This year’s theme, "Justice Through Conflict: Exploring Resistance, Power, and the Law" explores how justice is shaped, tested, and even advanced within conflict itself—emerging through struggles, resistance, and contestation over power and law. From grassroots resistance to legal battles, from transitional justice mechanisms to post-war reconciliation, struggles for accountability and human rights shape the way societies define and achieve justice. We will be joined by leading experts for four thought-provoking panels.

Through these discussions, we will examine:

• Justice Beyond Retribution – How conflict can serve as a catalyst for justice, moving beyond punitive measures to explore community-based mechanisms, Truth and Reconciliation Commissions, and international judicial processes. This panel will consider restorative and transformative justice approaches that emphasise reconciliation, accountability, and long-term peacebuilding.
• The Role of Narratives: Stories that Shape Power – How narratives influence conflict and post-conflict realities, from manufacturing consent for interventions to justifying mass violence. This discussion will also explore how reimagining pasts and futures through storytelling can offer pathways out of violence.
• Local Solutions for Lasting Peace – Examining bottom-up approaches to peacebuilding and their role in transitional justice, while questioning how they interact with traditional, top-down UN-led missions. This panel will rethink peacebuilding paradigms to explore new models for sustainable peace.
• Eyes Everywhere: Technology, Control, and Resistance – The risks and possibilities of technology in modern conflict, from OSINT-led human rights investigations to AI-powered drones and disinformation campaigns on social media. This panel will interrogate the role of digital tools in both oppression and resistance.

More information on the event and panellists can be found on our website at csdconference.co.uk.

Ticket registration will be announced shortly—keep an eye on our website and this page for updates!

About the speaker

We are honoured to welcome Andrew Gilmour as our opening keynote speaker.

Andrew Gilmour is CEO of the Berghof Foundation and former United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights. With over three decades of experience in peacekeeping and human rights at the UN, he has served in some of the world’s most challenging conflict zones, including Afghanistan, Kosovo, the Middle East, and West Africa.

As Director for Political, Peacekeeping, Humanitarian, and Human Rights affairs in the Executive Office of the UN Secretary-General, he played a key role in implementing the Human Rights Up Front initiative. He also led UN efforts to address reprisals against individuals cooperating with the UN on human rights. His latest work, The Burning Question: Climate and Conflict - Why Does It Matter, explores the intersection of environmental crises and global security.