The Politics of International Criminal Justice

Lessons from the International Criminal Court and the Special Court for Sierra Leone

Conference
3,4 May 2012
Freetown, Sierra Leone

International criminal justice has become a weapon in political struggles in different African states. International court and tribunals, whilst often portrayed as legal bastions immune from politics, have proven to be inherently political. Depending on the definition of what counts as ‘political’, the politics of international criminal justice can be found at different levels. For instance, international criminal courts are created by political decisions, adjudicate crimes which are frequently related to politics, and depend on a mysterious and seemingly magical ‘political will’ for the enforcement of their decisions. Moreover, recent studies have shown how the International Criminal Court has become implicated in political struggles by making a distinction between the friends and enemies of the international community which it purports to represent.

This conference studies the politics of international criminal justice at these different stages. Some of the main questions include:
• How should the politics of international criminal justice be conceptualized? What theoretical approaches are helpful in articulating the political aspects of criminal courts and tribunals?
• What lessons can be learned from experiences in countries affected by interventions of international criminal courts? What is the political role of international criminal courts in countries such as Sierra Leone, Uganda, Congo, Sudan, Central African Republic or Kenya?
• How can we improve the accountability of those engaged in the politics of international criminal justice?

The conference brings together academics from different disciplines, including international law and political science, and practitioners in the field of law and politics (including diplomats, politicians, judges, legal counsels). While its main focus is on the International Criminal Court and the Special Court for Sierra Leone, contributions from other areas of international criminal justice are welcomed as well.

Submissions and selection
If you would like to participate in the conference, please send us a 500-750 words abstract of the paper you plan to present before February 1st 2012. We will select a maximum of 10 papers that can be presented at the conference. Early submissions are welcomed. If you are invited to present, we would like to receive a short position paper two weeks before the conference. The position paper should be max. 2500 words, outlining the main argument.

Please send your paper proposal to:
Prof. dr. W.G. Werner
w.werner@rechten.vu.nl

Conference fee
The fee for the conference is 100 Euro. The money from the fees will be used to provide financial support for scholars or practitioners from (West-)African countries coming to the conference. If you would like to receive such support, please let us know before February 15th 2012.
Attendees from African countries are entitled to a waiver of the fee.

Book on Democracy and the Politics of International Law (in German)

Philip Liste 2011, Völkerrecht-Sprechen: Die Konstruktion demokratischer
Völkerrechtspolitik in den USA und der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Baden-Baden: Nomos (Studien der Hessischen Stiftung Friedens- und Konfliktforschung, Bd. 11)
Details: http://www.nomos-shop.de/13672

The Third Motherland - Great Documentary on Youtube

Some of you know that Costas Contantinou has been working on a documentary the Maronites in Cyprus in the last couple of years. This piece of work really speaks to the debates on identity in IR. It's online on youtube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVKH7thX8vc . Just have a look.

CGG Lecture (University of Hamburg) with Prof. Richard Bellamy, PhD

On WED, Nov 9, 2011 Richard Bellamy (University College London) will give a talk on "Are International Human Rights Conventions democratically legitimate? Political Constitutionalism and the Hirst Case".

For more information, see the website of the Center for Globalization and Governance

Vacancy for a Postdoctoral Researcher in the SHARES Project

The SHARES project is looking for a new postdoctoral researcher to join the team. The postdoctoral researcher will carry out independent research into the substantive and/or procedural aspects of shared responsibility in international law. Candidates should apply with an outline of a research project that they propose to conduct as part of the SHARES project (max. 1500 words). The deadline for applications has been extended to 18 November 2011.
For more information, please click here.

Principles on Extra-Territorial Human Rights Obligations Adopted

The Maastricht Centre for Human Rights of Maastricht University and the International Commission of Jurists are pleased to announce the adoption of the Maastricht Principles on Extra-Territorial Obligations (ETOs) of States in the area of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. These international legal principles clarify the human rights obligations of States beyond their own borders. The Principles cover all economic, social and cultural rights, including among others the right to just and favourable conditions of work, social security, an adequate standard of living, food, housing, water, sanitation, health, education and participation in cultural life.

read more at http://www.maastrichtuniversity.nl/web/Institutes/MaastrichtCentreForHumanRights.htm

Operations of the Global - Workshop, University of Hamburg

Operations of the Global – Explorations of Dis/Connectivity
6th-8th October 2011

organized by:
Prof. Dr. Urs Stäheli
Dr. Sven Opitz
Ute Tellmann, PhD

How to Think the Global?

Recent debates on globalization have challenged the idea of the globe as a pre-existing and all-encompassing entity. The focus has turned towards different and situated modes of doing globalization. This conference suggests understanding the global as the effect of particular, fragmented and material operations. We seek to explore and compare different forms of dis/connectivity. Finance, diplomacy, law, consumption, transport and migration depend for their global reach on specific forms of connectivity. While finance is tied by networks of information; global commodity chains depend on logistical organization of space. Where political and legal norms travel by citation and standardization, security measures enlist contagious logics of affect. Each form of connectivity is constitutively linked to different materialities and media and is characterized by different temporalities and intensities. At this conference we will ask how different materialities and logics of connectivity intertwine. How do these modes differ in terms of density, speed and diffusion? How can we theorize the materiality of these connective links? Are there tipping points that turn connectivity into disconnectivity?

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