#BruteCast S4 E20 - Dr. Joanna Siekiera, "Fragile, Leaky, & Weak: Challenges for Humanitarian Law"

As #Russia's invasion of #Ukraine has continued, a wealth of evidence has emerged on the brutality of Russian soldiers in the areas of Ukraine they have occupied. Looting, sexual assault, extrajudicial killings, the deliberate targeting of civilian populations and infrastructure - the list of potential war crimes is long and grows each day. However, despite the documented evidence, historically there are a number of challenges in bringing the perpetrators of war crimes and crimes against humanity to justice. The law of armed conflict and international humanitarian law are often weak, leaky, and lack robust enforcement tools. Those tools that exist depend on the political will of countries to enforce them, and that will is not always there. In this #BruteCast, Dr. Joanna Siekiera discussed the frameworks for the law of armed conflict and international humanitarian law in the context of Russia's invasion, as well as the sobering reality of what challenges lie ahead for those agencies that will seek to prosecute Russian war crimes once the war finally ends.

Dr. Joanna Siekiera is an international lawyer and a LEGAD from Poland, currently working as a researcher at the Faculty of Law, University of Bergen in Norway. She is also a Legal subject matter expert at the NATO Stability Policing Centre of Excellence in Vicenza, Italy. She did her PhD studies in New Zealand, at the Faculty of Law, Victoria University of Wellington, and defended her title as Doctor of Social Sciences in Public Policy Sciences at the Warsaw School of Economics in Poland. Dr. Siekiera gained international experience in Polish diplomatic missions to Canada and Estonia, the Institute of Cultural Diplomacy in Germany, the School of Humanitarian Law in Russia, the UN CIMIC Training School, the French Institute of International and Strategic Affairs, and NATO. She is an author of 8 books, over 100 scientific publications in several languages, and 40 legal opinions for the Polish Ministry of Justice on Public international law, international relations and security. Her areas of expertise are the South Pacific region, Pacific Ocean governance, and the law of armed conflict (NATO legal framework, Central Europe, security in the South Pacific, gender in armed conflict).

Intro/outro music is "Evolution" from BenSound.com (https://www.bensound.com)

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