Montaigne Centre Blog

Brianne McGonigle Leyh

Truth Commissions and Social Justice: Modesty is in Order

From Peru to Canada to East Timor, following periods of serious conflict or gross human rights violations, societies often look to address the past in order to bring about greater accountability (trials), reparation (victim compensation), and truth (truth commissions). To date, more than 40 truth commissions have been established around the world, with the South…

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Transformative Reparations for Victims under International Law: Changing the Game or More of the Same?

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Reparations are an old concept in both domestic and international law. Victims have long been repaired in some way for the harms they suffered themselves, to their families or property. Following World War II, victims received some type of reparation, usually paid by the State, for their profound losses, and just last year the Dutch…

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Using Guarantees of Non-Repetition to (Re)Frame Police Reforms

Brianne McGonigle Leyh (The below blog is based on a draft article presented at the conference ‘Guarantees of Non-Recurrence: Transformative Police Reform’ on 5 November 2018 in Utrecht, the Netherlands) Countries around the world grapple with how to address excessive police violence that violates human rights. For decades, scholars and practitioners have stressed the importance…

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The Rome Statute at 20 Years: Exploring Intersections of Law and Culture at the International Criminal Court

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Julie Fraser & Brianne McGonigle Leyh On 17 July 2018, the Rome Statute (RS) creating the International Criminal Court (ICC) celebrated its 20th anniversary. The ICC is a permanent court that investigates serious international crimes including genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes, and prosecutes individuals believed to be most responsible. In this way, the ICC promotes the rule…

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International Studies Association Conference in Trump Country: Discussing civil society documentation of serious human rights abuses

Brianne McGonigle Leyh From 22 – 25 February, I travelled to the US to attend the 58th annual International Studies Association (ISA) conference entitled ‘Understanding Change in World Politics’. The theme could not be more relevant as we witness significant changes to the world political scene, most notably under the new Trump administration in the…

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When It Rains, It Pours: Tracking the recent developments in international criminal justice

Brianne McGonigle Leyh International criminal justice has a reputation for being slow and progressing at a ‘glacial’ pace. For example, it took the International Criminal Court (ICC) ten years before it handed down its first judgment in the Lubanga case after it started operating in 2002. Similarly, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia…

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