Month: November 2014

War Crimes Project Assistant Director Shanti Sattler recently contributed to a Mother Jones article about the US Senate Torture Report.  Check out the article  to see some of the UNWCC documents that show the United States’ prosecutions of torture as a war crime following World War II.

As you may have noticed, this website has changed in appearance pretty significantly over the past week or so – as momentum builds with the UNWCC research project, we’re hoping to revamp and significantly expand this site, so stay tuned for more updates soon!

We’re currently in the process of uploading some of the new archival and documentary material we’ve recently gained access to through the UN’s casefile archive, as well as some of the key documents, meeting minutes, and discussions that were produced by the UNWCC during its five-year operation. We’re also looking at consolidating some of the already-available material on the UNWCC that’s available across the web on this site, to make it easier for researchers, activists, and academics to access. If there’s anything particular that you’re looking for, get in touch – either via the comments to this post, or via the ‘contact’ section at the top of the site!

Link to the UN website, please click here. Link to the UN webcast, please click here.

The United Nations War Crimes Commission (UNWCC) was operational between 1943 and 1948 and played a vital role in preparing the ground for the war crimes trials that followed the Second World War. The evidence was submitted by 17 member nations for evaluation so that war criminals could be arrested and prosecuted. The archive also contains records of trials carried out in various Member States and presented to the Commission, including national military tribunals and the Military Tribunal of the Far East (Tokyo Trials). This panel will bring together experts to discuss the content of these archival documents, their impact on the development of international law and the International Criminal Court, as well as their potential use by and value to students and academics. A full copy of the records of the Commission was provided to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in July of this year; they were not freely open to the public earlier. This event is organized by The Holocaust and the United Nations Outreach Programme.

   Tuesday, 11 November 2014

      1:15 p.m. – 2:45 p.m.

     Conference Room 1, United Nations Headquarters, New York

Opening remarks:

Ms. Hua JIANG,Officer-in-Charge, Department of Public Information

H.E. Mr. Asoke KumarMUKERJI, Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations

Panellists:

Mr. Adama DIENG, Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide

Mrs. Bridget SISK, Chief, United Nations Archives and Records Management Section

Mr. Patrick J. TREANOR, Former member of the Office of Special Investigations, the United States Department of Justice

Mr. Dan PLESCH, Director, The Centre for Diplomatic Studies and Diplomacy, SOAS, University of London

Mr. Henry MAYER, Senior Adviser on Archives, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Moderator:

Mrs. Edith LEDERER, United Nations Correspondent for The Associated Press

After interviewing Dr. Plesch, The Guardian published an article on the recovered “hidden history” of war crimes indictments produced by the UN war crimes commission (UNWCC).

To read the article, please click here.