On Friday, October 19th, the MELA Project and the Asser Institute held a book launch of Law and Memory: Towards Legal Governance of History (Cambridge University Press, 2017, to be released in paperback in December 2018) by Uladzislau Belavusau and Aleksandra Gliszczyńska-Grabias in The Hague.

After a warm welcome from Prof. Janne Nijman, Academic Director of the Asser Institute, and Prof. Eric Heinze, Project Leader of the MELA Project, the first of two panels began. The first panel featured talks by the book’s editor, Dr. Uladzislau Belavusau, and Prof. Eric Heinze, author of the concluding chapter. It was chaired by MELA Researcher Dr. León Castellanos-Jankiewicz.

Senior Adviser to the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities Bob Deen chaired the second panel, offering perspectives on each talk from his experience working at an intergovernmental organisation. Prof. Robert Kahn, Prof. Antoon De Baets, and Marina Bán spoke about various chapters of the book, with frequent reference to events that have occurred since its publication just a year ago. The panel was concluded by discussant Dr. Suryapratim Roy, who reviewed the book in June this year. Both panels were followed by questions from the audience, which began conversations carried over into the reception afterward.

The MELA Team in The Hague would like to express their gratitude to the Asser Institute for hosting our event, the speakers for their excellent contributions, and the audience for both their interest in the volume and their enthusiastic discussion.