125 Years of Peace and Justice

in the Hague - June 2024

Dear friends and colleagues,

We had a great start into June with a live recording in the Hague. To mark the Hague’s 125th anniversary as the International City of Peace and Justice we teamed up with The Hague Humanity Hub and Just Peace for a live podcast with special guests Shadi Sadr, Andrea Lapunzina Veronelli, Benjamin Duerr, and Leila Sadat. We discussed the health of the justice institutions and whether some are becoming obsolete, or some were a mistake altogether.

A look back at the evening (photo credit Sacha Verheid/The Hague Humanity Hub)

We have one more special episode this June - a taste of our Patreon War Criminals Book Club, where together with Reuters' Anthony Deutsch we watch the documentary The Act of Killing about the communist massacres in Indonesia.

We also chatted to Janina Dill about why there are laws of war and what people don’t understand about International Humanitarian Law and the Geneva Conventions, and the right to self-defence.

And our last episode was on the investigation and prosecution of conflict-related sexual violence in Ukraine with Anna Sosonska, Head of the CRSV Division in Ukraine’s Office of the Prosecutor General and Anastasiia Moiseieva, deputy team lead of the NGO Global Rights Compliance CRSV team.

And over on Patreon, we began our summer readings with the classic The Trial by Franz Kafka, which got us very passionately frustrated.

Thank you for supporting us and if you have any questions, please reach out to editors@asymmetricalhaircuts.com.

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Have a listen

The War Criminals Book Club Ep. 15 - Franz Kafka's The Trial

In June, we read another classic for our Patreon book reviews - The Trial by Franz Kafka. We have heard the adjective 'kafkaesque' thrown around at various trials - mostly right - so we thought of freshening up our memories and reading this book again.

Listen here

Episode 105 - Prosecuting CRSV in Ukraine with Anna Sosonska and Anastasiia Moiseieva

Anna Sosonska of Ukraine’s Office of the Prosecutor General and Anastasiia Moisaieva of GRC talk about challenges of prosecuting CRSV in Ukraine.

Anna Sosonka: It is a tactic of subjugation

Episode 104 - Laws of War 101 with Janina Dill

Janina Dill quote: IHL cannot make war unprobelmatic

IHL expert Janina Dill discusses the myths and confusion around the rules of war.

Live show: The Hague - 125 Years of Peace and Justice

A special live episode discussing if the Hague and its institutions are still fit for purpose.

Special Episode - Anthony Deutsch joins The War Criminals Book Club

At the Patreon War Criminals Book Club, we asked Anthony Deutsch about his experience investigating the 1960s massacres in Indonesia carried out against communists, and his thoughts on the documentary The Act of Killing, which follows the same events.

READ: War with water: Ukraine wants justice after Kakhovka Dam destruction. One year after a series of explosions destroyed the Kakhovka Dam, Molly wrote about how Ukraine has identified a suspect in what may become the first environmental war crime to be prosecuted.
READ: Exclusive: ICC probes cyberattacks in Ukraine as possible war crimes, sources say. Steph wrote about the first confirmation that attacks in cyberspace are being investigated by international prosecutors.

Other suggestions:

From her reporting trip in Ukraine, and more specifically on her way from Bucha, Molly suggests 'Red Famine: Stalin's War on Ukraine' by Anne Applebaum.
Janet is reading the The Three-Body Problem series by Cixin Liu. He is an award-winning author and this is some of the most popular science fiction in the People's Republic of China.
Looking to combine Netflix escapism and a celebration of neurodiversity? Steph recommends watching Geek Girl.

Looking Ahead

In July we will feature a short series focused on Ukraine (but won't forget Palestine). We will discuss hate crimes, gender, and coordination.

On our Patreon War Criminals Book Club, we will read an account of war crimes (and yes they knew they were war crimes when they did them!) in Shakespeare's Henry V. Tune in!

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