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Prof. Hanna Kuczyńska’s Speech at 2024 Warsaw Human Dimension Conference

On the 1st of October 2024 Prof. Hanna Kuczyńska, member of the Project Sunflowers Executive Board took part as a speaker in the Side Event of the 2024 Warsaw Human Dimension Conference entitled: “Universal jurisdiction: the path to justice and solidarity in finding and prosecuting international criminals” organized by Ukrainian Legal Advisory Group; Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights and Public Interest Journalism Lab.

This side-event explored how exercise of universal jurisdiction by participating States in cases related to torture and other crimes committed in the context of the armed conflict in Ukraine can contribute to combating impunity for perpetrators in the wider OSCE region. Universal jurisdiction is an essential tool of international justice. The exercise of universal jurisdiction by domestic courts is especially relevant in situations where such crimes are committed systematically or on a large and systematic scale, and the justice system of the State on whose territory atrocities were committed cannot reasonably be expected to successfully investigate and prosecute all such crimes. Most importantly, universal jurisdiction helps ensure that all survivors of torture and other international crimes can seek the right to truth, justice and reparation.

News

Dr. Anna Adamska-Gallant Elected Judge of the European Court of Human Rights – A Landmark Achievement for Justice and Human Rights

It is with great pleasure and pride that we announce that on October 1, 2024, one of the founders of the Sunflowers Foundation, Dr. Anna Adamska-Gallant, was elected as a judge of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).

The European Court of Human Rights is an international court established in 1959. It hears individual or state applications for violations of civil and political rights as defined by the European Convention on Human Rights. Since 1998, it has ruled as a permanent court, and individuals can address it directly. The Court has dealt with hundreds of thousands of applications since its establishment. Its rulings are binding on the countries concerned and have led to changes in the legislation and administrative practice of governments in a wide range of areas. The Court’s jurisprudence makes the Convention a modern and powerful living instrument for confronting new challenges and strengthening the rule of law and democracy in Europe.

The Court is based in Strasbourg, in the Human Rights Building designed by British architect Lord Richard Rogers in 1995. – a building whose image is known around the world. From here, the Court monitors the human rights of 700 million Europeans in the 46 member states of the Council of Europe that have ratified the Convention.

News

Hanna Kuczynska speaking at the Ukrainian International Criminal Justice Week Conference in Kyiv

Professor Hanna Kuczynska, a member of the Board of Directors of Project Sunflowers, was a speaker at the Ukrainian International Criminal Justice Week organised by The Center for Civil Liberties in Kyiv.

Mor information about the conference: https://justiceweek.ccl.org.ua/

News

Dr. Andriy Kosylo Discusses Sunflowers Project in Farwater East Media Interview

The Ukrainian news portal Farwater East Media published an interview with Dr Andriy Kosylo – member of the management board of the Sunflowers Foundation. In the interview, Dr Kosylo talks about the implementation of the Sunflowers Project over the last two years.

Interview in Ukrainian.

https://farvatermedia.com/interviews/ne-vystachyt-zhyttia-shchob-zafiksuvaty-vsi-zlochyny-rosiian-v-ukraini-andrii-kosylo-pro-proekt-soniashnyky/

 
News

Polish National Chamber of Legal Advisers Partners with Foundation Sunflowers to Support Justice in Ukraine

We are proud to announce that the Polish National Chamber of Legal Advisers (KIRP) is an official Partner of the Foundation Sunflowers.
KIRP is a nationwide professional self-government of legal advisers:
– as a community of all legal advisers, it acts for the benefit of individual and all citizens, realising the principle of social justice concerning access to legal aid,
– enhances respect for legalism by public authorities,
– upholds that public authorities act on the basis and within the law. 
For these reasons, KIRP acts in the public interest and for its protection. 
 
Foundation Sunflowers, which implements Project Sunflowers, supports international and national justice authorities in the prosecution and adjudication of the gravest crimes committed in Ukraine and endeavours to ensure that the damage caused during the ongoing war there is repaired. The Foundation works for the benefit of the international community.  
 
Read more about KIRP: https://kirp.pl/
News

Foundation Sunflowers takes part in Europol Training on Collecting Evidence of War Crimes in Ukraine

On July 2, 2024, a training was held in Warsaw conducted by Europol officers for Polish organizations collecting evidence of war crimes in Ukraine.

The training was attended by representatives of the foundations Opora in Poland, the Helsinki Foundation of Human Rights, the Pilecki Institute, and the Sunflowers Foundation. General information about Europol, organizational structure, basic principles of work and how Europol works with evidence of international crimes on the territory of Ukraine were discussed. Officers also presented the method of first contact with crime victims and witnesses, according to the principle: first, do no harm. From the Sunflowers foundation in the training took part prof. Hanna Kuczyńska – a member of the board of the foundation and Kateryna Oleksiuk – a volunteer of the project 

News

Wolters Kluwer Polska Joins Foundation Sunflowers as Official Partner

We are honoured and proud to announce that Wolters Kluwer Polska has become an official Partner of the Foundation Sunflowers. 

As a provider of professional legal information and technology, Wolters Kluwer supports the Foundation and the Project Sunflowers, which it runs, by contributing to raising public awareness of the legal and social consequences of the war in Ukraine, and joins the Foundation’s efforts in collecting information about evidence of crimes committed in Ukraine and victims of the war.   
News

Professor Piotr Hofmański Appointed Ambassador of the Foundation Sunflowers

We are extremely pleased and proud to announce that Professor Piotr Hofmański, who has served as a judge at the International Criminal Court in The Hague for the last 9 years (2015-2024), where he was its president for the last 3 years (2021-2024), has become an Ambassador of the Foundation Sunflowers. This unique status is granted by the Foundation’s Council to a person who enjoys widespread authority, identifies with the Foundation’s values and supports the Foundation in its mission.

‘Accepting that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere, the drafters of the Rome Statute aimed to eliminate impunity by providing for a system whereby eventual accountability would be secured collectively by the international community’ – Piotr Hofmanski.

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Foundation Sunflowers joins NGO-ICC Roundtable in The Hague to promote ICC awareness

Ewa Hofmańska, President of the Foundation Sunflowers participates in the week-long NGO-ICC Roundtable in The Hague. Civil society organizations – affiliated with the Coalition for the ICC, play a key role in promoting the International Criminal Court, are important intermediaries of the Court, helping to raise awareness of the ICC worldwide, advocating for universal acceptance of the Rome Statute. 

Foundation Sunflowers was granted membership to the Coalition for the ICC in October 2023. 

A session on the situation in Ukraine is scheduled for the final day (28 June) of the Roundtable. 
News

Meeting in the National Prosecutor’s Office of Poland

A meeting between prosecutors investigating Russian aggression against Ukraine and representatives of civil society organizations was held at the headquarters of the National Prosecutor’s Office on June 11 in Warsaw. 

On the organization’s side, the meeting was attended by representatives of the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights, the Pilecki Institute, the Sunflowers Project, Opora in Poland and the Clooney Foundation.

At the meeting, the two-year cooperation to date was discussed, as well as the possibility of future support of the investigation team by representatives of the civic community. Letter from the representative of civil society organizations attached.

Read more: https://www.gov.pl/web/prokuratura-krajowa/prokuratorzy-prowadzacy-sledztwo-dotyczace-rosyjskiej-agresji-na-ukraine-spotkali-sie-z-przedstawicielami-organizacji-pozarzadowych