UNYP Instructors Present a Case before the International Criminal Court
UNYP instructor Bill Cohn and ESC Mentor Max Hilaire are now appearing in a case before the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, helping the court to establish legal standards and procedure for international law. More than 50 years in the making, the ICC came into force in 2002 in order to bring perpetrators of genocide, war crimes and other crimes against humanity to justice before an international tribunal when the respective state courts are unwilling or unable to prosecute such crimes. Cohn and Hilaire are appearing as amicus curiae, friends of the court, in a case in which the ICC Prosecutor has initiated proceedings concerning the 2007 post-election violence in Kenya.
The case has drawn widespread international interest. According to Professor Cohn, “this is a case of first impression under international jurisprudence, meaning that new precedent will be established, laying the foundation for subsequent efforts to use international law where crimes may have been committed in member states. By establishing clear standards and procedures here the ICC can become more effective in confronting state-sponsored or state-tolerated atrocities. A failure to do so will undermine the court’s jurisdiction, its power and authority, enabling a cat-and-mouse game each time it seeks to prosecute crimes where member states seek for political reasons to use delay tactics as a means toward impunity. Dr. Hilaire and I believe that we can assist the court in arriving at a ruling which will strengthen international justice.”
Among the issues professors Cohn and Hilaire have raised for the court are the need for a clear assessment of: when a member state lacks a functional judicial system or can be deemed unwilling to act; the extent of the independence of the Judiciary in a member state; the rights of the victims and the accused, and issues of fair trials generally; and, the principle of complementarity - the respective authority of the sovereign state and the international body, and when the ICC has jurisdiction. Cohn notes, “The elephant in the room is the recent disproportionate application of international criminal law (ICL) against African defendants. ICL must remove any taint of discrimination by establishing law with clear unambiguous standards and procedures. Informed deliberation and ruling by the court in this case is of utmost importance.”
Cohn and Hilaire are on the faculty of the new LLM program at UNYP as well as teaching and advising undergraduates and other graduate students. Cohn, an attorney and constitutional law scholar, has practiced and taught law since 1993, working with clients, judges, international organizations, bar associations and scholars, lecturing and publishing extensively on issues of international jurisprudence. Hilaire, Chair of the Political Science Dept. at Morgan State University in the USA and an Empire State College advisor, is a Fulbright Scholar and acclaimed expert in Public International Law and International Humanitarian Law. Dr. Hilaire has lectured extensively in several African countries and is widely published in the field.
