Masterclass: International Criminal Law and the War in Ukraine

This two-day online course looks into some of the most important questions of the law of genocide, war crimes and aggression as it applies to the current conflict in Ukraine.

In 2014, Russia annexed Crimea (part of the territory of its neighbour Ukraine), following this up with support for separatists in the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts. Eight years later, in 2022, a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine was launched.

What are the tools that international law can employ to counter abuses of this kind? The International Criminal Court (ICC) was set up in 1998 precisely because its creators felt that "the most serious crimes of concern to the international community as a whole must not go unpunished". In 2023, and again in 2024, the Court did indeed issue arrest warrants against Russian officials, including President Putin. But what are the legal challenges that this situation encounters? What crimes exactly can the ICC prosecute, and are there limits to its jurisdiction? What can we learn from past cases in this field? 

By the end of this course, you should be able to: 

• Recognise the basic concepts and sources of international criminal law.
• Describe the development of international criminal law and identify the main institutions today.
• Identify and critically appraise the challenges which attach to the application of the law of genocide to the situation in Ukraine.
• Critically evaluate the evaluation of selected situations in the conflict of Ukraine under the category of war crimes as manifested in the statute of the International Criminal Court
• Explain the difficulties of prosecuting the crime of aggression in the International Criminal Court and critically assess the suitability of other relevant fora.
• Solve problems utilising the knowledge gained from the various seminars.

This course is aimed at anyone with an interest in law, politics or international relations. However, it is open to all regardless of knowledge, industry or level of study.

There are no specific entry requirements for this course.