Karolina Aksamitowska
Lecturer of International Law
Country: Poland
Academic degrees: LL.B. Law (University of Southampton, UK); LL.M. Legal Research Master (Utrecht University, the Netherlands); PhD thesis defended at Swansea University, UK
Other positions:
Member of the Center for Research on International Criminal Law at the Institute of Law Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences.
Previous positions:
Swansea University Research Excellence Scholar (01.2019-12.2021). Research and Teaching Assistant, Netherlands Institute of Human Rights, Utrecht University, the Netherlands (08.2017-08.2018).
Research areas: International Criminal Law, International Humanitarian Law, International Human Rights Law.
Courses:
International Criminal Law, International Humanitarian Law, Maritime Law, Legal Research and Writing, Human Rights Adjudication, Moot Court course.
Notable publications:
Karolina Aksamitowska, ‘The Domestic Legal Framework for the Prosecution of Core International Crimes in Iraq and Ukraine – A Comparative Perspective’ in Patrycja Grzebyk (ed.), International Crimes in National Regulations of Selected States (Polish Institute of Justice 2023) p. 231-246
The Counter-Hegemonic Turn to “Entrepreneurial Justice” in International Criminal Investigations and Prosecutions Relating to the Crimes Committed in Syria and Eastern Ukrainein Florian Jeßberger, Leonie Steinl, Kalika Mehta (eds.), International Criminal Law – A Counter-Hegemonic Project? (Springer 2022), p. 135-152
Patrycja Grzebyk, Human and Non-Human Targets in Armed Conflicts (2022) Journal of International Criminal Justice, Oxford University Press
Karolina Aksamitowska, ‘War Crimes Units: Legislative, Organisational and Technical Lessons’ MATRA Project ‘Strengthening Ukraine’s Capacity to Investigate and Prosecute International Crimes’ (T.M.C. Asser Instituut 2021). English | Ukrainian
Digital Evidence in Domestic Core International Crimes Prosecutions – Lessons Learned from Germany, Sweden, Finland and the Netherlands
(2021) 19(1) Journal of International Criminal Justice, Oxford University Press, p. 189-211
Karolina Aksamitowska, ‘Judgment on the appeal of Cote d’Ivoire against the decision of Pre-Trial Chamber I of 11 December 2014 entitled “Decision on Cote d’Ivoire’s challenge to the admissibility of the case against Simone Gbagbo’ in André Klip, Steven Freeland (eds.)
Annotated Leading Cases of International Criminal Tribunals Volume 64 (Intersentia 2021), p. 653−659)
Traditional Approaches to the Law of Armed Conflict: Disseminating IHL through the Receptor Approach (2020) 11(1) Journal of International Humanitarian Legal Studies, Brill, p. 5-35
The Importance of IHL Dissemination and Domestic War Crimes Prosecutions in Ensuring Respect for International Humanitarian LawOpinio Juris blog post (book review).
The Fusion of International and Domestic Law in a Globalised World (2017) 33(85) Utrecht Journal of International and European Law p. 1-4
Keynote speeches, conference organizations:
19.01.2023: Center for International Criminal Justice, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Lecture Series ‘Accountability for Conflict-Related Crimes in Ukraine’. Presentation titled: ‘War Crimes Units and Domestic Accountability for Core International Crimes’ (invited speaker).
26.06.2022: The Siracusa International Institute for Criminal Justice and Human Rights, Siracusa, Sicily, Italy. Presentation titled: ‘Evidentiary Challenges in Domestic Core International Crimes Prosecutions’ (invited speaker).
16.03.2022: Utrecht Centre for Global Challenges, Utrecht University, Contesting Governance Platform Seminar Series ‘Russia-Ukraine War: (Dis)information and Challenges of Documenting Hostilities’. Presentation titled: ‘Documenting the Russia-Ukraine War’ (invited speaker).
23.02.2022: European Human Rights Advocacy Centre, School of Law, Middlesex University, Symposium ‘The Use of Open Source Investigations in Human Rights Litigation’. Presentation titled: ‘Digital Evidence in Domestic International Crimes Prosecutions’ (invited speaker).
16-17.12.2021: The International Courts and Tribunals Interest Group of the American Society of International Law (ASIL/ICTIG) Conference ‘International Law Without International Courts: Looking to History and Considering the Future’. Presentation titled: ‘International Criminal Law Without the International Criminal Court: The Contribution of Domestic Courts to the Development of International Criminal Law in the Post-Rome Statute Era’ (speaker).
09.11.2021: The Launch of the Special Issue of the Journal of International Criminal Justice on ‘New Technologies and the Investigation of International Crimes’ (speaker).
26-28.10.2021: Asia Justice Coalition Workshop ‘Barriers and Opportunities: Civil Society and Universal Jurisdiction’. Presentation titled: ‘OSINT Investigations and the Professionalization of Civil Society Actors in Pursuing Accountability for Crimes Committed in Syria and Eastern Ukraine’ (invited speaker).
20-22.10.2021: The Siracusa International Institute for Criminal Justice and Human Rights, Siracusa, Sicily, Italy. Presentation titled: ‘The Right to a Fair Trial in Domestic Core International Crimes Proceedings–Revisiting Retributive and Restorative Approaches to Universal Jurisdiction Trials’ (speaker).
21-22.06.2021: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin ‘International Criminal Justice –a Counter-Hegemonic Project’. Presentation titled: ‘The ICL is Dead! Long Live ICL! The Counter-Hegemonic Turn to “Entrepreneurial Justice” in International Criminal Investigations and Prosecutions’ (speaker).
14-15.06.2021: Polish Institute of Justice, ‘Penalization of International Crimes in National Law’. Presentation titled: ‘The Domestic Legal Framework for the Prosecution of Core International Crimes in Iraq and Ukraine –A Comparative Perspective’ (speaker).
23.04.2021: British Institute of International and Comparative Law, ‘Teaching International Law Webinar Series’. Presentation titled: ‘In Search for the “Common Ground” –Teaching International Humanitarian Law to Armed Non-State Actors with the Aid of Ancient African Rules of Warfare’ (speaker).
14.04.2021: Swansea Festival of Ideas 2021. Presentation titled: ‘Open Source Evidence in International Criminal Prosecutions: Lessons Learned from Germany, Sweden, Finland and the Netherlands’ (invited speaker).
24.03.2021: Polish Academy of Sciences, Center for Research on International Criminal Law Seminar Series. Presentation titled: ‘Domestic Prosecutions of Crimes Committed in Syria and Northern Iraq: Lessons Learned from Germany, Sweden, Finland and the Netherlands’ (keynote).
23.11.2020: Stockholm University, The Stockholm Centre for International Law and Justice ‘Investigation and Prosecution of International Crimes in Domestic Courts’. Presentation titled: ‘Evidentiary Challenges in Universal Jurisdiction Cases’ (speaker & co-organiser).