Call for Papers: The Communist Crimes – Question of Individual and State Responsibility

The deadline for submissions is 31^srMay 2020.

The accountability for communist crimes provokes political discussions and legal problems in many states of the world. Given that most of those crimes can be classified as international crimes, the prosecution should be in the interest of the whole international community. 

There is no international court which would deal with individual responsibility of perpetrators of communist crimes. National courts tend to encounter tremendous problems concerning legal qualification of communist crimes, application of statutory limitations, lack of cooperation with third states, as well as invocation of privileges and immunities of high officials of communist regimes in order to avoid responsibility. In some states (e.g. in Poland) communist crimes, even minor ones, are often qualified as crimes against humanity or genocide. This provokes debates in many instances. In others states, the question of communist crimes is dealt only on the civil claims level or is ignored altogether. Does it mean that victims accept the situation? 

The aim of the conference organized by the Institute of Justice is to contemplate the answers for the following questions:

·     What was the scale and character of communist crimes?

·     In what way are communist crimes qualified in national law?

·     In what way are communist crimes qualified in international law?

·     What are the options to pursue individual responsibility for communist crimes before national and international institutions?

·     Do statutory limitations apply to communist crimes?

·     Can we apply contemporary definitions of international crimes and current standards of attribution of responsibility to perpetrators of communist crimes?

·     What is the experience of national tribunals in judging communist crimes?

·     Is there a possibility to engage international courts in prosecution of communist crimes or pursuit of state’s responsibility for communist crimes? Is there a role for the International Criminal Court, the International Court of Justice, the Human Rights Courts/Committees/Commissions, Arbitral Tribunals?

·     Are the current states/governments responsible for crimes of previous regimes, especially in case of dissolution/secession of a state? 

·     What are the main problems related to pursuit of responsibility of individual persons?

·     What are the main problems related to pursuit of responsibility of states in response to its own citizens’ claims and to citizens of third states?

·     Is it possible to attribute responsibility for communist crimes to legal entities (e.g. communist party)?

The conference will take place in Warsaw on 9-10^thNovember 2020, however due to Covid-19 the whole even can be postponed. The language of the conference is English. 

We invite lawyers, historians, and political scientists to submit a proposal for a paper related to the above questions. The organizers plan to publish papers in English and Polish by the end of 2020. The organizers will cover the costs of travel and accommodation of participants up to the agreed limit.

Applications:

Please email the proposals for papers to patrycja.grzebyk(at)uw.edu.pl by 31st May 2020.

Each submission must include:

• the author’s name and affiliation;
• a 500-word max abstract [Word file and PDF]; 
• the author’s CV, including a list of relevant publications;
• the author’s contact details, including email address and phone number.

Deadlines (which may be changed/postponed due to Covid-19)

31^stMay 2020 – submission of proposals

10^thJune 2020 – announcement of the selection results

9-10^thNovember 2020 – conference in Warsaw

31^stJuly 2020 - submission of the final versions of papers

December 2020 – publication of all papers in two language versions - English and Polish.