TORONTO, January 9, 2002 -- A who’s who of international legal experts will gather at a Toronto conference on Saturday, January 19 and Sunday, January 20, 2002 to debate the merits of the International Criminal Court (ICC), the proposed permanent court that will try war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide.
The ICC will come into operation when 60 states ratify the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, the Treaty that was signed by 139 states following a meeting in Rome in July 1998. To date 48 states have ratified the Treaty, including Canada. Twenty-one states ratified in the year 2001 alone.
Many countries have maintained that a permanent ICC is necessary to bring people accused of atrocities to justice. Indeed, in the wake of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 in New York and Washington, there has been renewed interest in the role that international bodies, such as a tribunal like the ICC, might play in the prosecution of accused terrorists. For example, some commentators have suggested if al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders Osama bin Laden and Mullah Mohammed Omar are captured, they should be tried by an independent, impartial international tribunal constituted in a manner similar to the ICC, rather than by a U.S. military tribunal. Some U.S. commentators, however, have been critical of the idea of the ICC, arguing that it will permit politically motivated prosecutions.
The conference, entitled The International Criminal Court: The Road to Rome and the Future, is jointly sponsored by Osgoode Hall Law School of York University (through the York University Centre for Public Law and Public Policy and the Osgoode Professional Development Program) and the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies. It will open with a dinner on Saturday, January 19 at 6.30 p.m. at the Delta Chelsea Hotel and will continue on Sunday, January 20 from 8.30 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Osgoode Professional Development Centre, 1 Dundas Street West, Suite 2602.
Speakers include:
- Madam Justice Louise Arbour of the Supreme Court of Canada, and former Chief Prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunals for Yugoslavia and Rwanda
- Leo Adler
, Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies- Christopher Amerasinghe, Q.C.,
Department of Justice, Canada- Alan Baker
, Legal Advisor, Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs- Bruce Broomhall,
International Justice Program- Irwin Cotler
, M.P., Special Advisor on the ICC, and Professor of Law, McGill University- Edward Greenspan, Q.C.
, Greenspan, Henein and White- Peter W.
Hogg, Dean, Osgoode Hall Law School of York University- John Holmes,
Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Canada- Roy S. Lee
, Faculty of Law, Columbia University- Michael Mandel
, Professor, Osgoode Hall Law School of York University- Lieutenant Colonel Dominic McAlea
, Department of National Defence, Canada- Patrick Monahan
, Professor, Osgoode Hall Law School of York University- Valerie Oosterveld
, Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Canada- William R. Pace
, NGO Coalition for an International Criminal Court- Donald Piragoff
, Department of Justice, Canada- Darryl Robinson
, Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Canada- Michael Scharf
, New England School of Law- Craig Scott
, Associate Dean (Research & Graduate Studies), Osgoode Hall Law School of York University- Ruth Wedgwood
, Yale Law School
Issues to be addressed at the Conference include the following:
- Is there a growing international consensus in favour of the ICC and, if so, why?
- Will the ICC serve as an impartial tribunal, or will it become a forum for politically motivated prosecutions?
- What crimes will the ICC try?
- How will prosecutions before the ICC be undertaken?
- What will be the relationship between the jurisdiction of the ICC and domestic criminal law?
- What issues have arisen in the implementation of the Statute of Canada and elsewhere?
- How do we ensure that justice is seen to be done and is done in an international criminal court?
The conference is open to the public and the media. Fees and registration information can be obtained by contacting the Osgoode Professional Development Program:
Telephone: 416-597-9724 or 1-888-923-3394
E-mail: pdp@osgoode.yorku.ca
Web site: www.law.yorku.ca/pdp/cle
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For further information, please contact:
| Patrick Monahan, Director | Leo Adler |
| York University Centre for Public Law and Public Policy |
Director of National Affairs |
| Osgoode Hall Law School of York University | Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies |
| 416-367-6976 | 416-580-1573 or 1-866-864-9735 |
| YU/001/02 |
