CeCIL in Canterbury takes place in The Friends Meeting House, 6 The Friars, Canterbury CT1 2AS.
Talks start at 19.00. Doors open from: 18.30 (with light refreshments available).
CeCIL in Canterbury events for the 2017-2018 Academic Year.
Monday, 27 Nov.
Professor Nick Grief (Kent Law School)
[show_more more=”Trident and the law: will the Prime Minister and the Defence Secretary be prosecuted for conspiracy to commit a war crime?” less=”show less” color=”#0066cc” list=”»”]
Trident and the law: will the Prime Minister and the Defence Secretary be prosecuted for conspiracy to commit a war crime?
Abstract
During a debate in Parliament in July 2016, when asked if she was “personally prepared to authorise a nuclear strike that could kill 100,000 innocent men, women and children”, the Prime Minister replied: “Yes. The whole point of a deterrent is that our enemies need to know that we would be prepared to use it…”
In a series of Public Interest Cases Against Trident (PICAT), five citizens’ groups from across the United Kingdom (including one from Sevenoaks) are seeking to prosecute the Prime Minister and the Secretary of State for Defence for conspiracy to commit a war crime contrary to section 51 of the International Criminal Court Act 2001 and section 1 of the Criminal Law Act 1977. In order to do so, however, they require the consent of the Attorney General, the chief legal adviser to the Crown. Lawyers instructed on behalf of the five PICAT groups submitted a letter outlining the legal arguments and a draft indictment many months ago, along with extensive supporting material, but despite regular prompting the Attorney General has not yet given his decision.
In his talk about this ground-breaking citizens’ initiative, Professor Nick Grief (Kent Law School), one of PICAT’s barristers, will discuss the legal issues and explain how British citizens are trying to use the criminal law to hold the Prime Minister and the Defence Secretary to account for threatening to use nuclear weapons.
Questions
Could the Prime Minister and the Defence Secretary really be prosecuted in a British court for conspiracy to commit a war crime? Which war crime? Has anything like this ever happened before?
Why has the Attorney General been so slow to respond? How should he decide whether or not to give his consent and what will happen if there is further delay or he refuses to give consent? What is the role of the courts in this context – should judges keep out of such matters?
Read a blog post of Nick’s talk by Eric Loefflad.
[/show_more]
Monday 5 Feb.
Dr Jastine Barrett (Kent Law School)
[show_more more=”What a Difference a Day Makes: Child Perpetrators of Genocide in Rwanda.” less=”less text” color=”#0066cc” list=”»”]
What a Difference a Day Makes: Child Perpetrators of Genocide in Rwanda.
Abstract
During the Rwandan genocide of 1994, an estimated 800,000 people were killed in just over 100 days. A key, and distinguishing, feature of the Rwandan genocide was participation by ordinary citizens, and children were amongst the perpetrators. Reports emerged of children involved in the whole range of acts that were committed in the course of the genocide including murder, assault, rape, looting, destruction of property and denunciation to the militia of those in hiding. Following the genocide, the new Rwandan government, aiming to put an end to impunity, adopted a maximalist approach to accountability. This saw the prosecution of genocide suspects before formal courts from 1996 and later by the gacaca courts, a quasi-traditional system of justice. Children were not excluded from this approach. In 1998, more than 4,500 children under the age of 18 were held in prisons, most of them accused of genocide-related acts: many later came before the formal courts or the gacaca courts, and administrative measures were also adopted to deal with these child perpetrators.
In this talk, Jastine Barrett will discuss Rwanda’s responses, in law, policy and practice, to child génocidaires and will touch on questions such as: What are the obligations on states when holding children accountable for international crimes? What challenges face a post-conflict state in complying with these obligations? How were children held accountable for genocide in Rwanda? And were children given differential treatment on grounds of their age as required by international law?
[/show_more]
Also, do check out the recaps of CeCIL in Canterbury events from the inaugural 2016-2017 Academic Year below:
[show_more more=”Tuesday, 1 November The Destruction of Cultural Heritage: From Byzantine Iconoclasm to Daesh.” less=”less text” color=”#0066cc” list=”»”]
The Destruction of Cultural Heritage: From Byzantine Iconoclasm to Daesh
Dr Vigneron will examine the historical destruction of cultural heritage for religious and/or political purposes from as far back as the Byzantine era right up to current events in the Middle East. New ways of communicating cultural destruction and, conversely, new methods of protecting heritage will also be discussed.
Read a blog post of Sophie’s talk by Eric Loefflad.
[/show_more]
[show_more more=”Tuesday, 6 March Beyond Law’s Limits? Holding Nuclear-armed States to Account in the International Court of Justice.” less=”less text” color=”#0066cc” list=”»”]
Beyond Law’s Limits? Holding Nuclear-armed States to Account in the International Court of Justice.
In April 2014 the Marshall Islands, a tiny State in the Pacific Ocean, lodged applications in the International Court of Justice against each of the nine nuclear-armed States, accusing them of violating international law by failing to pursue in good faith and conclude negotiations for the worldwide elimination of nuclear weapons. Three cases are currently before the Court – against India, Pakistan and the United Kingdom. The public hearings on jurisdiction, admissibility and the UK’s preliminary objections were in March 2016. The Court’s judgments on that phase of the cases are now awaited. The merits of the cases will be considered at a future date if the Marshall Islands succeeds at this preliminary stage.
In his talk, Nick Grief – a member of the Marshall Islands’ legal team – will discuss the cases and raise questions such as: ”What do we mean by ‘the rule of law’ in the international order? ”To what extent, if at all, can law compel or constrain nuclear-armed States? Is law irrelevant in this context? And what is the relationship between law and power: is law merely what those with ‘the say’ say it is?
Read a blog post of Nick’s talk by Eric Loefflad.
[/show_more]
[show_more more=”Wednesday, 31 May, , State of Emergency: On Turkey’s Gulenist Purge and the Defence of Human Rights.” less=”less text” color=”#0066cc” list=”»”]
State of Emergency: On Turkey’s Gulenist Purge and the Defence of Human Rights.
The 15 July attempted coup d’etat in Turkey hit the world’s headlines with widely shared images of soldiers surrendering to groups of ‘protesters’ and of discarded tanks on Istanbul’s Bosphorus Bridge. By the time the coup was put down, the Parliament building in Ankara had been bombed, 246 people killed and more than 2,500 wounded. On 21 July the government declared a state of emergency and claimed the need to ‘derogate’ from its human rights obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights in the face of a ‘threat to the life of the nation’. A host of UN and Council of Europe experts have expressed concern at the scale and scope of Turkey’s response: mass suspensions, detentions and immediate closures affecting the judiciary, the army and police, education, trade unions and the media.
In this talk, Darren Dinsmore will discuss the state of emergency in Turkey and raise questions such as: What limits can States place on human rights in times of emergency? What is the likely response of the European Court of Human Rights to Turkey’s use of emergency powers? And, what is the role of human rights courts regarding systematic violations of human rights?
Read a blog post of Darren’s talk by Eric Loefflad.
[/show_more]
For further information contact us: klsresesarch@kent.ac.uk.
Members of the public are also welcome to attend CeCIL Guest Lecture Series and Annual Lecture which take place at University of Kent’s Canterbury campus.