Catharine A. MacKinnon Appointed by International Criminal Court Prosecutor as Special Adviser on Gender Crimes
Dec 4th, 2008 by admin
ICC Prosecutor appoints Prof. Catharine A. MacKinnon as Special Adviser on Gender Crimes
The Hague, 26 November 2008pProf. Catharine A. MacKinnon was appointed as Special Gender Adviser to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court. She will provide strategic advice to his Office on sexual and gender violence, an area where expertise is required under Article 42(9) of the Rome Statute.
Prof. MacKinnon is recognised internationally for her work on gender issues. She is the Elizabeth A. Long Professor of Law at the University of Michigan Law School. In 2000, she won with co-counsel a damage award of $745 million in the lawsuit Kadic v. Karadzic.
She has authored 14 books, the most recent of which are “Sex Equality” and “Are Women Human? And Other International Dialogues,” and has published over 80 articles. Known for her substantial contributions to shaping legal approaches to sexual and gender issues worldwide, she is documented to be among the 32 most cited legal scholars of all time.
Professor MacKinnon will assist Prosecutor Moreno-Ocampo and Deputy Prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda - the OTP focal point for gender issues – and work with the Office’s Gender and Children Unit , the specialized unit working on gender issues across all the Office’s cases. Her immediate priority will be to further develop the approach to gender crimes in the Office’s cases. Professor MacKinnon will also be working on Office-wide strategic approaches to gender issues. “We are thankful to Professor MacKinnon. Her advice will be an invaluable asset both to my Office and to the broader goal of advancing gender issues in international criminal law” said Prosecutor Moreno-Ocampo.
H/t to Ann Bartow at Feminist Law Professors
Wow. That’s really interesting. I wonder how influential she’ll be?
This is great news.
Yeah, neato mosquito!
Emma (and all :), I am wondering what this might have to do, if anything, and at least in part, with problems around the prosecution of Serbian officials for genocide in Bosnia/Hercogovina. Enragingly, the Serbian government itself was not actually found to have been responsible for genocide (although individuals have been found guilty of genocide and sentenced). Right now basically a woman whistleblower, the spokesman for Carla del Ponte, who has been the judge in the prosecution of Serbian officials, is set to stand trial for leaking information in a book she wrote about her six years with the tribunal. She accuses the U.S., Britain, and another country, can’t recall which one right now, of manipulations that resulted in crucial evidence of Serbian genocide being given protected, basically sealed, status, resulting in hugely, vitally important information about what happened in the Balkans being withheld from the Court and from the world. She wrote a book about this AFTER the court had already decided the case and was then charged by the Tribunal. Her book is sadly, in my case, anyway, published only in French so I can’t read it! Gah. Anyway, it seems like a mess and a morass and in some ways the entire prosecution of Serbia has been, despite the really great news that Karadzic has been arrested. Also, it looks like they’re on the trail of the other guy, Mladic. And some officials have been convicted and sentenced. But the failure to convict the Serbian govenrment is *bad* in light of the huge amount of evidence. I was wondering based on what I have read whether the U.S. and the UK worked hard to get this information sealed and kept from the media in part because it is mostly Muslims who were targeted for genocide by Serb non-Muslims, and that didn’t work well with Bush’s “War on Terror” ideology. Who knows what deals might have been cut.
I haven’t been able to research this thoroughly yet but I am on it. I know that the whistleblower has the support of many groups I support, including Bosnian feminist groups represented by MacKinnon in the 90s, Women in Black, and other human rights organizations.
I guess I should make this into a post.
I was wondering based on what I have read whether the U.S. and the UK worked hard to get this information sealed and kept from the media in part because it is mostly Muslims who were targeted for genocide by Serb non-Muslims, and that didn’t work well with Bush’s “War on Terror” ideology.
I think it may have been because they didn’t want to destabilize the region further and this was the price of that.
This is very good news! What a great woman! And one of 32 lawyers worldwide who are the most cited in legal cases is just amazing! I’ve followed her career for a long time. Thanks for all the great posts today! This is one of the best blog stuff here ever!!!
Thanks for the link. Love the photo.