PhD studies in human rights

Monday, 20 August 2007

Charles Taylor trial postponed until January 2008

The Charles Taylor trial has been postponed once again, this time until January 2008. See: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6954627.stm

Wednesday, 15 August 2007

Selected Decision of the Human Rights Committee

Back in the 1980s, the Human Rights Committee started publishing collections of its case law in a series entitled 'Selected Decisions'. Volume 8 has just been issued, covering the years 2002-2005. You can get it at: http://www.ohchr.org/english/about/publications/docs/sdecisions-vol8.pdf.
Before internet, I found the printed volumes to be extremely useful. I have not been able to find all of the volumes on the website, but perhaps one of our readers can help on this. You can download the volumes. This provides a very convenient electronic collection of the case law that can be searched using key words.

Transitional justice in Northern Uganda

A research report on transitional justice in Northern Uganda has been issued by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights: http://www.ohchr.org/english/docs/northern_Uganda_august2007.pdf. It addresses victim perceptions of a range of issues, including amnesty and the International Criminal Corut.

ECHR rejects complaint challenging universal jurisdiction

In a July 2007 decision, a Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights has rejected a petition by an individual convicted by German courts of genocide committed in Bosnia and Herzegovina: http://cmiskp.echr.coe.int////tkp197/viewhbkm.asp?action=open&table=F69A27FD8FB86142BF01C1166DEA398649&key=63590&sessionId=1793039&skin=hudoc-en&attachment=true.

Tuesday, 14 August 2007

Cambodian Extraordinary Chambers on interim release

The Cambodian Extraordinary Chambers have issued their first decision on interim release. There is a lengthy (and seemingly irrelevant) development on mala captus bene detentus that appears to have been largely lifted from the Nikolic decision of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (although I don`t think the source is acknowledged). The decision is on the website of the Chambers: http://www.eccc.gov.kh/english/cabinet/indictment/1/Order_of_Provisional_Detention-DUCH-EN.pdf

Monday, 13 August 2007

Genocide decision of ICJ

Comments on the International Court of Justice genocide decision are starting to appear in the literature. I have written a comment that will be published in the next issue of Genocide Studies and Prevention. Here are the page proofs: http://www.mediafire.com/?5tsmddmvd2x

The European Convention at the national level

The Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has issued a useful document entitled: 'The effectiveness of the European Convention on Human Rights at national level'. It is available at: http://www.mediafire.com/?83h9v2flzef

Human Rights Council

Analysis of the work of the new United Nations Human Rights Council is beginnning to emerge. Rachel Brett, who is an old Geneva hand and representative of the Quaker UN Office, has produced a very helpful report. You can access it here: http://www.mediafire.com/?8ois3jj29dn

Monday, 2 July 2007

Special Court for Sierra Leone and the Charles Taylor trial

With the Charles Taylor trial off to a rocky beginning, the first judgment of the Special Court for Sierra Leone rejects all claims based upon the joint criminal enterprise theory of liability. It has ominous consequences for the Taylor proceedings. See the blog on the Taylor trial, and my comment on this recent judgment: http://charlestaylortrial.org/

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.