 

For more information about this event, please contact Lydia Korostelova at korostelova@cua.edu