About this Event
Workshop: Storytelling in and through Legal Cases in International Courts
Speakers: Stefaan Van Der Jeught, Official, Court of Justice of the European Union; Professor, Vrije Universiteit Brussel and José Kukulu Kapinga Luwa, Coordinator, Situation Languages Unit of the Registry, International Criminal Court, The Hague
12:00PM October 29, 2026 (Thu)
Abstract
This fireside chat will bring together representatives of two international courts to explore how narrative shapes international adjudication. Every dispute that reaches an international court begins as a story: of a border, a people, a harm, or a broken promise. Parties try to tell it differently. We will also ponder how stories are told through cases: how litigation gives voice to victims and communities, how states use courts to present themselves to the world, and how judgments reach audiences far beyond the courtroom.
Biography
Stefaan Van der Jeught is an official at the Court of Justice of the European Union (Luxembourg) and Professor of EU Constitutional Law at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Belgium. His research focuses in particular on EU multilingualism, language law, constitutional law and the role of language in European integration. He is the author of EU Language Law, whose second edition was published in 2025, and regularly lectures and publishes on questions of multilingualism and European Union law.
Biography
José Kukulu Kapinga Luwa is a Coordinator at the Situation Languages Unit of the Registry at the International Criminal Court (The Court) in The Hague (Netherlands). He has been a Court interpreter from 2006 to 2020 at the Court before joining the Field Interpretation Unit. After graduating in Education and reaching out to Youth with learning challenges in war-torn zones, he worked in Curriculum development projects as School Administration Officer and Youth Educationist for few years before going back to college and learning interpretation and translation. In 2006, one year after graduating he received an offer of appointment from the Court as African Languages Interpreter. He grabbed the opportunity and the privilege to interpret for the first trial ever at the ICC in the case the Prosecutor vs Thomas Lubanga Dyilo. Today José Kukulu Kapinga Luwa works also internally as Presenter for official visits managed by the Public Information and Outreach Section, and outside the Court, as speaker in regional and international conferences organised by universities and Organisations focussing on Interpretation, Translation and terminology within the International Criminal Justice, mostly the ICC. As Coordinator at the Situation Languages Unit, he puts his 20 years’ experience in sourcing, recruiting, training and deploying Free-lance Field Interpreters working mostly with languages of Lesser Diffusion.
This is an in-person only event. We welcome you to sign up.
If quota via Enventbrite is full, please sign up through the link below.
https://english.hku.hk/event/617/Professor_Stefaan_Van_Der_Jeught_and_Mr._Jos%C3%A9_Kukulu_Kapinga_Luwa_-_Public_Lecture_&_Workshop
Event venue & nearby stays
HKU Black Box, Room 54, LG/F, Centennial Campus, Hong Kong, Hong Kong
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