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Geoffrey Robertson QC lays down the law in UEL public lecture

Tuesday 10 October 2006

With events in Iraq and Darfur dominating international news, leading human rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson QC delivered a timely lecture on ‘Crimes against Humanity’ at the University of East London (UEL) Stratford Campus on Wednesday 4 October.

Geoffrey Robertson is a judge, lawyer, academic, author and broadcaster, who has worked for both the UN and the European Court of Human Rights and served as an Appeal Judge at the Special Court for Sierra Leone.

He has also been responsible for training judges for the ongoing trial of Saddam Hussein - a trial which he compared to that of King Charles I in 1649 during a broad overview of developments in international criminal law.

Geoffrey said: “This lecture comes almost 60 years to the day – September 30 1946 – when the judgement of the Nuremburg Nazi war trials signalled the beginning of a new era in international criminal law.

“Since then, the trials of, among others, Milosevic, Pinochet and now Saddam Hussein have publicly eroded the idea of impunity, but also revealed the inherent and persistent difficulties of putting a head of state on trial.

“Indeed, Saddam’s opening gambit – ‘By what authority do you judge me?’ – was, in translation, exactly the same as that of Charles I when he was tried for the new crime of tyranny during the English Civil War.”

John Cooke, the radical barrister who led the prosecution of Charles I, is the subject of Geoffrey Robertson’s critically acclaimed book, The Tyrannicide Brief.

Wednesday’s lecture was organised by the new UEL Centre on Human Rights in Conflict, established at the Stratford Campus in March 2006.

The Centre promotes policy-relevant research and events with the aim of developing greater knowledge of three key areas: human rights and armed conflict, Islamic human rights, and human rights and civil liberties in the war on terror.

Professor Chandra Lekha Sriram, Director of the Centre and UEL’s inaugural Chair in Human Rights, said: “Geoffrey Robertson is one of the world's foremost authors, academics and lawyers in the arena of human rights, and it was a great privilege to welcome him as a guest speaker at the University of East London.

“Our School of Law is deeply committed to presenting legal studies with an emphasis on human rights education and research, and Geoffrey’s lecture undoubtedly provided our students and guests with a great deal of food for thought."

Ends/.

For details and pictures contact Patrick Wilson: 020 8223 2061 or 07951 797 975

Notes to Editors

The University of East London (UEL) is a global learning community with over 28,000 students from over 120 countries world-wide. Our vision is to achieve recognition, both nationally and internationally, as a successful and inclusive regional university proud of its diversity, committed to new modes of learning which focus on students and enhance their employability, and renowned for our contribution to social, cultural and economic development, especially through our research and scholarship. We have a strong track-record in widening participation and working with industry.

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