From 24 - 25 September 2025, the Nuremberg Academy in cooperation with the Office of the High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina will organise a conference in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina focussing on the criminilisation of genocide denial. The conference entitled “Criminalising Genocide Denial: Law, Accountability and Prevention” is further supported by the German Foundation for International Legal Cooperation e.V. (IRZ) and TRIAL International.
The conference will facilitate an in-depth exchange of expertise between domestic and international experts on the benefits and challenges of implementing laws addressing genocide denial. It will also explore related approaches to ensuring that denial becomes unacceptable on an individual and societal level. It will bring together prosecutors, judges, civil society representatives, scholars and other relevant stakeholders.
The conference will be composed of an opening discussion, two keynote addresses and three panel discussions:
- Opening Discussion: Genocide Denial: Law, Accountability and Prevention
- Keynote Addresses
- Panel 1: Prosecuting Genocide Denial: Strategies and Challenges
The first panel will examine approaches and experiences most pertinent to the investigation and prosecution of genocide denial in different jurisdictions. In this context, the discussants will explore the regulations, case-law and established practices emanating from various legal systems. The panellists will further examine the role of legal norms more broadly in negating genocide denial on individual and societal levels and in furthering prevention.
- Panel 2: Protecting Freedom of Expression and Protection from Hate Speech
The prosecution of genocide denial has an understandably delicate interaction with the need to ensure fundamental protections regarding freedom of expression. The second panel will explore this interaction while delving into international and domestic frameworks regulating freedom of expression and hate speech both in online and offline domains. The discussions will note the importance of adopting legal provisions that respect the historical intricacies, political fault lines and individual identities shaping different contexts.
- Panel 3: From Legal Inaction to a Culture of Impunity and Denial
The final panel will highlight the enduring and pervasive impact of denial on victims and societies, including on initiatives furthering reconstruction and reconciliation. The panel will incorporate the perspectives of civil society in this regard and discuss the importance of anti-denial measures to prevention and guarantees of non-repetition. Finally, the discussions will also explore the importance of memory laws, education and other initiatives constructing collective memory for furthering the right to truth, remedy and redress for victims.
Please note that participation in this conference is only by invitation. For inquiries, please contact Kiran Mohandas Menon, Senior Officer at kiran.menon@~@nurembergacademy.org. (km)