PhD studies in human rights: Unimaginable Atrocities

Saturday 25 February 2012

Unimaginable Atrocities

My latest book, Unimaginable Atrocities: Justice, Politics,and Rights at the War Crimes Tribunals, was published by Oxford University Press a few days ago.

The book consists of eight chapters that address major and controversial issues in the field of international criminal law. Each one represents a different aspect of my own thinking and experience, based upon two decades of studying international criminal tribunals and transitional justice.

This is not a collection of previously published articles. Each chapter is new, drawing upon the latest developments in the field.

Consisting of 240 pages, the book is issued in hardcover and priced at £34.99.

Here is the description of the book taken from the Oxford catalogue:

* Highlights critical debates and controversies facing international criminal courts and tribunals, such as the tensions between peace and justice, and between fair trial rights and the need to secure a conviction

* Presents fresh analysis of these issues from an interdisciplinary perspective and offers innovative solutions

* Written by one of the undisputed authorities on international crimes and war crimes tribunals

* Accessible and clear style makes the book a good read for lawyers and non-specialists alike

As international criminal courts and tribunals have proliferated and international criminal law is increasingly seen as a key tool for bringing the world's worst perpetrators to account, the controversies surrounding the international trials of war criminals have grown. War crimes tribunals have to deal with accusations of victor's justice, bad prosecutorial policy and case management, and of jeopardizing fragile peace in post-conflict situations. In this exceptional book, one of the leading writers in the field of international criminal law explores these controversial issues in a manner that is accessible both to lawyers and to general readers.

The book contains the following chapters:

1: 'Unimaginable Atrocities': Identifying International Crimes

2: Nullum Crimen Sine Lege

3: Victors' Justice? Selecting Targets for Prosecution

4: The Genocide Mystique

5: Mens Rea, Actus Reus, and the Role of the State

6: History, International Justice, and the Right to Truth

7: No Peace Without Justice? The Amnesty Quandary

8: Crimes Against Peace

The title, Unimaginable Atrocities, is taken from the preamble to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

3 comments:

Genti Zyberi said...: Congratulations Professor Schabas! I'm looking forward to reading the book.; 25 February 2012 at 20:12
Natia Kalandarishvili-Mueller said...: Congratulations!; 27 February 2012 at 22:53
Anonymous said...: This is another great contribution by a great legal luminary in the world. A quick glance over the introduction tells that indeed, there are politics at international prosecutions -the most glaring one being an issue of immunity not only from prosecution, but also from testifying in international courts with jurisdiction over international crimes. The list of heads of state who have been prosecuted is long: Milosevic, Taylor, Saddam, Karadzic,Gagbo, and many others. The selective syndrome has beset international criminal prosecution -though based on prosecutorial discretion.Yet, when some senior state officials are called to appear in court to testify, their legal counsel often put forward defences of sovereignty, immunity and the lack of forensic and legitimate purpose in summoning such leaders before international courts. Wouldn't senior state officials assist such courts in knowing the truth about atrocities possibly committed by their subordinates under their express or implied commands? Take for example, war crimes and the crime of aggression.

We are yet to witness a senior state official being called for example, in respect of NATO bombings in Kosovo and elsewhere, to testify before the ICTY. Clinton is being sought by counsel/legal adviser to Karadzic to assist the ICTY; the Greek President has been protected by the ICTY from testifying. Kagame survived several subpoena notions at ICTR. Ahmed Tejan Kabbah (then president) could not be summoned to testify in the Special Court because judges were not convinced that it was necessary to summon him -although they later did subpoena him when he was no longer a state president. Saddam's trial could not obviously lead to subpoenas for Blair and Bush due to its nature and politics surrounding the trial (illegality).

Long Live Schabas, Long live International Criminal Justice!; 28 July 2012 at 18:45

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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

Saturday 25 February 2012

Unimaginable Atrocities

3 comments:

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