Open Society Institute and the Department of Legal Studies, CEU, cordially invite you to the seventh annual Marek Nowicki Memorial Lecture, delivered by

Robert Badinter on “Toward a European Justice”

Welcome: Renata Uitz, Professor, Department of Legal Studies, CEU Opening Remarks: John Shattuck, President and Rector, CEU Introduction: Wiktor Osiatynski, Professor, Department of Legal Studies, CEU Thursday, November 10, 2011 - 5:30 pm CEU Auditorium Reception to follow

Robert Badinter has been a senator in the French from 1995 until 2011. During his distinguished career, he has also been President of the Constitutional Council (1986-1995), President of the Arbitration Commission for former Yugoslavia (1992-1995), a member of the Brussels Convention for the European Constitution 2003 of the High Level Panel appointed by S.G. Kofi Annan (2003-2004), and Minister of Justice (1981-1986). Robert Badinter has been a long-time activist for the abolition of the death penalty and among the numerous achievements of his period as Minister of Justice was the abolition of the death penalty in .

Badinter holds the highest degrees from the Sorbonne, School of Law and an M.A. from , and was appointed Professor of Law at the Sorbonne in 1965 (Emeritus since 1996). He is the author of eleven books: Against Death Penalty (2006); The Execution (1973); Freedom, Freedoms (1975); Condorcet, in collaboration with Elisabeth Badinter (1988); Free and Equals... (1989); The Penitentiary system of the Republic 1871-1914 (1992); An ordinary anti-Semitism (1997); The Abolition (2000); An European Constitution (2002); The greater good . . . (2004); and The birth of the Civil Code of 1804, Les épines et les roses (2011). 

Marek Nowicki (1947-2003) studied nuclear physics in the 1960s, while passionately helping to popularize mountaineering among student groups in Poland. In the years 1972-1981, Nowicki worked for the Mathematics and Physics Department of Warsaw University. In 1980 and 1981, he was active in the “Mazowsze” chapter of the NSZZ Solidarnosc movement. During martial law, Nowicki was detained by the Polish authorities. In December of 1982, Nowicki co-founded the underground Helsinki Committee of Poland. After the fall of Communism, the members of the Committee, under Nowicki’s leadership, established the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights. The Foundation has flourished into one of the most active and experienced non-governmental organizations in Europe today. Nowicki presided over the organization until his premature death in 2003. Appointed an expert on human rights by the Polish parliament, Nowicki co-authored the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and helped shape the Polish Constitution. Nowicki wrote extensively on the history and the philosophy of human rights, co-created documentaries and educational programs, and spoke passionately on rights and freedoms, thus contributing his expertise to numerous international organizations. He was instigator and supporter of human rights movements in authoritarian countries and new democracies—especially Poland and the other post-Soviet states. Until the end of his life, Nowicki continued to give lectures to audiences all over Russia, Central Asia, and the , where his character and charisma made him a trusted leader, and a symbol in the non-violent fight for individual rights and dignity.