YEREVAN—The Center for Truth and Justice announced its first annual international conference, entitled “Human Rights and Accountability: The Aftermath of War.” The event will take place from June 1 to 3 in Yerevan, Armenia.
The conference brings together legal scholars and leading experts in international law from across the globe to address accessibility to international justice by the victims of the 44-Day War in Nagorno-Karabakh—known to Armenians as Artsakh.
Among the featured speakers are professors of international law from top universities in the U.S., Canada, Australia, France, Germany, the Philippines, Belgium, and more. Keynote speakers Professor David Phillips, Director of the Peace-building and Rights program at Columbia University’s Institute for the Study of Human Rights, and Geoffrey Robertson, one of Australia’s most acclaimed international jurists and human rights advocates, will also be in attendance.
The 44-Day War in Artsakh is just a recent escalation of the cycle of violence going back to the early 20th century. Problematically, the discourse about this conflict mainly concerns itself with the politico-territorial issues. All the while, the plight of the indigenous people living there remains underappreciated, with war, displacement and injustice compounding trauma and devastation for generations upon generations.
For these reasons, the key objective of this conference is to re-focus the spotlight of international legal scrutiny upon the human rights and humanitarian violations impacting the people of Artsakh.
The conference is organized by the CFTJ in partnership with the American University of Armenia and the Russian-Armenian University. It will take place at the AUA campus in Yerevan, as well as remotely.
The conference is free and open to anyone interested in an objective legal analysis on the issues stemming from the 44-Day War. Those interested in participating may register online. Registration is required whether you attend virtually or in person.
CFTJ is a U.S.-based non-profit organization established in November 2020, in response to the 44-Day War in Artsakh. CFTJ is not affiliated with any political or governmental organization and is entirely independent. CFTJ’s team of attorneys built a fact-finding infrastructure in Armenia and Artsakh, to gather testimonial evidence from victims of war-related human rights and humanitarian abuses. CFTJ has collected more than 250 testimonies from witnesses including returned POWs, displaced individuals, and victims of prohibited methods of warfare. CFTJ’s mission is to create a living memorial to crimes against humanity, for purposes of education and legal action.
