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.
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
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.
Join us, virtually, on the 24th of June 2024, Monday, at 6:00 PM CET, for the zoom webinar entitled: “State immunity and immunities of State officials in times of transformation”.
The topic will be presented by Professor Anna Wyrozumska, who is professor of international law and European Union law, University of Lodz, Poland and the President of the Legal Advisory Committee in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, former member of the Polish delegation at the Rome Conference on the Establishment of an International Criminal Court.
The second speaker will be Professor Magdalena Matusiak-Frącczak, habilitated doctor, attorney, Assistant Professor (University of Lodz, Poland), visiting professor (Chandigarh University, India).
The webinar focuses on various types of exemptions that come from international law from the jurisdiction or enforcement of the state law, i.e. immunities available to states, persons or international organizations. Immunities are available to different entities and have different scope and effects. The institution of immunities, in particular state immunity, finds its justification in the basic principles of the international law system. At the same time, immunities set the framework for mutual relations between states in the exercise of jurisdiction. Contemporary changes, such as strengthening the position of the individual, in particular the protection of his/her fundamental rights, or the increasingly frequent entry of the state into private law relations, make the subject of this study one of the most widely discussed issues in the doctrine of international law. The question therefore arises to what extent immunities must remain inviolable in the interest of maintaining international order and ensuring the efficient functioning of a state in international relations, and to what extent they should be limited, e.g. in the interest of protecting the individual, including the protection of his/her fundamental rights.
The meeting will be moderated by Professor Aleksandra Mężykowska, who is an Associate Professor at the Institute of Legal Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences, and also a Board Member of the Register of Damage Caused by the Aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine and legal expert at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
The webinar will be conducted in English.
The webinar is a joint event of the Project Sunflowers and the EU Pravo-Justice Project.
Join us here: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_0OAVgzXoTPq3BkpmD87uTw#/registration
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.
Professor Hanna Kuczynska, a member of the Board of Directors of Project Sunflowers, was a guest on Radio 357.
In the conversation, which will be hosted by Michal Zakowski, she spoke, among other things, about the significance of the statement of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court on the request for the issuance of provisional arrests against the leaders of Hamas and Israel.
Listen to the whole program: https://link.radio357.pl/twoje357/audycje/61454/488591
Ewa Hofmańska was interview in the latest The National Bar Council of Attorneys-at-Law magazine in Poland.
In the legal world, by the legal community and NGOs, the Sunflowers Project, which you manage, is extremely well regarded. What is the mission of this project?
“The primary mission of the project is to support international and domestic justice bodies set up to prosecute and try international law crimes committed in Ukraine, to support representatives of those harmed by the ongoing war there, and to support institutions that will prepare reparation programs for survivors in the future. In addition, our mission is to raise the level of awareness of the international community about international criminal law, humanitarian law, migration law, human rights and the rights of those affected by armed conflict.”
Read more: https://kirp.pl/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/radca_prawny_nr_213_net.pdf
