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.

News

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 

News

Hanna Kuczynska discussing ICC’s provisional arrest requests on Radio 357

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

24.06 webinar
Webinar

State immunity and immunities of State officials in times of transformation

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