V o lu m e 4 , I s su e 2
BULLETIN
Irish Centre for Human Rights
March 2004
IRISH CENTRE
Irish Centre for
Human Rights
Coming Events:
Conference
15-16 July 2004
‘Accountability for
Atrocity:
Conference on International
Accountability and Justice’
In partnership with the
UN University, Tokyo
Irish Centre for Human Rights:
www.nuigalway.ie/
human_rights
E m a i l :
humanrights@nuigalway.ie
Summer Schools 2004
Minority Rights:
Special Focus on
Minorities in Asia
12-19 June 2004
International Criminal
Court
10-14 July 2004
See page 4 for more details
FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
HONOURED WITH THE VISIT OF
ACCLAIMED HUMAN RIGHTS LAWYER,
GEORGE BIZOS
As part of a visit organised by NUI Galway’s Law Society, George Bizos, the former lawyer to Nelson Mandela, delivered a
lunchtime seminar at the Irish Centre for
Human Rights.
Mr. Bizos had acted as Mandela’s lawyer throughout the fight against apartheid in
South Africa. He was no stranger to oppression himself when he arrived in South Africa, having escaped from Greece upon its
invasion by Nazi Germany during the Second World War. Although he found refuge
in South Africa, he was immediately
shocked by the racism on the part of the ruling regime there.
During the course of the seminar Mr.
Bizos shared with the large audience his
experience of combatting apartheid through
the courts, explaining how law can be used
as a tool to fight institutional racism.
Mr. Bizos also spoke at length on human
rights issues that are currently of concern in
South Africa. Focusing specifically on economic, social and cultural rights, he explained how South African courts have been
George Bizos, former lawyer to Nelson Mandela, who
recently visited the Irish Centre for Human Rights.
engaging with these rights recently.
The acclaimed lawyer concluded his talk
by stressing that although working in the
field of human rights protection is frustrating, there are occasional victories which give
encouragement and continued inspiration.
Irish Centre for Human Rights and Amnesty
International hold Human Rights Training Courses
The Irish Centre for Human Rights and
Amnesty International held the first of a series of human rights training courses in February and March of this year. The four-day
trainings, entitled 'A Rights-based Approach', were conducted over two weeks in
Dublin and Galway.
Classes were given by doctoral students
from the Irish Centre for Human Rights,
with contributions by staff from the Centre
and Amnesty International.
Aimed primarily at those working in voluntary and community organisations, as well
as those with a general interest in human
rights, this foundation course was well attended and provided participants with the
necessary tools to introduce human rights
into their own work.
Subjects covered included the United
Nations and regional human rights systems,
international humanitarian law, women’s
rights, the Irish legal system, asylum law
and the protection of minority rights.
Such was the demand and success of
these first courses, it is anticipated that the
course will be run again in the near future.
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V o l u m e 4 , I ss u e 2
Irish Centre for Human Rights celebrates Bloomsday!
Ulysses and
Human Rights,
Friday 28 May,
Siobhán McKenna Theatre
NUI, Galway
16 June 2004 marks the centenary of
Bloomsday, the day of Leopold Bloom’s
jaunt around Dublin as made infamous in
James Joyce’s Ulysses. To mark the occasion the Irish Centre for Human Rights has
teamed up with the English Department of
NUI, Galway and Kenny’s Bookshop to organise a one-day conference on the theme of
Ulysses and Human Rights.
Speakers who will take part in this event
include Professor Kevin Barry, English Department, NUI, Galway and editor of
Joyce’s Occasional, Critical and Political
Writings, Frank Callanan, barrister, historian and author, Dr. Vincent Cheng, University of Utah and author of Joyce, Race,
and Empire, Anthony Cronin, founding
member of the Bloomsday celebrations and
Professor William Schabas, Director of the
Irish Centre for Human Rights.
The conference will take place in the
Siobhán McKenna Lecture Theatre on Friday 28 May, from 11am to 5pm. Admission is free and all are welcome to attend.
Developments of the
EU-China Human
Rights Project
Irish Centre for Human Rights:
www.nuigalway.ie/
human_rights
E m a i l :
humanrights@nuigalway.ie
Following the success of the last EUChina Human Rights Dialogue Seminar,
preparations are already underway for the
next series of seminars. The December
seminar was held in Venice, under the Italian Presidency of the EU, and focused on
the topics of judicial guarantees of human
rights, and capacity building of NGOs.
The next Network Seminar, to take place
at the Human Rights Centre of the University of Essex on 28 and 29 April, will focus
on the right to health. Following this, a governmental Dialogue Seminar, during which
Ireland will play a central role in keeping
with its assumption of the EU Presidency,
will take place in Beijing on 28 and 29 June.
More information on the EU-China Human Rights Project is available at:
http://www.eu-china-humanrights.org/
Pictured (l-r) Professor William Schabas, Director,
Nuala Ni Mhuircheartaigh and Vinodh Jaichand, Irish
Centre for Human Rights.
The Irish Centre for Human Rights
would like to wish Nuala Ni Mhuircheartaigh the very best in her new post as human rights officer with the Ireland delegation at the United Nations.
Nuala has contributed greatly to the
work of the EU-China Human Rights Project during her time as project co-ordinator
and we wish her every future success.
Tr a n s i t i o n a l J u s t i c e :
Progress of the Applicable Law Project
‘...an essential
instrument that will be
of immense use in
the promotion of
the rule of law and
respect for human
rights as societies
emerge from conflict’
Legal, police and human rights experts
gathered in Galway from 19-27 February
2004 for a series of expert consultations on
the ground breaking draft legislation for use
in post conflict settings developed as part of
the “Transitional Codes for Post Conflict
Criminal Justice Project”. The three meetings, organised by the Irish Centre for Human Rights and the United States Institute of
Peace, in cooperation with the Office of the
High Commissioner for Human Rights, were
the follow-up to the vetting conference held
last June in Geneva.
The first meeting brought together the
original drafting panel, together with additional experts, to make further amendments
to the draft criminal code and code of
criminal procedure. The second meeting
gathered together 22 policing experts to
consult and begin drafting material that
would assist law enforcement activities in a
post conflict environment. Leading experts
in the field of corrections standards and
prison management were present at the
third meeting to conduct a final review of
the Transitional Detention Act.
Future plans for the project include the
preparation of a user guide to the codes and
the presentation of the codes at various regional meetings. USIP and ICHR will
track usage of the transitional codes in an
effort to gather input for future revisions.
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Vo l u m e 4 , I s s u e 2
Publications
A list of publications by
staff and students of the
Irish Centre for Human
Rights can be viewed at:
http://www.nuigalway.ie/
human_rights/publications.htm
Irish Centre for Human Rights:
www.nuigalway.ie/
human_rights
E m a i l :
humanrights@nuigalway.ie
Participants include
David Crane,
Carla del Ponte,
Luis Moreno Ocampo,
Mary Robinson,
Maureen Harding Clark,
and Theodor Meron
Paris Conference
pays tribute to work of
Sean McBride
In January the Irish Centre for Human
Rights held a conference in conjunction
with the Human Rights Centre of l’Université de Paris II, to commemorate the 100th
anniversary of the birth of Seán McBride.
Entitled ‘Towards the Abolition of the
Death Penalty’, the conference was held in
the Irish Cultural Centre of the Collège des
Irlandais in Paris. Many students and staff
from Galway attended, profiting from presentations on the theme of capital punishment by speakers such as Senator Robert
Badinter, former French Minister of Justice,
Maurice Manning, President of the Irish
Human Rights Commission, Professor William Schabas, Director of the Irish Centre
for Human Rights and Professor Tom
O’Malley, Dean of the Faculty of Law at
Pictured at the recent Paris Conference (l-r)
Professor Emanuel Decaux, Senator Robert
Badinter and Professor William Schabas
NUI, Galway.
The conference included a challenging
drama on the human consequences of the
death penalty and was conducted bilingually, underscoring the spirit of hibernofranco co-operation and friendship that permeated this highly successful event.
Irish Centre for Human Rights to host
major Conference on International Justice
The Irish Centre for Human Rights and
the United Nations University, Tokyo are
most pleased to present Accountability for
Atrocity – A Conference on International
Accountability and Justice.
This two-day conference, being held on
15 and 16 July 2004 at the National University of Ireland, Galway, will focus on important contemporary issues relating to the
accountability process. Topics addressed
will include the discretion of international
prosecutors, judicial independence and the
relationship between criminal prosecution
and alternative accountability procedures,
such as truth commissions.
Accountability for Atrocity will bring
together a considerable number of eminent
specialists in the field of international justice, including several past and present
prosecutors of international courts and tribunals. These include David Crane, Prosecu-
tor for the Special Court for Sierra Leone,
Carla del Ponte, Prosecutor for the ICTY
and Luis Moreno Ocampo, Prosecutor for
the International Criminal Court.
Other participating speakers include
Mary Robinson, former United Nations
High Commissioner for Human Rights, Professor Lloyd Axworthy, former Canadian
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Gerald Gahima, Former Procurator-General, Republic
of Rwanda, Maureen Harding Clark, Judge
at the ICC, Theodor Meron, President of the
ICTY, Professor William Schabas, Director
of the Irish Centre for Human Rights and
Ramesh Thakur, Senior Vice-Rector of the
United Nations University, Tokyo.
Registration is €150, with a student rate
of €50. Further information and registration
forms are available at:
www.nuigalway.ie/human_rights/
conferences.htm
Third Annual Doctoral Seminar to be held
at the Irish Centre for Human Rights
From the 12-16 April the Irish Centre for Human Rights will host its third annual doctoral seminar. This week-long event has been highly successful in the past, providing an
interactive forum in which the Centre’s doctoral students make presentations of their ongoing work and engage in discussions with leading academics in the field of human rights.
Participating visitors this year include Mona Rishmawi, Office of the United Nations
High Commissioner for Human Rights, Professor Andrew Clapham, Graduate Institute of
International Studies, Geneva, Professor Ronald Slye, Seattle University, and Professor
Douglass Cassell, Northwestern University, Chicago.
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Recent Visitors to the
Irish Centre for Human
Rights:
Professor Rene Provost,
McGill University
Teresita Trujillo
Cuban Charge d’Affaires
Irish Centre for Human Rights:
www.nuigalway.ie/
human_rights
E m a i l :
humanrights@nuigalway.ie
V o l u m e 4 , I ss u e 2
Minority Rights
Summer School 2004
to focus on Asia
Summer Course on
the International
Criminal Court
Building on the progress achieved last
year in analysing the phenomenon of minority and indigenous rights violations in
Africa, this year the Irish Centre for Human
Rights’ Summer School on Minority Rights
will seek to examine this phenomenon in
Asian states. This is particularly challenging due to the fact that the world's most
populous continent does not have a regional system for human rights protection
and is the most diverse in terms of its ethnic and cultural make-up.
This course brings together a number of
scholars with direct experience of working
in the states they are examining. The sharing of their experience, in conjunction with
the basic knowledge of the international
system, will seek to provide participants
with an overview of the pertinent issues in
seeking to build an effective mechanism for
the protection of minority and indigenous
rights on this continent.
The course runs from 12-19 June. More
information at: http://www.nuigalway.ie/
human_rights/minority_rights.htm
For the past number of years the Irish
Centre for Human Rights has run a oneweek residential summer course on the International Criminal Court. Taught by leading experts in the field of international
criminal law, this course provides a comprehensive introduction to the workings and
law of the International Criminal Court.
With the Prosecutor of the Court currently conducting investigations into alleged
crimes, the hearing of cases are set to begin
in the near future.
Subjects that will be looked at during the
summer course include the background and
creation of the court, its jurisdiction, the
issue of complementarity, the Court’s relationship with the Security Council, general
principles of law and the rights of the accused.
This year’s course runs from 10-14 July.
Tuition is €500 and includes meals, accommodation at Corrib Village, an afternoon
trip, documents and other teaching materials. For registration details visit: http://
www.nuigalway.ie/human_rights/icc
Irish Centre for Human Rights
Lunchtime Seminar Series
2003-2004
Pictured left is Professor Rene Provost of McGill
University, Montreal, delivering a lunchtime seminar at the Irish Centre for Human Rights on 19
February on the subject of ‘Clash of Culture in
International Law’.
The Irish Centre for
Human Rights Bulletin is
compiled and edited by
Shane Darcy.
If you wish to sign up for any of the above activities or to receive information regarding the
work the Centre carries out, please to not hesitate to
contact us at:
Irish Centre for Human Rights, NUI Galway, Ireland.
Phone: +353-(0)91-750464,
Fax: +353-(0)91-750575,
Email: humanrights@nuigalway.ie
Website: www.nuigalway.ie/human_rights