Intent to Destroy: Confronting Russia’s Campaign to Erase Ukraine and Its People
Wednesday, November 19
9:00 AM -3:30 PM ET
On November 19, 2025, the International Human Rights Clinic at Harvard Law School will co-host a one-day conference titled “Intent to Destroy: Confronting Russia’s Campaign to Erase Ukraine and Its People.” The conference is organized by International Partnership for Human Rights, Atlantic Council’s Strategic Litigation Project and Eurasia Center, New Lines Institute, and the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security.
Since the outset of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, experts across law, policy, and academia have consistently raised alarm over the Kremlin’s genocidal rhetoric and escalating atrocities. Three and a half years into the full-scale invasion, evidence of mass killings, torture, sexual violence, mass deportation of children and shelling of vital civilian infrastructure is overwhelming. Eliminationist intent, moreover, is increasingly demonstrable. With peace negotiations stalled and Russian offensives against Ukraine’s civilian and critical energy infrastructure intensifying ahead of the winter, the time is critical for the international community to examine the moral, legal, and policy implications of Russia’s actions through the lens of genocide.
The conference will include four panel sessions, consisting of leading international lawyers, historians, policymakers, security experts, and diplomats, each examining a different facet of Russia’s genocidal rhetoric and actions, and identifying tangible legal, political, and diplomatic strategies to halt Russia’s campaign to erase Ukraine and its people.
The conference will be streamed live. To watch the live stream, please click on the YouTube icon below or use this link.
Agenda
| 9:00 am – 9:30 am | Introductory Remarks Dr Joel S. Hellman, Dean of the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University H.E. Olga Stefanishyna, Ambassador of Ukraine to the United States Dr Anastasiya Donets, Lead of Ukraine Legal Team at International Partnership for Human Rights (IPHR) |
| 9:30 am – 11:00 am | Panel I: Mounting Evidence of Russia’s Intent to Destroy the Ukrainian People Moderator: Erin Farrell Rosenberg, Senior Legal and Policy Advisor at the Mukwege Foundation’s Red Line Initiative Amb Clint Williamson, Senior Director for International Justice at Georgetown University; Lead Coordinator of the Atrocity Crimes Advisory Group (ACA); Former United States Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issues Dr Dmytro Koval, Со-Executive Director at Truth Hounds; Associate Professor at Kyiv-Mohyla Academy Svitlana Valko, Lead of Ukraine Field Team, Project Coordinator at International Partnership for Human Rights (IPHR) Caitlin Howarth, Director of Conflict Analytics at Yale Humanitarian Research Lab Prof Susan Farbstein, Director of the International Human Rights Clinic at Harvard Law School; Clinical Professor at Harvard Law School |
| 11:10 am – 12:10 pm | Panel II: Impunity for genocide: Historical and ethical dimensions Moderator: Viola Gienger, Washington Senior Editor for Just Security; Research Scholar at NYU School of Law Dr Gregory Stanton, Founding President and Chairman of Genocide Watch Kimberly Hart, Director of Policy and Programs at Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security Dr Kristina Hook, Assistant Professor of Conflict Management at Kennesaw State University’s School of Conflict Management, Peacebuilding, and Development; Nonresident Senior Fellow at Eurasia Center, Atlantic Council Julia Davis, Founder of Russian Media Monitor |
| 12:10 pm – 1:10 pm | Lunch |
| 1:10 pm – 2:10 pm | Panel III: Legal, political, security and humanitarian responses to Russia’s mass atrocities in Ukraine Moderator: Melinda Haring, Senior Advisor at Razom for Ukraine Virtual Remarks: Representative Marcy Kaptur, United States Representative for the State of Ohio; Co-Chair of the Ukraine Caucus in the United States House of Representatives Representative Mike Quigley, United States Representative for the State of Illinois; Co-Chair of the Ukraine Caucus in the United States House of Representatives Mykola Yurlov, Counsellor at the Department of International Law, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Amb James Gilmore, Former U.S. Ambassador to the OSCE; Former Governor of Virginia Dr Evelyn Farkas, Executive Director at McCain Institute Dr Azeem Ibrahim OBE, Senior Director of Special Initiatives at New Lines Institute; Adjunct Research Professor at the Strategic Studies Institute, US Army War College |
| 2:20 pm – 3:20 pm | Panel IV: A Plan for Action Moderator: Ana Lejava, Senior Policy Officer at Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security Simon Papuashvili, Program Director for Eastern Europe and South Caucasus at International Partnership for Human Rights (IPHR) Leslie Shedd, Nonresident Senior Fellow at Eurasia Center, Atlantic Council; President of Rising Communications Dr Michael Cecire, Security and Defense Researcher at RAND Corporation; Affiliated Scholar at Center for Eurasian, Russian, and Eastern European Studies (CERES), Georgetown University; Adjunct Lecturer at Fels Institute of Government, University of Pennsylvania Gillian Huebner, Executive Director of the Collaborative on Global Children’s Issues at Georgetown University |
| 3:20 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. | Closing remarks Dr Anastasiya Donets, Lead of Ukraine Legal Team at International Partnership for Human Rights (IPHR) |