Christmas is a notoriously convenient time to bury bad news, but it may also have the unfortunate effect of obscuring more positive developments. The passing of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda‘s (ICTR) final trial judgment on December 20th in Arusha, Tanzania is one of those, representing the first time any of the fully international(…)
About Pádraig McAuliffe
Posts by Pádraig McAuliffe:
Poisoned Chalice? New ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda Sworn In
The Gambian Fatou Bensouda was sworn in this morning as the International Criminal Court’s new Chief Prosecutor, succeeding the Argentine Luis Moreno-Ocampo. Much has been made of the fact that she is the first woman to hold the post, but given that she is only the second chief prosecutor and the Swiss Carla Del Ponte(…)
6 Things I Learned at the London “Building Restorative International Justice: the ICC of the Future” Conference
On Friday of last week a conference entitled “Building Restorative International Justice: the ICC of the Future” took place in the Royal Commonwealth Society in London to discuss the most pertinent issues regarding the present performance and future direction of the International Court. Taking place in the immediate aftermath of the Lubanga conviction, the conference(…)
“Revolution is a process and not an event”: Reflections on the Egyptian Spring
The old adage that a week is a long time in politics is one that is readily accepted in liberal polities, though it reflects more the rapid changes of personal power due to scandals and party shifts than the glacial progress of modern politics. It may explain the rather exaggerated expectations of what can be(…)
A Crusader in Court: Baltazar Garzon on Trial in Madrid
Balthazar Garzon, the Spanish judge who served on Spain’s central criminal court and the Juzgado Central de Instrucción No. 5, which investigates the most important criminal cases in Spain, including terrorism, organised crime and money laundering, yesterday went on trial over accusations that he had abused his powers to investigate atrocities committed during the Spanish Civil War. (For a brief(…)
Mubarak on the Rack and Baby Doc in the Dock: Of Human Rights and Politics
Developments in recent weeks once more highlight the under-appreciated complexity of the relationship between human rights organisations, democratising regimes and processes of international accountability. On Monday last, Egyptian civil rights lawyers demanded the death penalty for former President Hosni Mubarak on Monday, joining prosecutor’s calls for him to be executed. On the other hand, a(…)
Saif From Harm? Wishful Thinking at The Hague
One of the most cutting criticisms of the International Criminal Court is that of imperialism, best captured in the cries that it is “A European Court for Africans.” This reproach is not always disinterested of course – the revival of anti-colonial language at the time of the Bashir indictment would have been more convincing was(…)
HRC Resolution to appoint Special Rapporteur for Transitional Justice
Perhaps surprisingly given that fact that issues of transitional justice have been central to UN peacebuilding doctrine since 2004’s Rule of Law and Transitional Justice Report (some might go as far as to say it was mainstreamed in 1997’s later updated set of principles for the protection and promotion of human rights through action to(…)
Complementarity, Gaddafi and The Hague: An Answer to Geoffrey Robertson
Last week’s overthrow of the Libyan regime makes more likely the trial of Muammar El-Gaddafi, his son Saif al-Islam and intelligence chief Abdullah al-Sanussi for crimes committed against demonstrators in the early days of the Libyan uprising. The UN Security Council referred the case to the ICC under Chapter VII of the UN Charter. At(…)
Prosecuting Corruption at the Mubarak Trial: A Lenient Indictment?
We are familiar, post-Watergate, with the old adage that “It’s not the crime, it’s the cover-up.” As trials proceed in Tunisia and Egypt after the fall of their anciens regimes, the phrase might be Bowdlerized to “its not the human rights violations, it’s the embezzlement” given the eye-brow raising charge sheets. While Ben Ali and(…)