Workshops on Memory Laws and Freedom of Speech in Rio De Janeiro

At the invitation of the School of Judges  of the State of Rio de Janeiro (Escola da Magistratura de Estado do Rio de Janeiro) and the Public Prosecutors Office of the State of Rio de Janeiro (Procuradoria Geral de Estado do Rio de Janeiro), researchers from the MELA and MEMOCRACY projects – Dr. Uladzislau Belavusau (T.M.C. Asser Instituut – University of Amsterdam), Dr. León Castellanos-Jankiewicz (T.M.C. Asser Instituut – University of Amsterdam) and Mr. Mirosław Michał Sadowski (Polish Academy of Sciences) – took part in workshops entitled “Memory Laws and the Freedom of Expression: Europe, Latin America and Beyond” (Leis de Memória e Liberdade de Expressão: Europa, América Latina e Além) coordinated by André Gustavo Corrêa de Andrade (Judge and Professor at Estacio de Sá Law School).

Presentation of MELA Model Declaration on Law and Historical Memory at a Workshop on Memory Laws at Seoul National University

MELA project Principal Investigator Dr. Uladzislau Belavusau (T.M.C. Asser Institute), MELA post-doctoral researcher Dr. León Castellanos-Jankielewicz (T.M.C. Asser Institute) and former MELA PhD candidate Dr. Anna Wójcik (Polish Academy of Sciences) have made a case for adopting the Model Declaration on Law and Historical Memory and disseminated the results of their consortium research during an academic mission to South Korea. In light of several recent factors, including the current rise of memory laws; the adoption new transitional justice mechanisms in South Korea; and ongoing lively inter-state debates on historical memory in East Asia – the presentation of the Model Declaration’s normative principles during the international workshop in Seoul was of particular significance and topical relevance.

To this end, the international workshop on ‘Memory Laws and Transformative Justice: Asia, Europe and Beyond’ was organized on October 29th 2022 at the Seoul National University jointly with the Korean Association of Human Rights Studies, the Busan National University SSK “Living with Slow Disaster Research Network”, and MELA project (in cooperation with MEMOCRACY project).

Prof. Buhm-Suk Baek (Kyung-Hee University), Prof. Yunjeong Joo (Pusan University), Prof. Jiewuh Song (Seoul National University) and Jung Hyuk (Truth and Reconciliation Commission) presented Korean perspectives on memory laws and other instruments of historical memory governance. Prof. Junko Kotani (Shizuoka University) analysed the specificities of Japanese constitutionalism through the looking glass of imperial eras in Japan. Dr. Belavusau demonstrated the Declaration’s relevance for the current debate on reckoning with the colonial past in France and the Netherlands using legal instruments. Dr. Castellanos-Jankielewicz discussed the rise of amnesties in South America in light of MELA Model Declaration. Dr. Wójcik argued that the Declaration has particular relevance for Central and Eastern Europe in times of democratic backsliding and mushrooming of populist memory governance.

Despite the fact the MELA project (2016-2019) has formally concluded, the participation of the MELA researchers in this event in Seoul became possible thanks to generous support from the HERA Foundation through an additional small grant for dissemination of the MELA project research results. This exchange of knowledge and experience has unveiled patterns of historical memory governance, encouraged further comparative research, and demonstrated the pertinence of academic cooperation between scholars working on East Asian, European, and Latin American memory laws and policies. The human rights and rule of law standards outlined in the Model Declaration have attracted interest, especially in the context of recent adoption of the first memory law in South Korea, as well as for ongoing political and legal debate on settling disputes over the past in bilateral relations between South Korea and Japan.

Second Part of the Special Issue on ‘Historical Memory in Post-Communist Europe and the Rule of Law’ now available online

The Second Part of a MELA Special Issue (Section) on ‘Historical Memory in Post-Communist Europe and the Rule of Law’ has been published in the latest edition of European Papers (Volume 5, Issue 3, 2020), an open-access journal. Co-edited by MELA postdoctoral researchers Dr. Grażyna Baranowska and Dr. León Castellanos-Jankiewicz, the section addresses the exponential growth of legal governance of historical memory in Central and Eastern Europe, which has occurred alongside the non-linear processes of democratic transition. The contemporary politics of memory in the region is heavily dominated by the legacies of World War II and the Nazi and Soviet regimes. The Special Section addresses these political contestations conducted through legal means and outlines the tensions emerging between Western European accounts and the historical specificities of post-communist States which experienced different forms of totalitarianism.

The Second Part contains contributions from Prof. Mirosław Wyrzykowski (on Poland), Dr. Nevenka Tromp (on former Yugoslavia), Dr. Marina Bán (on the politics of monuments in Hungary) and a joint epilogue by Dr. Uladzislau Belavusau and Dr. Aleksandra Gliszczyńska-Grabias. In their concluding epilogue, Dr. Belavusau and Dr. Gliszczyńska-Grabias summarise the research output of the MELA Project and reflect upon the common themes emerging through the first and second parts of the special section. In addition, they develop a theory of mnemonic constitutionalism, focusing in particular on Poland and Hungary as examples and illustrating how the growing density of memory laws, policies, and institutes of national remembrance have led to the constitutionalization of legal governance of memory in Central and Eastern Europe. Both parts of the Special Section, published by European Papers in 2020, demonstrate that memory laws in Central and Eastern Europe were largely used as a tool in self-exculpation. They were designed as an attempt of the state to distance itself from the atrocities committed in the 20th century. These Special Sections (MELA Special Issue) demonstrate that while doing so, memory laws and policies often threaten the foundational elements of liberal democracy and weaken constitutional orders.  

To access the Second Part of the MELA Special Section on ‘Historical Memory in Post-Communist Europe and the Rule of Law’, published in European Papers, click here.

To access the First Part, click here.

On 21 October 2020, Marina Bán, a MELA PhD researcher from the Netherlands team, successfully defended her doctoral thesis entitled ‘The Legal Governance of Historical Memory and the Rule of Law.' 

The thesis examines treatment of their past in Hungary and France and evaluates how governmental control over historical memory via legal measures affects the rule of law. Hired as a PhD researcher within the MELA Project in 2016, Marina’s interest in memory governance and law emerged from witnessing the relationship between historical revisionism and rule of law backsliding first-hand in Hungary.

Traditionally, scholarship on memory governance has employed the fundamental rights lens, and evaluated the implications on individual rights. Marina’s research, on the contrary, innovatively demonstrates how state-based instrumentalizations of history through law and legal measures have an impact on the rule of law. Utilising Hungary and France as case studies, the research evaluates the approaches to history taken by states in Europe: such as the self-inculpation approach, which has been perceived as embracing accountability and the rights of victims, whereas the self-exculpation approach has become synonymous with historical selectivity and arbitrariness. After extensive examination of each country study, the thesis determines that the binary approach to understanding the self-inculpatory and self-exculpatory approaches is insufficient to capture the full spectrum of the effects of memory laws. The country studies demonstrate how over-reliance on the self-inculpatory approach may result in harmful consequences for the rule of law. Moreover, although self-exculpation is often present and damaging, such an approach is not exclusively harmful to the rule of law.

This pioneering research builds upon the work of the MELA Project. Marina’s thesis contributes to MELA’s inter-disciplinary analysis of European memory governance. It expands the focus from fundamental rights such as democratic freedoms of expression, association, the media, or scholarly research to include the rule of law. Moreover, the MELA Project offered Marina a network of four leading research institutions in the Netherlands, Italy, Poland, and the UK, and enabled multiple research trips to Europe and the USA, which allowed for fruitful exchanges with major scholars in the field of memory laws and governance. Such activities would not have been possible if not for the EU fund, HERA, “Humanities in the European Research Area”.

The dissertation was supervised by Prof. Janne Nijman, the Academic Director of the Asser Institute and Professor of Law at the University of Amsterdam, and Dr. Uladzislau Belavusau, the Principal Investigator in the Dutch MELA team and a senior researcher in European law at the Asser Institute. The members of Marina Bán's defence jury included: Prof. Antoon de Baets (Groningen University), Prof. Yvonne Donders (University of Amsterdam), Prof. Gábor Halmai (European University Institute), Prof. Ernst Hirsch Ballin (University of Amsterdam), and Dr. Nevenka Tromp (University of Amsterdam).

After the completion of her PhD, Marina has started working as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Copenhagen investigating constitutional imaginaries behind the European integration project at both national and the EU level.

The MELA Project and UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances co-host an expert panel on missing persons and memory governance

On 24 September 2020, the T.M.C. Asser Instituut, MELA Project and United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances co-hosted an online expert panel on ‘Missing persons and memory governance’. The online panel gathered leading experts in memory law and enforced disappearances and considered how these seemingly disparate topics related to each other.

The first presentation by Dr Uladzislau Belavusau (senior researcher at the T.M.C. Asser Instituut and former MELA Principal Investigator for the Dutch team) focused on memory governance. He discussed, among other things, the MELA Declaration on Law and Historical Memory. The Declaration underlines the ethical responsibilities related to the legal governance of the past and condemns deliberate state-based distortions of historical facts as a violation of internationally recognised rights. The Declaration argues that legal means can be used to safeguard critical enquiry into a state’s past human rights violations and presents best practices to this end.

The subsequent presentation by Dr Grażyna Baranowska (senior researcher at the Institute of Law Studies, Polish Academy of Sciences, and former MELA postdoctoral researcher) focused on missing persons. Dr Baranowska highlighted three challenges in this regard: first, the presumption that the missing person is in fact alive; second, ensuring that the distinction is made between forcibly disappeared and missing persons; and third, proper recognition of families that experience so-called “ambiguous loss”, namely that their loved one is “psychologically present and physically absent”.

Ms Kathryne Bomberger (Director-General of the International Commission on Missing Persons) then presented on state responsibility to secure the rights of families of the missing. As forcibly disappeared persons are generally men, women and children are often victims. Ms Bomberger emphasised the importance of proper and effective investigations by rule of law institutions for the right to memorialisation in the context of forcible disappearances.

The following presentation by Dr León Castellanos-Jankiewicz (researcher at the T.M.C. Asser Instituut and former MELA postdoctoral researcher) focused on truth and transitional Justice in Latin America. Dr Castellanos-Jankiewicz opined that, if implemented effectively, transitional justice and the right to truth could have a concrete impact in national law and, importantly, on the lives of victims of the forcibly disappeared.  

Mr Bernard Duhaime (Member of the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances) considered the relationship between enforced disappearances, truth, memory and international law. He observed that the right to truth and memory in international law (including international human rights law and international humanitarian law) has been expanded in decisions of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, as well as in General Comments and reports of country visits by the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances.

Rounding off the expert panel, Dr Aleksandra Gliszczyńska-Grabias (Assistant Professor at the Institute of Law Studies, Polish Academy of Sciences, and former MELA Principal Investigator for the Polish team) drew together some common themes emerging from the panel discussion. Among other things, she observed that the right to truth should be at the centre of memory studies, memory law and human rights in the context of enforced disappearances.

Ms Rebecca Mignot-Mahdavi (researcher at the T.M.C. Asser Instituut) chaired the panel.

A recording of the expert panel can be accessed on the T.M.C. Asser Instituut’s Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVLZqW1f0o4&feature=emb_logo&ab_channel=T.M.C.AsserInstituut.

New Publication: Special Issue on ‘Historical Memory in Post-Communist Europe and the Rule of Law’

Part One of a MELA Special Issue on ‘Historical Memory in Post-Communist Europe and the Rule of Law’ has been published in the Summer 2020 edition of European Papers, an open access journal. The issue, which was co-edited by MELA postdoctoral researchers Dr Grażyna Baranowska and Dr León Castellanos-Jankiewicz, collects the contributions of the 2018 MELA Conference held in Warsaw on ‘Memory Laws in Post-Transitional Democracies: Case Studies from Post-Communist States’. Part Two of the Special Issue will be published in the Fall 2020 edition of European Papers. 

The Special Issue addresses the trajectory of memory governance from Western Europe - which has focused on the Holocaust as a foundational European narrative - towards the East. It also outlines the tensions emerging between Western European accounts and the historical specificities of post-communist States which experienced different forms of totalitarianism. Ultimately, the contributions show that the embrace of the rule of law in post-communist Europe via the European Union, transitional justice or the promotion of democratic values has sometimes been at odds with the region’s mnemonic governance.

The essays address the dislocation between legal and historical approaches to memory, and discuss developments in Ukraine, Hungary and Lithuania. The Special Issue includes papers authored by Prof. Nikolay Koposov, Dr. Alina Cherviastova, Dr. Nika Bruskina and Dr. Miklós Könczöl with István Kevevári, along with an introduction by Dr. Baranowska and Dr. Castellanos-Jankiewicz. A second instalment will be published in the forthcoming issue of European Papers, and will comprise contributions by Prof. Nevenka Tromp, Prof. Mirosław Wyrzykowski, Marina Bán and conclusions by Dr. Uladzislau Belavusau and Dr. Aleksandra Gliszczyńska-Grabias.

This publication follows a MELA Special Issue on memory laws edited by Dr. Piergiuseppe Parisi and Dr. Nanor Kebranian on the theme of ‘Law and Historical Injustice’ which was published in the Journal of Comparative Law in 2018. Whereas Dr. Parisi and Dr. Kebranian's issue focuses on Western democracies, Part One of the MELA Special Issue focuses on transitional democracies in post-communist Europe.

To access Part One of the MELA Special Issue on ‘Historical Memory in Post-Communist Europe and the Rule of Law’, published in European Papers, click here. Part Two is expected to be published in Fall 2020. 

Dr. Soyoung Lee presents her research on the Current Discourse in Korea on Legislating Punitive Law against the Distortion of History

On 20 February 2020, Dr. Soyoung Lee from Jeju National University, Korea, delivered a presentation on "The Politics of Regulating History Denial in Transnational Memory Space: Current Discourse in Korea on Legislating Punitive Law against the Distortion of History" at the Asser Institute. Dr. Lee focused on the memory of the May 18 Democratic Uprising in Korea. In her presentation, she examined the implications of enacting punitive memory laws, the way Auschwitzlüge is treated within public discourse in Korea, and the effectiveness of the regulation of history denial. Dr. Uladzislau Belavusau moderated the discussion. The seminar was well-attended by scholars in memory studies and Korean studies, as well as representatives of the Embassy of the Republic of Korea to the Netherlands.

Dr. Belavusau presents his research on Memory Laws and Historical Identity in Europe at the University of Milan-Bicocca

On 19 November, MELA Project Principal Investigator Dr. Ulad Belavusau presented his research on memory laws and historical identity in Europe at the University of Milan-Bicocca. His presentation was followed by discussion and contributions by Dr. Carna Pistan (Johns Hopkins University SAIS Europe, Bologna) and Dr. Roberto Cornelli (University of Milan-Bicocca).

MELA Newsletter - January-August 2019

The fourth and final MELA Newsletter for January-August 2019 has just been published! You can read it here.

After three years of working on law and historical memory, the MELA Research Consortium will close its HERA-funded phase in August 2019. We are especially grateful to our four host institutions, Queen Mary University of London, the T.M.C. Asser Institute for International and European Law (The Hague) – University of Amsterdam, the Institute of Law Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences and the Department of Law, Alma Mater Studiorum, University of Bologna, who have housed the Project’s members instimulating and collegial environments. We also extend our gratitude to our external partner organizations and scholars from across the globe whose input contributed to the Project’s success. Finally, we would like to thank the Humanities in the European Research Area (HERA), for their generous funding and continuous support of our Project over the past three years. Our online presence will continue, so please keep in touch via our website and social media accounts.

https://mailchi.mp/b9da45c9ebaa/mela-newsletter-january-august-2019

MELA Project Co-Organises Workshop with National University of San Martín, Buenos Aires

On July 11th, MELA Researchers Dr Uladzislau Belavusau, Dr Aleksandra Gliszczyńska-Grabias, and Dr León Castellanos-Jankiewicz presented at a workshop at the National University of San Martín in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The workshop, entitled “Comparative Perspectives on Memory Politics and Human Rights in Europe and South America”, also featured Dr Juan Pablo Scarfi (National University of San Martin) and Dr Elizabeth Jelin (Institution for Social and Economic Development-CONICET).

MELA Researchers Present at ICON-S in Santiago, Chile

From July 1-3, MELA Researchers Dr Aleksandra Gliszczyńska–Grabias, Dr Uladzislau Belavusau, Dr León Castellanos-Jankiewicz, and Dr Grażyna Baranowska presented a panel at the ICON-S Conference in Santiago, Chile. The conference, hosted at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, was organised by the International Society for Public Law.

Left: The opening of ICON-S in Santiago.

Right: The Pontifical Catholic University of Chile Faculty of Law, the host of ICON-S.

The panel organised by the MELA Project was entitled “The Rise of Memory Laws in Times of Contestation”. Dr Uladzislau Belavusau chaired the panel and acted as its discussant. Dr Natalie Alkiviadou (UCLan Cyprus) presented “Memory, Remembrance and Reconciliation: Words that Matter: A Glossary for Journalism in Cyprus”, a paper based on an earlier article on the MELA Project Blog which analysed an OSCE initiative to discourage the use of certain words considered harmful to reconciliation from Cypriot journalism. Dr Grażyna Baranowska presented “Turkish and Russian Memory Law in Comparative Perspective”, comparing the escalating regulation of memory in both countries. Dr Leon Castellanos-Jankiewicz presented “The Resurgence of Amnesties in Latin America: Between Remembrance and Renewal”, a paper comparing recent amnesty laws in Colombia and Mexico, with emphasis to their role in both reconciliation processes. Dr Aleksandra Gliszczyńska-Grabias presented “Legal and political deployments of memory in Central and Eastern Europe”, drawing a link between the regional decline of rule of law and the implementation of memory laws. Finally, Dr Ioanna Tourkochoriti (NUI Galway) presented “Should the law regulate historical memory?”, comparing the European and Rwandan bans on genocide denialism to the institutionalised forgetfulness of ancient Athens.

After the panel, the MELA Researchers visited the Museum of Memory and Human Rights in Santiago, a museum dedicated to the memory of the victims of human rights abuses perpetrated by the Chilean state from 1973 to 1990.

MELA Researchers Present at Memory Studies Association Conference, Madrid

From June 25-28th, MELA Researchers Dr Uladzislau Belavusau, León Castellanos-Jankiewicz, and Dr Grażyna Baranowska participated in a panel at the Memory Studies Association Conference in Madrid, Spain. The conference, which was profiled in the Spanish national newspaper El Pais as the world’s most important event in memory studies, comes as Spain grapples with its own contested politics of memory, especially regarding the legacy of its Civil War.

The MELA-organised panel at the MSA Conference. From left to right, Benoit Vaillot, Dr Grazyna Baranowska, Dr Uladzislau Belavusau, Dr Marloes van Noorloos, and Dr Leon Castellanos-Jankiewicz.

The panel organised by the MELA Project, “The Rise of Memory Laws in Times of Contestation”, included presentations featuring a broad range of case studies. Dr Uladzislau Belavusau chaired the panel and acted as discussant. Dr Grażyna Baranowska presented “Genocide Denial and Beyond: Memory Laws in Turkey in Times of Re-narrating History”, concerning the increasing regulation of Turkish memory. Dr Leon Castellanos-Jankiewicz presented “The Soviet Contribution to the Prohibition of Genocide: Harmony or Contestation?”, a paper that challenges the conventional understanding of the Soviet “decisive contribution” to the Genocide Convention in the mid-twentieth century. Dr Marloes van Noorloos (Tilburg University) presented “Banning Expressions About Mass Atrocities in Past, Present and Future: a Closer Look at Dutch Developments”, investigating the Dutch approach to regulating expression of historical events. Finally, Benoit Vaillot (European University Institute) presented “From War Commemorations to Memory Laws: France Facing its Memory (19th-20th centuries)”, examining two hundred years of French memory regulation and their lasting influence on memory studies.

Mela Publication

The Italian Unit of MELA is proud to present  the publication of the papers of the MELA Seminars “Time, Memory and Criminal Law”, which is finally online on Criminal Justice Network and Diritto Penale Contemporaneo - Rivista Trimestrale 4/2018 at the following link : http://dpc-rivista-trimestrale.criminaljusticenetwork.eu/it (at pages 111-122 is the table of content). 

This four-language (Italian, English, Spanish and French) open-access publication represents the outcome of the 20 seminars organised in Bologna in 2018 on the topic “Time, Memory and Criminal Law”. On the one hand, the publication represents a dialogue among different branches of law (criminal law, constitutional law, human rights law, international law). On the other hand, it paves the way for a broader discussion, which is not limited to the academia, but also includes practitioners (attorneys, judges, international criminal judges, international criminal prosecutors).

The publication is divided into 3 sections: i) Substantial and procedural perspectives; ii) Time, Criminal Law and Transitional Justice; iii) Time and International Criminal Justice. It includes a foreword by Mela PI Emanuela Fronza and Mela Senior Researcher Michele Caianiello and contributions in four languages by: Susann Aboueldahab, Kai Ambos, Roberto Bartoli, Paolo Caroli, Corrado Caruso, Fulvio Cortese, Matteo Costi, Marco Dugato, Cristina Fernàndez-Pacheco Estrada, Emanuela Fronza, Alessandro Gamberini, Antoine Garapon, Eric Heinze, Nicolas Guillou, Gaetano Insolera, Gerhard Kemp, Flavia Lattanzi, Elena Maculan, Nicola Mazzacuva, Ramon Ragués i Vallés, Moritz Vormbaum and Gerhard Werle.

Dr Paolo Caroli awarded Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship for Postdoctoral Researchers

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On behalf of the entire MELA Project, we would like to share our warmed congratulations with MELA Researcher Dr Paolo Caroli, who was recently awarded a two-year Fellowship for Postdoctoral Researchers by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation at the Faculty of Law of Hamburg University. Dr Caroli will begin his fellowship in the autumn semester, supervised by Prof. Dr Florian Jeßberger. His research proposal is entitled "Writing history through criminal law?". This will build on his prior research, for instance his doctoral dissertation, "Transitional Justice in Italy - The experience after World War II", which he successfully defended at the University of Trento in 2017 and which will be published as a monograph in the near future.

Congratulations, Paolo!

MELA Seminar - Werle

On 7 June, the Italian Unit of MELA will host a book launch: "G. Werle – M. Vormbaum, Transitional Justice, Springer 2018". The book offers a comprehensive overview of the different judicial mechanisms that societies have used in order to deal with their past. One of the authors, the renowned international criminal lawyer Gerhard Werle, will discuss the book with constitutional lawyer Fulvio Cortese and with historian Marcello Flores. The seminar will be introduced by MELA Researcher Paolo Caroli. The seminar will be in English and Italian.

Register for Memory Laws in Europe and Beyond: Towards Ethical Governance of Historical Narratives

The MELA Project is proud to announce that registrations have opened for its final conference, to be held on May 24th at the Brussels School of International Studies (University of Kent), Brussels.

Memory Laws in Europe and Beyond:

Towards Ethical Governance of Historical Narratives

Governments constantly use law and policy to promote official understandings of history. By prohibiting and punishing certain interpretations of the past, states regulate how historical memory is shaped and history is understood. This conference, organised in collaboration with the University of Kent (Brussels School of International Studies) and the Asser Institute (The Hague), is the culmination of three years of research by the Memory Laws in European and Comparative Perspective (MELA) Project. The conference will examine normative frameworks for evaluating governments and helping international organisations to identify problems and abuses arising from the use of law to shape historical memory. Contemplating bridges between academic research and civil society organisations, we shall seek a wide-ranging perspective on the governance of historical memory in Europe and around the world.

To register for the conference, please click here.

To view the conference programme, please click here. 

On Friday, April 26, MELA Researchers Dr Uladzislau Belavusau and Dr León Castellanos-Jankiewicz co-organised and presented at a workshop entitled "Legal Governance of Historical Memory in Europe and Asia" at Osaka University. The workshop was made possible in cooperation with Dr Kazuhiro Matsumoto
of Kyoto University School of Law​ and Prof. Tomoyoshi Hayashi of Osaka University Law School. 

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Above: The workshop hosts, presenters, and some members of the audience.

Below: The workshop programme.

On Friday April 19th, MELA Principal Investigators Dr Uladzislau Belavusau and Dr Aleksandra Gliszczyńska-Grabias and MELA Researcher Dr León Castellanos-Jankiewicz presented at a workshop entitled "Legal Governance of Historical Memory in Europe and Korea", hosted by Korea University, Seoul. The workshop was made possible through collaboration with the Korean Society of International Law and Korea University Legal Research Institute. The program for the workshop can be found here.

Left above: Dr Uladzislau Belavusau chairs the second panel of the workshop, "Law and Historical Memory in Korea".

Right above: Dr Ye Joon Rim of the Korea Institute for National Unification presents "The 1995 Asian Women's Fund and the 2-15 Japan-South Korea Agreeement: Legal and Historical Lessons Learned (or Not Learned) in Comfort Women's Reparation".

Left below: Dr Uladzislau Belavusau gives a welcome address on behalf of the MELA Project.

Right below: Prof Buhm-Suk Baek of Kyung-Hee College of International Studies, our host for the workshop, presents on "Comparative Lessons from South Korea: Implementing Truth & Reconciliation and the Role of Civil Society".

In the next MELA Seminar in Bologna, we will analyze the boundaries between hate speech, terrorist speech and historical memory. We'll depart from the Spanish context, where the label "hate speech" has often been used to legitimize the criminalization of the glorification of terrorist acts/group or the insults against their victims. In the meanwhile, social network have contributed to change the shape and the meaning of this criminalization. 

Our main speaker, the renowned criminal lawyer Manuel Cancio Meliá (Universidad Autonoma de Madrid), will discuss with Carlo Guarnieri (political scientist) and Andrea Speranzoni (attorney in important trials involving both international crimes and terrorism). 

The seminar will be in Spanish and Italian.

We are eager to present the full programme for "Nationality Now: The History, Culture, and Politics of Contemporary Citizenship".

2nd April, 2019

9:30 - 17:30

Room 3.1, Queen Mary University of London 

67-69 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London

To attend, please contact Dr Nanor Kebranian at n.kebranian@qmul.ac.uk.