Author Archives: Mark Kersten

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About Mark Kersten

Mark Kersten is an Assistant Professor in the Criminology and Criminal Justice Department at the University of the Fraser Valley in British Columbia, Canada, and a Senior Consultant at the Wayamo Foundation in Berlin, Germany. Mark is the founder of the blog Justice in Conflict and author of the book, published by Oxford University Press, by the same name. He holds an MSc and PhD in International Relations from the London School of Economics and a BA (Hons) from the University of Guelph. Mark has previously been a Research Associate at the Refugee Law Project in Uganda, and as researcher at Justice Africa and Lawyers for Justice in Libya in London. He has taught courses on genocide studies, the politics of international law, transitional justice, diplomacy, and conflict and peace studies at the London School of Economics, SOAS, and University of Toronto. Mark’s research has appeared in numerous academic fora as well as in media publications such as The Globe and Mail, Al Jazeera, BBC, Foreign Policy, the CBC, Toronto Star, and The Washington Post. He has a passion for gardening, reading, hockey (on ice), date nights, late nights, Lego, and creating time for loved ones.

Justice for the Disappeared in Gaza: It’s Time to Investigate Enforced Disappearances as a Crime Against Humanity

In late September 2024, a container was brought into Gaza from Israel on a truck. Inside were the bodies of eighty-eight Palestinians killed during Israel’s offensive on the Gaza Strip. Who were they? No one appeared to know and those … Continue reading

Posted in Enforced Disapperances, Gaza, Hamas, ICC Prosecutor, International Criminal Court (ICC), International Criminal Justice, Israel, Palestine, Palestine and the ICC | 1 Comment

To change the we as well as the me and the you: Concluding the Symposium on Informers Up Close

Mark A. Drumbl and Barbora Holá join JiC for this concluding contribution to our Symposium on their new book, Informers Up Close. To access all of the other contributions the symposium, please see here. So I turned myself to face me … Continue reading

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Lustration of Informers to Promote Trust

The following is the final contribution to our ongoing symposium on Mark Drumbl and Barbora Holá’s new book Informers up Close. It was written by Cynthia Horne, a Professor Political Science at Western Washington University. To see all of the … Continue reading

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On the far-reaching relevance of Holá’s and Drumbl’s Study of Informers from Cold War Czechoslovakia

The following is a contribution from Novak Vučo and Vladimir Petrović to JiC’s ongoing symposium on Mark Drumbl and Barbora Holá’s new book, Informers up Close. Vladimir is a Research Professor at Institute for Contemporary History Belgrade and a researcher … Continue reading

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Victims who Victimize – Understanding Informers

The following is Irit Dekel‘s contribution to JiC’s ongoing symposium on Mark Drumbl and Barbora Holá’s new book, Informers Up Close. Irit is an Assistant Professor of Germanic Studies and Assistant Professor of Jewish Studies at Indiana University, Bloomington. To … Continue reading

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The Politics of Ambivalence: Revisiting the Communist Past with Drumbl and Holá

The following contribution to JiC’s ongoing symposium on Informers Up Close comes from Patryk I. Labuda. Patryk is an assistant professor of international law and international relations at Central European University in Vienna and a researcher on the ‘Memocracy’ project at the Polish … Continue reading

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Rethinking Informers in transitional justice in liberal times

The following is a contribution by Jean Chrysostome K. Kiyala to JiC’s ongoing symposium on Mark Drumbl and Barbora Holá’s new book, Informers Up Close. Dr. Kiyala is a Senior Lecturer at the International Centre of Nonviolence, in the Faculty … Continue reading

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As the past repeats we see the ‘other’ in us all – A review of Informers Up Close

The following contribution to Justice in Conflict’s ongoing symposium was written by Emma J Breeze, Assistant Professor in international criminal law and international humanitarian law at the University of Birmingham. For all of the other submissions, please see here. Mark … Continue reading

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Disguise, Blur, Purr, and Nakedness: Mark Drumbl and Barbora Holá on Informers Up Close: Stories from Communist Prague

The following introductory post was written by Mark Drumbl and Barbora Holá, authors of the book Informers Up Close, the subject of JiC’s ongoing symposium. For all other contributions, please see here. You can’t hide your lyin’ eyes And your … Continue reading

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Introduction – A JiC Symposium on Mark Drumbl and Barbora Holá’s Informers Up Close

In a course that I run on responses to international crimes, I paint my students the following scenario: Canada is taken over by a brutal dictatorship that suppresses human rights. The regime lasts for twenty years before democracy is restored. … Continue reading

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