The latest book by Professor Bill Schabas, director of the Irish Centre for Human Rights at NUI Galway, addresses the ‘crime of crimes’ - genocide.
Genocide in International Law: The Crimes of Crimes, 2nd edition (Cambridge University Press, 2009 ) consists of a major revision of the first edition, which was published by Professor Schabas in 2000.
The new book reviews important case law on genocide since 2000, as well as substantial academic contributions and political developments, such as recognition of the doctrine of the responsibility to protect.
The book was launched at NUIG recently by Prof David Scheffer, who served as the first United States Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issues during President Bill Clinton’s second term in office.
“Future generations of lawyers will accord the name Schabas the same high honour we accord all those titans of our legal curriculum, scholars who educate not only us mere mortals, but also the judges who rely on their insights and wisdom to decide hard cases,” Prof Sheffer said of the book.
Prof Schabas teaches at the Irish Centre for Human Rights, NUIG, which has become internationally recognised in the field of human rights teaching, research and advocacy. He has participated in numerous international human rights missions on behalf of non-governmental organisations such as Amnesty International and the International Federation of Human Rights, to Rwanda, Burundi, South Africa, Kenya, Uganda, Sudan, Cambodia and Guyana.
In 2002, the President of Sierra Leone appointed Prof Schabas to the country’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission upon the recommendation of Mary Robinson, the then UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
