On 18 July 2025, a group of students from the University of Regensburg, led by Dr Roman Birke, visited the Nuremberg Academy as part of their academic seminar titled "Genocide and Crimes against Humanity: Prosecuting War Crimes from the 20th Century to the Present”. The visit was hosted by Project Officer Dr Pablo Gavira Díaz, who welcomed the group and provided a historical overview of the Nuremberg Trials, the Nuremberg Principles as well as their foundational role in the development of modern international criminal law.
The discussion then turned to the legacy of these principles in contemporary international justice, particularly through the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC). Dr Gavira Díaz highlighted how the Rome Statute represents a major milestone in codifying crimes under international law, while also acknowledging the significant legal and political challenges the ICC continues to face today. These include issues of state cooperation, accusations of politicisation, jurisdictional limitations and the difficulty of securing arrests and enforcing judgments in ongoing conflicts.
In addition, the seminar prompted a lively and thoughtful exchange on the legal and political dimensions of genocide, encouraging students to critically engage with the evolving mechanisms for accountability in international law. This visit reinforced the relevance of the Nuremberg legacy in current global efforts to uphold justice and human rights and provided students with a unique opportunity to connect historical developments with the pressing challenges of international criminal prosecution today. (pg)