Reparations in international law are intended to remedy wrongful acts, and state practice in many countries sees them being used to remedy a wide range of historical and contemporary harm. Despite most countries having established reparations in the past century, such measures are often rare or at least belated. In a world where we are witnessing increasing conflicts, climate change and emerging technologies that are exacerbating harm to non-combatants, we are also seeing the breakdown of the international multilateral order. This talk reflects on this 'age of impunity' where progress on redressing the past is witnessing a rollback, powerful states resist and deny victims' claims, and an increasing authoritarian turn in many states is inhibiting support to victims and civil society in mitigating continuing harms. Despite these challenges reparations remain vital for victims in countering impunity and reflect that international law's beneficence is the result of the continuing bottom-up struggle by victims and their allies.

Speaker

Prof. Luke Moffett is chair of Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law at Queen's University Belfast. His research focuses on victims' rights, reparations, civilian harm, and the increasing algorithmic turn in armed conflict. He has conducted fieldwork in over a dozen conflict/post-conflict societies and is author of Justice for Victims before the International Criminal Court (Routledge 2014), Reparations and War (OUP 2023), and Algorithms of War (BUP 2026).

Details

Date : Wednesday, 16 of September, 2025

Time : 1pm CET

Place: University of Amsterdam, Roeterseiland Campus B/C, 5th Floor, Room C5.00

Registration: To attend online or in person, please register via this link.

The REPAIR lectures

The REPAIR lectures are an interdisciplinary lecture series on contemporary reparations demands and policies around the globe. They are given by leading reparations experts and investigate how reparations claims and policies come about, how they play out from a political, economic and moral perspective, and what they may teach us about politics and economics today. The lectures are hosted by the REPAIR project, based at the Anthropology Department of the University of Amsterdam (UvA). They are co-sponsored by the UvA’s Amsterdam Centre for Conflict Studies (ACCS).