Together with the Research Center for Human Rights Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU CHREN) at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), we cordially invite you to a public evening lecture by Professor Kathryn Sikkink, Ryan Family Professor of Human Rights Policy at Harvard Kennedy School and FAU honorary doctor. The lecture in English language, entitled "Is the Justice Cascade Over? Accountability in an Era of Impunity", will take place at the premises of FAU CHREN (Andreij-Sacharow-Platz 1, 90403 Nuremberg. Lecture Hall, 4th floor) on 24 June 2025 at 6 pm.
After an intrdocution by Professor Dr Katrin Kinzelbach, Chair of Human Rights Politics at FAU, Professor Sikkink will give the lecture, followed by a discussion with Academy Director Professor Dr Christoph Safferling.
The emergence of individual criminal accountability for war crimes, mass atrocities and the violation of human rights is among the most dramatic normative developments in international politics over the past half-century. Nevertheless, we document a sharp global decline in prosecutions for these crimes since 2010 and willl develop a theory on the demand for and supply of justice to explain this trend. She willl show that the global shift is driven by a reduction of prosecutions in domestic courts and that the interaction of a state’s level of liberal democracy and its legacy of past human rights abuse is strongly predictive of domestic trial initiation. While past legacies of repression and violence were addressed in openings created by democratic transitions, contemporary democratic backsliding risks denying today’s victims justice in the future. (CHREN/em)