Chief Prosecutor speaks about dealing with intersectionality in international criminal law

Lecture by Nazhat Shameem Khan from the International Criminal Court on 5 June

The Institute of Criminal Sciences invites interested parties to a public lecture entitled ’Intersectionality at the International Criminal Court’. The speaker is Nazhat Shameem Khan, Deputy Chief Prosecutor at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands. The event at Münster Castle will take place on 5 June (Thursday) at 6 pm. The Fijian diplomat will address the question of what role intersectionality plays at the International Criminal Court. Intersectionality describes the overlapping and simultaneity of different forms of discrimination against a person in social reality.

In her presentation, Nazhat Shameem Khan reports on the extent to which an intersectional understanding of crimes under international law characterises her work as Deputy Chief Prosecutor of the Court. She will also discuss how the framework of intersectionality influences the Court’s understanding of victims’ experiences, the design of prosecutions and the internal workings of the institution itself. Nazhat Shameem Khan’s career includes stints as Fiji’s High Court judge, Director of Public Prosecutions and President of the UN Human Rights Council.

The lecture is part of a symposium on ’Intersectionality and International Criminal Justice’, organised by Prof. Leonie Steinl from the University of Münster and sponsored by the ’Fritz Thyssen Foundation’, the ’German Foundation for Peace Research’ and the ’Emmy Noether’ research group ’Attacks on Otherness’ at the University of Münster.