TCD Chairs discussion on post conflict justice in Africa

Posted on: 11 July 2007

TCD’s Institute for International Integration Studies (IIIS), with the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) organised a discussion on ‘Making Global Justice Relevant in Local Contexts: Sierra Leone and Beyond’.

As the first trial of a former African head of State, Charles Taylor, adjourns in The Hague, on July 11, 2007 the IIIS together with the ICCL brought together the Chief Prosecutor, Stephen Rapp, President of the Special Court for Sierra Leone, Justice George Gelaga King, the Court’s Registrar Herman von Hebel, and its Outreach and Legacy officer, Binta Mansaray, to discuss post conflict justice in Sierra Leone.

Members of Irish civil society, academia and the Post Conflict Justice Research Group at Trinity participated in the dynamic discussion that was chaired by Dr. Rosemary Byrne, Law School and IIIS, and addressed cutting edge developments in international criminal justice and their legacy, along with the challenges confronting the Charles Taylor trial. The Director of the ICCL, Mark Kelly, offered his observations on the potential significance of these international prosecutions to the development of human rights advocacy in the Irish context. This Roundtable is part of a series of events on Post Conflict Justice that has brought leading figures from the international courts and academia to Trinity College Dublin.

Present at the discussion on ‘Making Global Justice Relevant in Local Contexts: Sierra Leone and Beyond’ were (L-R) Mark Kelly, ICCL, Dr. Rosemary Byrne, TCD, Dr. Nadia Bernaz, UCG, Binta Mansaray, Special Court for Sierra Leone, Justice Gelaga King, President, Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL), Stephen Rapp, Chief Prosecutor,SCSL and Herman von Hebel, Registrar, SCSL.