Report: Conference on Judge Radhabinod Pal and TWAIL
We are proud to inform that the previously announced conference titled “Radhabinod Pal: A Trailblazer of TWAIL in Decolonizing India?” which took place on 20 November 2024, and was hosted by International Criminal Law Research Unit (ICLU) in cooperation with the International Nuremberg Principles Academy (INPA) was marked by remarkable success. The event brought together experts and attendees from across the globe to explore the life and legacy of Judge Radhabinod Pal.
This international conference featured an impressive keynote address by Dr Madhumita Roy, Judge Pal’s granddaughter, who traveled from Kolkata to share her personal insights as well as historical reflections and socio-geographic context. Dr Roy has supported the extensive research project on Pal conducted by Julia Klaus since its inception, further enriching the event with her unique perspective.
The central part of the conference was the presentation by Julia Klaus, a distinguished member of our team, who introduced her scientific research that is subsequently going to be published in her PhD thesis. Known primarily as the Indian judge at the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal (1946–1948), Pal’s contributions as a visionary thinker in the Third World Approaches to International Law (TWAIL) movement, particularly in the context of India’s decolonisation, were the focal point of Julia Klaus’s presentation.
The most renowned scholars in connection to this subject, Professor Rohini Sen (O.P. Jindal Global University & University of Warwick), Eklavya Vasudev (FAU), and Dr Angar Verma (INPA) delivered insightful speeches that highlighted the various aspects of Pal’s work and its influence on contemporary international law.
This hybrid event also provided an accessible platform for students of the FAU to engage with TWAIL concepts. It sparked vibrant discussions and attracted significant global interest.
Our team is deeply grateful for the generous financial support provided by the Marianne-Plehn Programme of the German Academic Scholarship Foundation, the Elite Network of Bavaria, and the Gender Equality Office of the Faculty of Law and Economics at the FAU. For their contributions made this event a resounding success.
