The Nuremberg Forum 2021 took place on 15 and 16 October 2021 as an online event. Following the last year’s cancellation of the Nuremberg Forum 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and related security measures, the Nuremberg Academy had decided to keep the important topic and to address the critical questions connected to the Nuremberg Principles, and wider questions of the common fight against impunity.
Considering the 70th anniversary of the Nuremberg Principles, the core question for this high-level conference was to assess whether the common fight against impunity has been living up to the expectations and standards set out by the Nuremberg Principles. It seeked to understand what challenges, if any, persist in terms of strengthening the common fight against impunity and towards sustainable peace through justice.
The conference was particularly relevant to experts, professionals, and students interested in international criminal justice, international criminal law, political and social science, and had a focus both on academia and practice.
The Forum's guiding questions were:
- What is the framework enforcing the fight against impunity?
- Is the end-goal ending or fighting impunity for core international crimes? Where does one mark the distinction between the two?
- Which system/s are ensuring that the framework enforcing the fight against impunity is upheld and complied with?
- Has the fight against impunity been living up to the Nuremberg Principles?
- What are the pertaining challenges in humanity's common fight against impunity or towards sustainable peace?
- What are the best practices that can bolster the fight against impunity in line with the Nuremberg Principles?
The Nuremberg Forum is an annual international conference organized by the Nuremberg Academy. It brings together leading scholars, practitioners, policymakers, and civil society, and provides a forum for dialogue and critical exchange on contemporary international criminal law matters.
Located in Nuremberg, the birthplace of modern international criminal law, the Nuremberg Academy offers a neutral space, and is thus an apt setting, for the necessary dialogue on the development of international criminal law and the implementation and interpretation of the Nuremberg Principles today.