On 18 July 2024, a group of 16 international students from the Summer School on Forced Migration and Governance visited the Nuremberg Academy. Director Professor Dr Christoph Safferling, and Project Officers Dr Pauline Martini and Dr Pablo Gavira Díaz welcomed the group. The students had a particular interest in defining ways and means of prosecuting environmental crimes at the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Based on the recent Comment on the Future Environmental Crimes Policy at the ICC, Dr Martini and Dr Gavira Díaz spoke about the existing framework that may enable the potential prosecution of intentional offences directed against the environment. They analysed different conducts under the charge of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, and clarified that ecocide is currently excluded from the jurisdiction of the Court. In addition, the interactive session included a discussion on general aspects of the work of the ICC and references to the current situations in Ukraine and Gaza.
The visit to the Nuremberg Academy was part of the second edition of the International Summer School on Forced Migration and Governance, focused on “Climate (im)mobility”. The Summer School is organised by the Research Network on Forced Migration, Refugee Research, Networking and Transfer, funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research and hosted by the Centre for Human Rights Erlangen Nuremberg of the Friedrich Alexander University. This academic programme offers international experts, Master’s students and doctoral candidates the opportunity to study the topic of climate change and climate mobility in depth, as well as to explore new solutions. (pg)