On Wednesday, November 19, from 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. ET, the Atlantic Council’s Strategic Litigation Project and Eurasia Center will co-host the conference “Intent to destroy: confronting Russia’s campaign to erase Ukraine and its people.” The conference is organized by International Partnership for Human Rights, the International Human Rights Clinic at Harvard Law School, New Lines Institute, and the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security.
Since the outset of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, experts across law, policy, and academia have consistently raised alarm over the Kremlin’s genocidal rhetoric and escalating atrocities. Three-and-a-half years into the full-scale invasion, evidence of mass killings, torture, sexual violence, mass deportation of children and shelling of vital civilian infrastructure is overwhelming. Eliminationist intent, moreover, is increasingly demonstrable. With peace negotiations stalled and Russian offensives against Ukraine’s civilian and critical energy infrastructure intensifying ahead of the winter, it is time for the international community to examine the moral, legal, and policy implications of Russia’s actions through the lens of genocide.
Join us as leading international lawyers, historians, policymakers, security experts, and diplomats identify tangible legal, political, and diplomatic strategies to halt Russia’s campaign to erase Ukraine and its people.
In-person registration is available here. The conference will be livestreamed on Youtube.
Agenda
9:00–9:30 a.m. | Introductory remarks
Virtual Remarks:
Representative Joe Wilson
United States Representative for the State of South Carolina
Co-Chairman of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (US Helsinki Commission)
Virtual Remarks:
Representative Marcy Kaptur
United States Representative for the State of Ohio
Co-Chair of the Ukraine Caucus in the United States House of Representatives
Virtual Remarks:
Representative Mike Quigley
United States Representative for the State of Illinois
Co-Chair of the Ukraine Caucus in the United States House of Representatives
Joel Hellman
Dean, Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service
Georgetown University
H.E. Olga Stefanishyna
Ambassador of Ukraine to the United States
Anastasiya Donets
Team Lead, Ukraine Legal Team
International Partnership for Human Rights
9:30–11:00 a.m. | Mounting evidence of Russia’s intent to destroy the Ukrainian people
Susan Farbstein
Director
International Human Rights Clinic at Harvard Law School;
Clinical Professor
Harvard Law School
Caitlin Howarth
Director, Conflict Analytics
Yale Humanitarian Research Lab
Dmytro Koval
Co-Executive Director
Truth Hounds;
Associate Professor
Kyiv-Mohyla Academy
Svitlana Valko
Project Coordinator, Lead of Ukraine Field Team
International Partnership for Human Rights
Ambassador Clint Williamson
Senior Director, International Justice
Georgetown University;
Lead Coordinator
Atrocity Crimes Advisory Group for Ukraine;
Former Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issues
Moderated By:
Erin Farrell Rosenberg
Senior Legal and Policy Advisor, Red Line Initiative
Mukwege Foundation
11:10 a.m.–12:10 p.m. | Impunity for genocide: Historical and ethical dimensions
Julia Davis
Founder
Russian Media Monitor
Kimberly Hart
Director, Policy and Programs
Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security
Kristina Hook
Assistant Professor of Conflict Management, School of Conflict Management, Peacebuilding, and Development
Kennesaw State University;
Nonresident Senior Fellow, Eurasia Center
Atlantic Council
Gregory Stanton
Founding President and Chairman
Genocide Watch
Moderated By:
Viola Gienger
Washington Senior Editor
Just Security;
Research Scholar
NYU School of Law
12:10–1:10 p.m. | Lunch
Join us for lunch.
1:10–2:10 p.m. | Legal, political, security and humanitarian responses to Russia’s mass atrocities in Ukraine
Evelyn Farkas
Executive Director
McCain Institute
Ambassador James Gilmore
Former United States Ambassador to the OSCE;
Former Governor of Virginia
Azeem Ibrahim
Senior Director of Special Initiatives
New Lines Institute;
Adjunct Research Professor, Strategic Studies Institute
US Army War College
Mykola Yurlov
Counsellor, Department of International Law
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine
Moderated By:
Melinda Haring
Senior Advisor
Razom for Ukraine
2:20–3:20 p.m. | A plan for action
Michael Cecire
Security and Defense Researcher
RAND Corporation;
Affiliated Scholar, Center for Eurasian, Russian, and Eastern European Studies (CERES)
Georgetown University;
Adjunct Lecturer, Fels Institute of Government
University of Pennsylvania
Gillian Huebner
Executive Director, Collaborative on Global Children’s Issues
Georgetown University
Simon Papaushvili
Programme Director, Eastern Europe and South Caucasus
International Partnership for Human Rights
Leslie Shedd
Nonresident Senior Fellow, Eurasia Center
Atlantic Council;
President
Rising Communications
Moderated By:
Ana Lejava
Senior Policy Officer
Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security
Explore the programs
The Atlantic Council’s Strategic Litigation Project injects fresh thinking into how governments and practitioners can apply legal tools to advance human rights and democracy around the world.
The Eurasia Center’s mission is to enhance transatlantic cooperation in promoting stability, democratic values, and prosperity in Eurasia, from Eastern Europe and Turkey in the West to the Caucasus, Russia, and Central Asia in the East.
