Could we ever see Vladimir Putin in the dock for his crimes? What about a Western ally like Benjamin Netanyahu? Putting a country’s leader on trial once seemed unimaginable, but have the possibilities of justice been transformed?
The Freedom from Torture, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International veteran Steve Crawshaw joins us to discuss the urgent opportunity to bring war criminals to justice. Through recent stories from the front lines of justice in Ukraine, Israel/Palestine and at The Hague, as well as his earlier encounters with war criminals like Slobodan Milošević, Crawshaw will explore the stories of those who have demanded protection for civilians and accountability for war crimes amidst a pivotal moment for the future of international law.
As the White House attempts to weaken the International Criminal Court, survivors from Gaza to Bucha and beyond continue to seek justice for the crimes committed against them. Can governments finally abandon their double standards and have the courage to support prosecutions of those who commit atrocities, whether opponents or allies?
Steve Crawshaw is the author of Prosecuting the Powerful: War Crimes and the Battle for Justice. Until 2023, he was policy and advocacy director at Freedom from Torture. Before that he worked for Human Rights Watch as UK director and UN advocacy director and Amnesty International as international advocacy director and Director of the Office of the Secretary General. He joined the Independent at launch, where his roles included Russia and East Europe Editor and chief foreign correspondent. His previous books are Goodbye to the USSR (1992), Easier Fatherland: Germany and the Twenty-First Century (2004), Small Acts of Resistance (with John Jackson, foreword by Václav Havel, 2010) and Street Spirit: The Power of Protest and Mischief (foreword by Ai Weiwei, 2017).
Paul van Zyl is the co-founder and CEO of The Conduit. Paul is a winner of the prestigious Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship and was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. He served as the Executive Secretary of South Africa’s post-apartheid Truth and Reconciliation Commission and co-founded the International Centre for Transitional Justice (ICTJ), an international human rights organisation based in New York City.
