Event

The Prosecutors: Film preview and discussion

Film director Leslie Thomas, legal advisor Alexandra Lily Kather (ECCHR) and postdoctoral researcher Alexandre Skander Galand (Centre for Fundamental Rights, Hertie School) discuss the struggles of prosecuting conflict-related sexual violence.

The Centre for Fundamental Rights welcomes film director Leslie Thomas and panel member Alexandra Lily Kather to a 30-minute film preview of The Prosecutors followed by a panel discussion on the struggles of prosecuting conflict-related sexual violence.

This event is part of the Fundamental Rights in Practice event series.  

Registration for this event is required. 

About the film

The Prosecutors (2018)

Victims dismissed as “collateral damage”. Survivors silenced. Criminals left unpunished. This is the history of sexual violence in conflict that lawyers are trying to change.

“Rape and pillage” are concepts as old as war itself. Certainly, war carries with it the idea of gathering the spoils found by those who stand victorious on the battlefield. But sexual violence is a war crime, not collateral damage, and it must be confronted. However, the risks and sacrifices involved in ensuring that the legal system provides justice for everyone run deep.

The Prosecutors is a feature length documentary that tells the story of three dedicated lawyers who fight to ensure that rape in war is not met with impunity. Filmed over five years on three continents, it takes viewers from the Democratic Republic of Congo to Bosnia and Herzegovina to Colombia on the long journey towards justice.

The Prosecutors will be featured at the Human Rights Film Festival Berlin 2019. The Festival will be hosting side events and an exhibition, for more information please see the side events programme.  

Panel Members:

Leslie Thomas is the founder of ART WORKS Projects, an Emmy-award winning art director, architect, and mother. Current projects include directing The Prosecutors, curating a touring exhibition on ending female genital mutilation for the United Nations, and co-editing a book of photography on the impact of war on children in Syria. She is in pre-production on a narrative feature on women’s rights and in development on a film about the movement for Irish independence. 

Alexandra Lily Kather is a legal advisor on international crimes cases with a particular focus on sexual and gender-based violence at the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights. She studied international and European law as well as international criminal law at the University of Groningen, Netherlands. Her research was concerned with the prosecution of crimes of sexual violence in international criminal law as well as the duty of states to prevent genocide in international law. Her PhD in international criminal law at Middlesex University London studies the legal protection of mass graves.

Moderator

Alexandre Skander Galand is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Centre for Fundamental Rights at the Hertie School. He is specialised in international criminal law, international human rights law and international humanitarian law. He holds a PhD in International Law from the European University Institute (EUI). Before joining the Hertie School he worked for the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute as part of the War Crimes Justice Project.