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24 June 2025, Berlin

Impunity in uncertain times

Berlin
24 June 2025, 7:00 pm
HAU1 Hebbel am Ufer
Stresemannstraße 29, 10963 Berlin

Serious human rights violations leave wounds that last far beyond the moment they occur. When perpetrators go unpunished, this not only hinders social reconciliation and a reckoning with the past, but also denies those affected their right to truth, justice and reparation. Only serious confrontation and coming to terms with the past can address individual pain, break down structural injustice, and pave the way for a more just future.

Where national justice fails, international institutions, such as the International Criminal Court and criminal proceedings based on the principle of universal jurisdiction, can intervene. But is there hope for the fight against impunity when autocrats systematically undermine international law?

The fifth event in the “On Justice” series brings together voices from Syria, Palestine, Gambia, Myanmar and Ukraine – five contexts marked by systematic violence and human rights crimes, but which are also places of courageous resistance. Here, people are fighting back, demanding justice and working to make hope visible.

Together, we will listen to their experiences, discuss what connects them – and ask: in uncertain times, where can we find hope for a world without impunity?

 

More Information and Tickets

 

Participants:

  • Arie Mora is an Advocacy- and Communications Manager at the Ukrainian Legal Advisory Group (ULAG) – an organization that focuses on conflict-related justice. He also worked as a communications and training consultant for the international organization WITNESS. As part of his work, Arie engages in efforts to strengthen the capacity of the domestic justice system, as well as supports other justice mechanisms to ensure justice for grave crimes committed in the context of Russia's war against Ukraine. He trains and consults specialists in IHL, documentation and other conflict-related justice topics.
  • Tun Khin (Rohingya name: Ziaul Gaffar) was born and brought up in the state of Arakan, Burma. He is Co-Founder and President of the Burmese Rohingya Organization UK, which campaigns worldwide for the rights of the Rohingya people, an ethnic minority in Myanmar. Tun Khin has briefed many officials and parliamentarians around the world on the genocide committed against the Rohingya. In November 2019, Tun Khin filed a case in Argentina under the principle of universal jurisdiction against the Myanmar military and civilian government for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.
  • Priscilla Yagu Shalom Ciesay is a human rights lawyer and expert in international humanitarian law with over 20 years of experience in legal practice and the United Nations. She has worked globally – including in New York, Sudan, Afghanistan and The Gambia – advocating for women, marginalized communities and transitional justice. As a former UN mandate holder, she currently provides programmatic expertise as an independent consultant to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in The Gambia. She is Co-Founder of the Women's Association for Women & Victims' Empowerment-Gambia. She is currently on the International Advisory Board of the Human Rights Practice Program at the University of Arizona.
  • Ruham Hawash is an activist and civil society organizer, who focuses on strengthening grassroots efforts in Palestine, Syria and beyond. She promotes collective action by civil society actors with the aim of building broader liberation movements. Ruham’s approach is rooted in accountability, justice and the ongoing work of decolonization in daily life and action. They were a joint plaintiff in the al-Khatib trial, the world's first trial on Syrian state torture.

Keynote from:

Wolfgang Kaleck is a lawyer, author and General Secretary of the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR), an independent human rights organization. He has published several books, most recently “Concrete Utopia” (2021), has been a PEN member since 2011, and was awarded the Hermann Kesten Prize in 2014. He is also Edward Snowden's legal counsel.

Moderation: 

Arne Bardelle is Senior Legal Advisor at the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR) and works in the International Crimes and Accountability program. He studied law in Berlin, Germany and Istanbul, Turkey, and is licensed as a lawyer in Berlin.

 

“On Justice” is a discourse series by HAU Hebbel am Ufer in cooperation with ECCHR (European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights).

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