United Nations Information Centre, Tehran

On the occasion of World Day of Social Justice, the “International Conference on Evolution of Legal Concepts in Light of Evolution of International Criminal Courts and Tribunals” opened at Iranian Centre for International Conference (ICIC) on Thursday 20 February.

Addressing the opening session of the seminar, UN Resident Coordinator Gary Lewis referred to what are normally termed the “three main pillars” of the United Nations namely peace/security, development and human rights. He said, however, that he believes there is another pillar for the UN which is “justice”.

He added that “justice” is also mentioned in the UN Charter’s preamble quoting “We the peoples of the United Nations… determined to establish conditions under which justice can be maintained.”

Mr. Lewis said without justice we will continue to see violence and what some people describe as terrorism.

He concluded his remarks by reading the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s message on the occasion of World Day of Social Justice 2014.

The one-day seminar was organized by the Tehran-based International Studies Journal (ISJ), the United Nations Information Center (UNIC) in Iran and the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) in cooperation with Iranian as well as foreign universities and research centers.

The following topics were discussed and reviewed by the participants: Evolution of the Concept of Responsibility; Diplomatic Immunity and Human Responsibility, Political Sovereignty and the Right to Protect, Non-intervention and Responsibility to Protect, Transitional Justice and Impunity, Enforced Disappearance Crime against Humanity, Security Council and Justice, Instances of War Crimes, Competence of Courts and Crime of Aggression.