PhD studies in human rights: Latest News from The Hague

Wednesday 25 June 2008

Latest News from The Hague

Yesterday, the Trial Chamber in the Lubanga case held a hearing to follow up on its earlier decision, reported on this blog last week, to grant a stay of proceedings because of the refusal of the Prosecutor to remit potentially exculpatory documents to defense counsel. No decision was made yesterday, but written decisions are promised soon.
The Trial Chamber said it was premature to consider releasing Lubanga. First, the Prosecutor is applying to appeal the decision. Apparently, the Trial Chamber seems to think that leave to appeal must be granted first, although this does not seem obvious to me. The Rome Statute does not provide for a stay of proceedings, and as a result it does not establish the procedure for appealing a judgment granting a stay of proceedings. I would be inclined to treat a stay as analogous to an acquittal or a conviction, and therefore it is a decision that is subject to an appeal of right and not with leave.
They are also talking of releasing the accused. He was brought to The Hague from his cell in Congo, where he was awaiting trial on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity. Rather than be released, it seems to me that he should be returned to Congo for trial on these charges.
According to the press release issued yesterday by the Court, http://www.icc-cpi.int/press/pressreleases/389.html, presiding Judge Fulford said that 'any proposal allowing the judges to view the potentially exculpatory material that forms the basis of the stay must comply with minimum requirements in order to ensure a fair trial. These requirements include the right of both the Trial and Appeals Chambers to view, retain and study the material in question.' I am not sure that this is enough. Can it really be fair for trial judges to see hundreds of documents that are clearly relevant to the criminal responsibility of the accused without the accused also having access to this material? Obviously, the material may include both exculpatory and incriminating information, and it cannot be right that judges see incriminating information without the defense having an opportunity to reply to it.

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William A. Schabas is professor of international law at Middlesex University in London. He is also professor of international criminal law and human rights at Leiden University, emeritus professor human rights law at the Irish Centre for Human Rights of the National University of Ireland Galway, and an honorary professor at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, in Beijing and Wuhan University. He is the author of more than 20 books and 300 journal articles, on such subjects as the abolition of capital punishment, genocide and the international criminal tribunals. Professor Schabas was a member of the Sierra Leone Truth and Reconciliation Commission. He was a member of the Board of Trustees of the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Technical Cooperation in Human Rights and president of the International Association of Genocide Scholars. He serves as president of the Irish Branch of the International Law Association chair of the Institute for International Criminal Investigation. He is an Officer of the Order of Canada and a member of the Royal Irish Academy. Here is the full c.v.

Dr Yvonne McDermott is Senior Lecturer in Law at Bangor University, UK, where she is also Director of Teaching and Learning and Co-Director of the Bangor Centre for International Law. Yvonne is a graduate of the National University of Ireland, Galway (B. Corp. Law, LL.B.), Leiden University (LL.M. cum laude) and the Irish Centre for Human Rights (Ph.D.). Her research focuses on fair trial rights, international criminal procedure and international criminal law. She is the author of Fairness in International Criminal Trials (Oxford University Press, 2016).

Niamh Hayes has been the Head of Office for the Institute for International Criminal Investigations (IICI) in The Hague since September 2012. She is about to complete her Ph.D. on the investigation and prosecution of sexual violence by international criminal tribunals at the Irish Centre for Human Rights, National University of Ireland Galway. She previously worked for Women's Initiatives for Gender Justice as a legal consultant, and as an intern for the defence at the ICTY in the Karadzic case. She has lectured on international criminal law and international law at Trinity College Dublin and, along with Prof. William Schabas and Dr. Yvonne McDermott, is a co-editor of The Ashgate Research Companion to International Criminal Law: Critical Perspectives (Ashgate, 2013). She is the author of over 45 case reports for the Oxford Reports on International Criminal Law and has published numerous articles and book chapters on the investigation and prosecution of sexual and gender-based violence as international crimes.

Joseph Powderly is Assistant Professor of Public International Law at the Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies, Leiden University. Between September 2008 and January 2010, he was a Doctoral Fellow/Researcher at the Irish Centre for Human Rights, where he worked, among other projects, on a Irish Government-funded investigation and report into the possible perpetration of crimes against humanity against the Rohingya people of North Rakhine State, Burma/Myanmar. He is currently in the process of completing his doctoral research which looks at the impact of theories of judicial interpretation on the development of international criminal and international humanitarian law. The central thesis aims to identify and analyze the potential emergence of a specific theory of interpretation within the sphere of judicial creativity. Along with Dr. Shane Darcy of the Irish Centre for Human Rights, he is co-editor of and contributor to the edited collection Judicial Creativity in International Criminal Tribunals which was published by Oxford University Press in 2010. He has written over 80 case-reports for the Oxford Reports on International Criminal Law, as well as numerous book chapters and academic articles on topics ranging from the principle of complementarity to Irish involvement in the drafting of the Geneva Conventions. In December 2010, he was appointed Managing Editor of the peer-reviewed journal Criminal Law Forum. His research interests while focusing on international criminal and international humanitarian law also include topics such as the history of international law and freedom of expression.

PhD studies in human rights

Wednesday 25 June 2008

Latest News from The Hague

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