Sir Elihu Lauterpacht

Sir Elihu Lauterpacht is one of the great international lawyers of our time. Joe Powderly has found a website with a series of interviews that he did earlier this year in which he reminisces about his life and work: http://www.squire.law.cam.ac.uk/eminent_scholars/professor_sir_elihu_lauterpacht_conversations_with_professor_sir_eli_lauterpacht.php. He is of course also the son of the great Sir Hersch Lauterpacht who can claim, amongst other accomplishments, to have told Justice Robert Jackson, over a dinner at Trinity College in July 1945, to rename the category previously known as 'atrocities, deportations and persecutions'. Lauterpacht's suggestion was 'crimes against humanity'.
This July, James Crawford organized a big event at the Lauterpacht Research Centre in Cambridge to mark both the 25th anniversary of the Centre and Sir Eli’s 80th birthday. It was a gathering of many of the great and the good in public international law from around the world, including several sitting and former judges of the International Court of Justice.
Eli Lauterpacht gave me my first break in international law when he was owner and publisher of Grotius Publications in Cambridge. I had completed my doctoral thesis on the abolition of the death penalty, and had sent the manuscript out to the leading publishers. Within a few weeks I had an offer from Eli Lauterpacht, whose small firm wasn't encumbered by the time-consuming bureaucracy of the bigger publishers, which of course I accepted. Later, the company was sold to Cambridge University Press, which has published the second and third editions. More than once I have told him of the great debt I owe him for this. Many others have similar stories of appreciation for Sir Eli.
Thanks to Joe Powderly.

US Supreme Court Refuses to Hear Innocence Plea in Death Penalty Case

The United States Supreme Court has refused leave to appeal (known as denying certiorari) in a case involving a claim of wrongful conviction: ://www.alternet.org/rights/102930/supreme_court_refusal_to_hear_troy_davis_case_%22truly_shocking%22/
Troy Davis, who was sentenced to death, has compelling evidence that he is innocent.
It is normal for criminal justice systems to put some closure on appeals and other challenges, but it is entirely different when a person's life is at stake. How can a civilised society execute somebody for whom their are serious grounds to think they may be innocent? What does it cost them to consider the claim and examine the new evidence?
Hopefully, there will be regime change in Washington in the coming weeks. This may well result in new appointments to the Supreme Court and, eventually a more enlightened jurisprudence on the death penalty.
Thanks to Nadia Bernaz.

Another Setback for the Prosecutor in the Lubanga case

Yesterday, the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Court dismissed an application by the Prosecutor to produce new evidence in its appeal of the decision of the Trial Chamber granting a stay of prosecution to Lubanga and, in effect, putting an end to the trial: http://www.icc-cpi.int/library/cases/ICC-01-04-01-06-1476-ENG.pdf. Back in June, the Trial Chamber put an end to proceedings because the Prosecutor had failed to disclose evidence to the defence that it had obtained on a confidential basis from the United Nations and from come NGOs. Since filing the appeal, the Prosecutor has continued to make efforts to resolve the situation. In early August, he spoke at the Salzburg summer school on international criminal law and seemed confident that the situation would be repaired and that the trial would go on. But Professor Kai Ambos, who also spoke at the summer school, was not as optimistic. He pointed to the inadequacies in the Prosecutor’s recent attempts to disclose the evidence in question. Late in August, the same Trial dismissed a motion by the Prosecutor that was based upon his efforts since the June decision to unblock the situation. Then the Prosecutor applied to the Appeals Chamber for it to consider more recent developments in considering the appeal of the June judgment. But the defence objected, and the Appeals Chamber agreed. The appeal concerns the facts as they stood when the Trial Chamber issued its judgment in June. Any new facts have to be considered by the Trial Chamber first. They cannot simply be imported into the Appeals Chamber.
Thanks to Yvonne McDermott.

Human Rights Based Approaches to EU Development Aid Policies

A review of development policies that appeared a few days ago is critical of European Union initiatives: http://www.ihrnetwork.org/eu-development-policies_215.htm.

Appeals Chamber Denies Transfer of Case to Rwandan Courts

Today the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda dismissed the Prosecutor's appeal concerning an application to transfer a case to the Rwandan courts: http://www.mediafire.com/?cmegkgmxtxi.
Earlier this year, a Trial Chamber denied the transfer on a number of grounds. The Appeals Chamber granted the appeal in some respects, notably in the decision by the Trial Chamber that because the trials in Rwanda would be held before a single judge this was not an adequate guarantee of a fair trial. But on other issues, such as speculation that a person sentenced in Rwanda might theoretically be required to serve a sentence in solitary confinement, and problems in obtaining witnesses for trial, the Trial Chamber decision was upheld.
There are two other judgments on appeal, but presumably the result will be similar.
In my opinion the judges have been far too severe, setting unrealistically high standards. This means a significant increase in the caseload of the Tribunal and at least three new trials and possibly more that it had been hoped would not be needed, because they could be held before national courts. The judges of both chambers will have to stay on and work for another year or two as a result of their decisions.

Postgraduate research skills

Our University's Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching has a number of very useful resources for graduate students: http://www.nuigalway.ie/celt/campuswebcast/internal.html. Apparently because of licensing restrictions this can only be accessed on the campus from a university computer.
Thanks to Cliona Kelly.

Martic Appeals Decision has More on Joint Criminal Enterprise and Co-Perpetration

The Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia issued its ruling in Prosecutor v. Martic today. There is a press release on the website, but the judgment doesn’t seem to be posted yet. So here it is: http://www.mediafire.com/?d1qjnujnujt.

Once again, Judge Schomburg is in dissent on the issue of joint criminal enterprise. Readers of this blog will recallthat a few days ago I posted the decision of the Pre-Trial Chamber of the International Criminal Court in Katanga, noting that it essentially rejects the ‘joint criminal enterprise’ theory of liability favoured by the Yugoslavia Tribunal in favour of the ‘co-perpetration’ theory. Judge Schomburg has always been a fan of ‘co-perpetration’. He is right up to date, and cites last week’s ruling of the International Criminal Court in his decision, issued today. He writes: “Suffice it to say that it is not helpful at all, at this stage of the development of international criminal law, that there now exist two competing concepts of commission as a mode of liability.’

Another element of interest in the decision is its confirmation of case law on the definition of ‘civilian’ within the context of crimes against humanity. The Appeals Chamber says that a combatant who is hors de combat is not a civilian within the meaning of crimes against humanity.

Human Rights Conference at Royal Irish Academy

The Royal Irish Academy will host a conference to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It will be held on 20 October, starting at 130, at the Academy which is located on Dawson Street in Dublin. Among the speakers are Prof. Harold Koh, dean of the Yale Law School, Prof. Brice Dickson of Queen's University Belfast, Michael O'Flaherty who is the Irish member of the Human Rights committee, Prof. Attracta Ingram of University College Dublin and Professor Caroline Fennell of University College Cork. It is necessary to register in advance: http://www.mediafire.com/?hzxtdinmdnu

Hammerberg on Human Rights Education

Thomas Hammerberg, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, has issued a very nice statement on human rights education:
http://www.coe.int/t/commissioner/Viewpoints/default_en.asp

International Criminal Court Issues Important Ruling on Substantive Criminal Law

Almost all of the decisions of the International Criminal Court issued to date have concerned procedural matters. On 30 September, a Pre-Trial Chamber of the Court released its decision confirming charges against Germain Katanga and Mathieu Ngudjulo Chui. The decision contains extensive discussion about the scope of specific war crimes and crimes against humanity, although there is nothing terribly earthshaking here. Perhaps more significant is the endorsement of the theory of ‘co-perpetration’ and, at least implicitly, the rejection of the ‘joint criminal enterprise’ theory of liability so cherished by judges at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. See: http://www.icc-cpi.int/library/cases/ICC-01-04-01-07-717-ENG.pdf. The decision is peppered with references to (mainly) German writers on substantive criminal law. And there is an interesting dissent, by Judge Usacka.