Nearly Invisible: Prosecuting Atrocity Crimes Committed Against or By Children
Date and Time: Thursday, November 30, 2023 at 5:00pm to 6:30pm ET
Location: In-person at the Allison Dining Room, Harvard Kennedy School (Taubman Building (5th Floor), 79 John F. Kennedy St, Cambridge, MA 02138)
Focusing on the themes covered in FXB Visiting Scientist Cécile Aptel’s new book, Atrocity Crimes, Children and International Criminal Courts, this talk will center on the challenges international criminal courts face when handling atrocity crimes involving children. International criminal courts have paid inconsistent and limited attention to children and have instead focused on the experiences of adults and atrocity crimes. There are many structural, legal, financial, and cultural reasons for this but the result has been that children affected by atrocity crimes have been largely rendered invisible.
Aptel wonders whether and how different international and hybrid criminal jurisdictions have considered international crimes committed against or by children, and how international criminal justice can help contribute to the recognition of the specific impact that international crimes have on children, whether as victims or as participants, and strengthen their protection.
Aptel will be in conversation with Larry D. Johnson, Permanent Observer for the International Anti-Corruption Academy, and Jacqueline Bhabha, Professor of the Practice of Health and Human Rights at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, about how we might expand international attention to children in war zones beyond a narrow focus on child soldiers.
This event is part of a series of events commemorating the 75th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which will be celebrated on December 10, 2023.
Speakers:
Cécile Aptel, MA, MLitt, PhD | FXB Visiting Scientist
Larry D. Johnson, JD, MPA | Permanent Observer for the International Anti-Corruption Academy
Jacqueline Bhabha, JD, MSc | FXB Director of Research