Two principal MELA researchers Uladzislau Belavusau and Aleksandra Gliszczyńska-Grabias have co-edited a volume "Law and Memory: Towards Legal Governance of History", which was published by Cambridge University Press in October 2017. A number of MELA internal and external partner researchers have contributed to this volume. 

In this book, a range of contributors explore both the nature and role of legal engagement into historical memory in selected national, European and international law. They also reflect on potential conflicts between legal governance, political pluralism, and fundamental rights, such as freedom of expression. Against the background of mass re-writing of history in different parts of the world, this book revisits a fascinating subject of memory laws from the standpoint of comparative law and transitional justice.

On 13-14 October 2017, Dr Aleksandra Gliszczyńska-Grabias and MELA research assistants Marina Ban and Anna Wójcik took part in the workshop "Memory Laws: Legal Regulation of Historical Interpretations" at the Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts (ZRC SAZU) in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

Aleksandra Gliszczynska-Grabias discussed Securing “Historical Truth” by Means of Legislation - Whose Truth? The Cases of Poland, Russia and Ukraine. Marina Ban spoke about the Limits of Genocide Denial Prohibitions: The Case of France and the Armenian Genocide while Anna Wójcik discussed the Eastern Member States of the European Union in the Recognition of the Armenian Genocide Debate.

From 19-27 August 2017, MELA PhD researcher Anna Wójcik participated in the International Summer School “Memory and Law: Legal Perspective in Historical Assessments” organised by the The Center for Polish-Russian Dialogue and Understanding.

MELA-researchers Eric Heinze, Aleksandra Gliszczyńska-Grabias and Ulad Belavusau held a round-table "Memory Laws: Walls or Bridges? The Legal Regulation of Public Memory". It was chaired by Prof. Dimitry Kochenov (Groningen University) and took place at the Annual Law & Society Association Meeting in Mexico City (20-23 June 2017).

On 8-9 June 2017, Ulad Belavusau (MELA-Dutch team) and Anna Wojcik (MELA-Polish team) participated at the conference on Transnational and Global Dimensions of Justice and Memory Processes at the Institut culturel roumain in Paris.

They presented their accounts on law and memory in Central and Eastern European contexts, with a focus on Hungary and Poland.

Dr. Ulad Belavusau presented his account of the latest Ukrainian de-communisation laws during the conference "Post-Conflict Justice in Ukraine" in Kyiv on 25-27 May 2017.

Between 4 and 6 May 2017, MELA researchers from Poland and the Netherlands participated in the EUSA Fifteenth Biennial Conference in Miami, USA.

Dr. Aleksandra Gliszczyńska-Grabias chaired a panel Different “Legal Memories” in Post Second World War Europe.

The panel included two presentations by MELA researchers: Dr. Uladzislau Belavusau on The Story of Two Genocides in Strasbourg: Armenian Genocide vs Holocaust? and Dr. Grażyna Baranowska on European Parliament on the Turkish and European Past.

Two invited guests also presented. Dr. Maria Mälksoo (Brussels School of International Studies, University of Kent) discussed Ukraine’s Decommunization Laws: a hard case for the EU Policy on Transitional Justice? Prof. Antoine Buyse (Netherlands Institute of Human Rights (SIM), Utrecht University) spoke about Memory Moving Forward: The Jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights on Freedom of Expression and Information.

The Polish MELA team has received a grant from the Polish Ministry of Culture for the translation of the Special Issue of “Res Publica Nowa” that will be devoted to memory laws.

On 10 April 2017, Aleksandra Gliszczyńska-Grabias held an open lecture for high-school students on fighting nationalism and hate speech and on regulating historical truth with the tools of law in Leszno, Poland.

The MELA research consortium held its first annual conference "Law and Memory in Established Democracies" on 25 March 2017 in Bologna, Italy.

Read the detailed conference report here.

On 15 March 2017, Dr. Ulad Belavusau (MELA-Dutch team) presented his account of memory laws and their role in building citizenship at the Queen Mary University of London, at a seminar chaired by the MELA project leader, Prof. Eric Heinze.

Dr. Ulad Belavusau presented his research paper about memory laws in Central and Eastern Europe at the conference "Re-inventing Eastern Europe" organized by the Euroacademia in Belgrade, Serbia (27-28 January).

MELA Project members presented at the 2nd Annual CEENELS Conference "An Uneasy Legacy: Remnants of Real-Socialist Legal and Political Thinking in Central and Eastern Europe" in Krakow (7-8 January 2017).

MELA members presented in two panels titled "Dealing with the Communist Past in the Assessment of the European Court of Human Rights".

The first panel included Grażyna Baranowska: The ECtHR and the Right to Truth and Marina Bán: Hungary's Remembrance of the Communist Past in the Parliament and Courtrooms.

The second panel included Anna Wójcik: The European Court of Human Rights and Lustration Laws and Alexandra Gliszczyńska-Grabias: Democratic Transitions in CEE States through Militant Democracy - The Strasbourg Court in Search of a Principle.

On 13 November 2016, Aleksandra Gliszczyńska-Grabias presented her paper on the Holocaust as the last taboo in the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights.

On 10 October 2016, Aleksandra Gliszczyńska-Grabias and Anna Wójcik participated in a seminar on free speech in Warsaw (XXV Debata Tischnerowska: Wolność słowa). Speakers included Timothy Garton Ash and Jan-Werner Müller. 

Three new researchers have joined the MELA project.

Marina Bán joins the team in the Netherlands as a PhD researcher. Dr Grażyna Baranowska (a postdoctoral researcher) and Anna Wójcik (PhD candidate) join the Polish team.