Rolf Gössner | Equality under international law or the law of the strongest?

In his lecture, Rolf Gössner will discuss, amongst other things, the origins, development, work and significance of the International Criminal Court (ICC), as well as outlining the complex system of international law. In particular, he will highlight the double standards and shortcomings in the practice of international law over recent decades.

He will also address the current role of the ICC in light of the alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in the wars in Ukraine and Gaza. He will also address international and German state complicity in such serious breaches of international law, as well as the often baffling political reactions to such crimes and to decisions by the ICC.

Finally, the discussion will focus on the geostrategic and power-political challenges facing the international legal system, and the conditions under which it could be made more egalitarian, efficient and less susceptible to exploitation.

Dr Rolf Gössner is a lawyer and journalist, a member of the Board of Trustees of the International League for Human Rights (Berlin), co-editor of the Grundrechte-Report. On the State of Civil and Human Rights in Germany (Fischer-TB) and the author of numerous books on democracy, internal security and human rights. He worked as a lawyer for four decades and served as a deputy judge at the State Constitutional Court of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen. He has received several awards, most recently the Hans Litten Prize from the Association of Democratic Lawyers (VDJ).

An event organised by the Fritz Bauer Forum in cooperation with the Friedensplenum Bochum and the DGB Bochum