Category Archives: Publications

Prosecuting Conflict-Related Sexual Violence at the ICTY

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Prosecuting Conflict-Related Sexual Violence at the ICTYEdited by Serge Brammertz and Michelle Jarvis

Although sexual violence directed at both females and males is a reality in many on-going conflicts throughout the world today, accountability for the perpetrators of such violence remains the exception rather than the rule. While awareness of the problem is growing, more effective approaches are urgently needed for the investigation and prosecution of conflict-related sexual violence crimes. Upon its establishment in 1993, the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) began the challenging task of prosecuting the perpetrators of conflict-related sexual violence crimes, alongside the many other atrocities committed during the conflicts in the former Yugoslavia.

This book documents the experiences, achievements, challenges, and fundamental insights of the OTP in prosecuting conflict-related sexual violence crimes at the ICTY over the past two decades. It draws on an extensive dossier of OTP documentation, court filings, trial exhibits, testimony, ICTY judgements, and other materials, as well as interviews with current and former OTP staff members. The authors provide a unique analytical perspective on the obstacles faced in prioritizing, investigating, and prosecuting conflict-related sexual violence crimes. While the ICTY has made great strides in developing international criminal law in this area, this volume exposes the pressing need for determined and increasingly sophisticated strategies in order to overcome the ongoing obstacles in prosecuting conflict-related sexual violence crimes. The book presents concrete recommendations to inform future work being done at the national and international levels, including that of the International Criminal Court, international investigation commissions, and countries developing transitional justice processes. It provides an essential resource for investigators and criminal lawyers, human rights fact-finders, policy makers, rule of law experts, and academics.

To order the book, click here.

Publication: The Armenian Genocide Legacy

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The Armenian Genocide LegacyOn the centennial of the acts commonly referred to as the Armenian Genocide, academics and professionals from a variety of disciplines discuss the impact of the Genocide in their respective fields.

In this volume, they assess why it still remains relevant to discuss the Genocide today, as well as its global ramifications and its equally long-lasting mark.

Some contributions make the case for the use of aspects of the Armenian Genocide for comparative studies, in order to study the emergence of patterns between conflicts. Others focus on the impact of the Genocide on their specific fields of study.

Tackling this theme from the perspective of history, law, sociology, anthropology, political science, literature, education and media studies, The Armenian Genocide Legacy relies on an interdisciplinary approach to expose the complexity of the genocidal process, while marking the centennial of the Armenian Genocide.

To order the book, please click here.

Book Launch : Evaluating Transitional Justice - Accountability and Peacebuilding in Post-Conflict Sierra Leone

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Evaluating-Transitional-JusticeDemonstrating groundbreaking analysis, this is the first major study to evaluate the transitional justice programme in Sierra Leone. Rather than focusing on a single mechanism, the authors examine how the Special Court, Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), local justice initiatives and reparations programme interacted.

Contributors to the book include the Prosecutor of the Special Court and one of the Commissioners from the TRC, alongside a range of experts on transitional justice, on international law and on Sierra Leone.

The authors consider the political and normative drivers of transitional justice and the lessons that the Sierra Leone programme stands to offer other post-conflict situations.

This edited volume makes a significant contribution to the field by demonstrating how contextual knowledge should be used alongside normative standards when evaluating transitional justice.

iLawyer Wayne Jordash QC wrote the chapter called “Comparing Fairness and Due Process in the RUF and CDF cases: Consequences for the Legacy of the Special Court for Sierra Leone”

If you wish to order the book, click here.

ADC-ICTY Legacy Conference Publication

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ADC-ICTY-300x300The ADC-ICTY Legacy Conference took place on Friday 29 November 2013 in The Hague.

The keynote speech was delivered by H.E. Judge Theodor Meron, ICTY President. Speakers and moderators included The Right Hon. Lord Iain Bonomy, Judge Bakone Justice Moloto, Judge Howard Morrison, as well as renowned Defence Counsel.

The ADC-ICTY has published the conference proceedings in the form of a Legacy Conference Publication in 2015. The publication contains the transcripts of the conference as well as additional articles and is available here.

United Nations Framework of Analysis for Atrocity Crimes

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analyticaltoolThe UN Office for the Prevention of Genocide and the Responsibility to Protect recently released a new Framework of Analysis for Atrocity Crimes. The document provides indicators to identify and assess a range of both common and specific factors that increase the risk or susceptibility of atrocity crimes, which encompass genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and ethnic cleansing. The guide is meant to improve the capacities of international, regional and local actors in understanding the root causes and precursors of these crimes in order to identify measures that can be taken by States and the international community to prevent these crimes. The Office also provides training programmes for UN staff, government officials and civil society in order to assist in developing capacity to analyze and manage information on genocide. war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity.

Newsletter of the ICTY Association of Defence Counsel

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ADC ICTYThe Association of Defence Counsel Practising Before the ICTY (ADC-ICTY) has published its newsletter. This edition covers the recent proceedings in the Šešelj case where the ICTY Appeals Chamber upheld the decision of the Trial Chamber to continue the proceedings against Šešelj as soon as the newly appointed judge to the case, Judge Niang, will have finished familiarising himself with the record of the case.

The newsletter also looks back at various decisions or judgements rendered years ago by the ECCC, the ICTR and the ICTY but keeps us up to date as well with the current proceedings in front of the ICC, the STL and the ECCC.

You will also find in the newsletter analyses of recent conferences, among which figures a lecture on the ICC in the Chinese Context. An analysis of the recent book launch in The Hague on the Special Tribunal for Lebanon is also provided.

Book Launch - “The Special Tribunal for Lebanon: Law and Practice”

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Special Tribunal for Lebanonby Doughty Street Chambers International

Date: 17 June 2014, 18:00 - 20:00

Venue: The Hague Institute for Global Justice, Sophialaan 10, 2514 JR The Hague, The Netherlands

Chair: Elizabeth Wilmshurst

Speakers:

  • Amal Alamuddin, Barrister, Doughty Street Chamber
  • Norman Farrell, Prosecutor of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon
  • John Jones QC, Barrister, Doughty Street Chamber, Defence Counsel at the Special Tribunal for Lebanon
  • Sir Keir Starmer KCB, QC, Barrister, Doughty Street Chamber, Former Director of Public Prosecutions for England and Wales

On 17 June 2014 The Hague Institute for Global Justice will host the book launch of “The Special Tribunal for Lebanon: Law and Practice”.

This book provides a full analytical overview of the establishment and functioning of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, the newest and most controversial of the UN-sponsored international criminal courts.

The Tribunal is the UN’s first attempt at addressing terrorism in an international criminal court, and the first attempt to set up international trials following crimes committed in the Middle East region.

The court’s narrow mandate and unique procedures have led many to question what kind of precedent it will set in a volatile region. This book looks at how the court was established, its foundational principles based on the Statute of the International Criminal Court and Lebanese domestic law, and the possible further development of its case law.

Registration for this event is required. In order to reserve your place, please RSVP to [email protected] or contact Jennifer Noone or Furhana Mallick on +44 (0)20 7 404 1313.

New PhD Thesis - International Criminal Trials: A Normative Theory

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Sergey Vasiliev PhdOn Friday 25 April 2014, Sergey Vasiliev was granted his PhD by the University of Amsterdam (UvA) cum laude. Dr Vasiliev’s doctorate is devoted to the trial in international criminal proceedings. It is now available in a book of extraordinary depth and quality, which is highly recommended.

Among the numerous works on international criminal procedure, there has been no study focusing on the international criminal trial as a socio-legal phenomenon and a phase of international criminal proceedings. The book seeks to cover this gap by systematically examining the nature and organization of trials conducted by the historical and contemporary international

and hybrid criminal tribunals from the Nuremberg Tribunal to the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.

The study posits international criminal trials as a distinct object of theoretical and legal inquiry. It combines the methodological, conceptual, comparative, and critical approaches to the subject-matter for the purpose of developing the normative theory of international criminal trials.