​Thorsten Kunst - Head of the Interpol National Central Bureau

​Thorsten Kunst is currently the head of the Interpol National Central Bureau (NCB) and deputy head of the international coordination division in Wiesbaden, Germany. Throughout his career, he took on several positions within the German Federal Criminal Police (BKA). Some notable competencies include counterterrorism, hostage-taking, as well as the protection of high-profile officials during events such as the G8 Summit in 2007. During our conference, Mr. Kunst will give a workshop on the topic “International Police Cooperation – the German Federal Criminal Police Office (Bundeskriminalamt)”.

Alexander van Dam - National Member for the Netherlands at Eurojust 

Alexander van Dam has been a National Member of the Netherlands since January 2022. Prior to his appointment at Eurojust, Mr van Dam worked as Resident EU Prosecutor in Belgrade, Serbia, under the Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA) program. Before taking up his current role, in 2019 and 2020 he worked as Acting Director of the National Prosecution Service, following his time as Prosecutor General for the Dutch country of Aruba between 2016 and 2019. Previously, Mr van Dam was Deputy Chief Prosecutor in the district Zeeland/West-Brabant and senior prosecutor and magistrate in the districts of Amsterdam, The Hague, and Haarlem. Before joining the prosecution services, between 1994 and 1999 he was a financial analyst in the Dutch Security Service AIVD, following a two-year traineeship with banking company ABN Mees Pierson in London and Amsterdam. 

Mr. Sabine ten Doesschate - Sjöcrona van Stigt​

Sabine ten Doesschate has earned a Master's in Dutch Law, with a major in Criminal Law, at the University of Groningen. She has been practicing as a criminal defense lawyer since 2005, handling both economic and general criminal law cases. Since early 2020 she has been representing one of the four persons – and the only one who is actively putting forward defense in the case – that is being prosecuted for the downing of flight MH17 and the murder of the 298 victims on 17 July 2014. 

Dick Schoof - Ministry of Justice and Security

​Dick Schoof (1957) has been secretary-general of the Ministry of Justice and Security from 1 March 2020. He previously worked as a civil servant at the Ministry of Education and was Director of Police, Chief Director of the IND, Director-General of Public Order and Security and Police, National Coordinator for Security and Counterterrorism, and Director-General of the Dutch General Intelligence and Security Service (AIVD).

Dan Mercea - City University of London

​Dr. Dan Mercea received his Ph.D. in communication studies from the Department of Sociology, University of York. Before the completion of his doctorate, he became Teaching Fellow in Political Sociology at York. From September 2011 to September 2013 he was a Senior Lecturer in Politics at The Hague University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands. Nowadays Mr. Mercea is a senior lecturer and Reader for Media and Communication at the City, University of London. Furthermore, he is the associate editor of the journal Information, Communication & Society. 

Professor Renée Römkens - University of Amsterdam, Römkens Research & Consultancy

​Renée Römkens is a Professor emerita and affiliated researcher on gender-based violence at the University of Amsterdam/ dept. of Sociology and founder of Römkens Research & Consultancy. She has been a pioneer in the academic field of gender-based violence (GBV). The national survey on intimate partner violence against women in the Netherlands (1989) is a landmark study in Europe. She has worked internationally and published widely in the field of GBV and the impact of human rights instruments. As a scientific member-expert, she was a member of the Committee that drafted the Council of Europe Istanbul Convention to prevent and combat violence against women and domestic violence. She holds various advisory positions in the academic and policy field of gender-based violence and is a member of the European Network on Gender Expertise (ENEGE).

Nay San Lwin - Free Rohingya Coalition (FRC)

​Nay San Lwin is a Rohingya activist and co-founder of the Free Rohingya Coalition and has documented rights violations and military campaigns in Arakan State for 20 years since leaving Myanmar. He is a prolific commentator on the Rohingya issue and a passionate campaigner; he provides up-to-date information, verification and fact-checking, and situation updates and analyses. He was publicly attacked by the Presidential and State Counsellor’s Office for his role in disseminating news about military atrocities in Northern Arakan State.

Kirsty Sutherland and Sarah Bafadhel - 9 Bedford Row

Sarah Bafadhel is a qualified barrister before the Bar of England and Wales and a member of 9 Bedford Row (Chambers of Steven Kay QC). She specializes in international criminal law, public international law, and human rights law and has appeared before the European Court of Justice, International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals, International Criminal Court, Special Tribunal for Lebanon, and the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. She assists both accused persons as well as provides legal consultation to governmental and nongovernmental actors including IIIM, FCO, Amnesty International, and various state actors. She has also assisted local legal representatives in proceedings before the United States, Panama, Rwanda, and Bangladesh.

Kirsty Sutherland is a barrister at 9 Bedford Row, specializing in international criminal law and humanitarian law. She has acted for the defense in a number of high profile international cases including The Prosecutor v. Kenyatta and The Prosecutor v. Al Hassan before the International Criminal Court, 'Case 004' before the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, as well as in major military trials in the UK, and on behalf of the International Bar Association in DPRK Inquiries held in 2016 and 2022. As Visiting Fellow of Practice with the University of Oxford’s Institute for Ethics, Law and Armed Conflict, Kirsty is exploring avenues to strengthen the international community’s atrocity investigation and prevention architecture. She also sits as the Secretary of the IBA’s War Crimes Committee.