Nuremberg to Now: Forging a Convention for Crimes Against Humanity

Join the Human Rights Center for this special Human Rights Day lecture by Washington University James Carr Professor of International Criminal Law Leila N. Sadat, renowned expert on international criminal law and former Special Adviser to the International Criminal Court Prosecutor (2012-2023). 

As we reflect on the 80th anniversary of the Nuremberg Trials, Prof. Sadat’s lecture will trace the history of crimes under international law and the movement for a new global treaty on the prevention and punishment of crimes against humanity. From the transatlantic slave trade to the Nuremberg Trials to today, Prof. Sadat will reflect on the importance and promise of these developments at this critical juncture.

Lunch will be provided starting at 12:00 pm for a prompt lecture start time of 12:15 pm. 

About the Speaker

Professor Leila N. Sadat is the James Carr Professor of International Criminal Law of the Whitney R. Harris World Law Institute at Washington University Law School and a Fellow at the Schell Center for Human Rights at Yale Law School. Professor Sadat is also the Head of the Crimes Against Humanity Initiative, a project responsible for drafting the world’s first treaty on crimes against humanity. From 2012-2023, she served as Special Adviser on Crimes Against Humanity to the International Criminal Court Prosecutor. 

Human Rights Day at the Human Rights Center

The Human Rights Center is the hub at the University of Minnesota Law School leading research, advocacy, and education at the cutting-edge of human rights law and practice. We work with partners inside and outside the University of Minnesota advancing solutions to pressing problems in our state and world and supporting local and global human rights movements.

The Human Rights Center was one of the first of its kind in the country. Professor David Weissbrodt founded the Human Rights Center at the University of Minnesota Law School on December 10, 1988, as the world celebrated the 40th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Each year we celebrate this history and join with organizations around the world to commemorate Human Rights Day. Our annual Human Rights Day lecture is an opportunity to reflect on our unique history and mission and to exchange ideas on new horizons for the local and global human rights movements. 

80th Anniversary of the Nuremberg Trials

Our Human Rights Day commemoration this year coincides with the 80th anniversary of the opening of the Nuremberg Trials. On November 20, 2025, the Human Rights Center and the Rare Books Room partnered to commemorate the anniversary with an exhibit of the Horace Hansen collection and a presentation of other Minnesota connections to the trials.