Fidelma Donlon

Qualifications: Solicitor (Law Society of Ireland, Admitted to the Roll of Solicitors 1998), B.A. in History and Politics (University College Dublin).

Fidelma Donlon is a graduate of University College Dublin and trained as a Solicitor at the Law Society of Ireland. Fidelma specializes in international criminal law, international human rights law and transitional justice. From 1999-2005 she worked for the Office of the High Representative of Bosnia and Herzegovina (OHR). For a number of years Fidelma directed a Human Rights and Rule of Law Department in the OHR. Subsequently, as the Head of the Criminal Institutions and Prosecutorial Reform Unit, Fidelma managed the establishment of the hybrid War Crimes and Organised Crimes Chambers in the Bosnian State Court with the Bosnian government, the ICTY, international organizations and donor governments. Fidelma was appointed Deputy Registrar of the War Crimes and Organized Crime Chambers of the Court in 2005.

In 2008 Fidelma was advisor to the Special Court for Sierra Leone in relation to its ongoing legal obligations after the completion of trials and appeals. She is the author of the advisory report – ’The Residual Functions and Residual Mechanism Options for the Special Court for Sierra Leone’ which presents the critical residual functions of the Court and examines various institutional frameworks for the future Residual Special Court. Fidelma has acted as an expert for the British Institute for International and Comparative Law advising on the contribution of NATO and the EU Missions to peacekeeping and human rights in Bosnia. Fidelma was appointed Deputy Registrar of the Special Court for Sierra Leone in June 2010.

Fidelma has lectured international law at the post-graduate level in Ireland and the Netherlands. Her Ph.D. concentrates on the Completion Strategies of the UN International Criminal Tribunals and the evolving relationship between international and national criminal jurisdictions. Fidelma has published and frequently presents at conferences on international criminal law issues, transitional justice and the ICC complementarity regime. Her publications include:

Publications:

  Books

Book Chapter forthcoming – “Creation and Closure: Legal and Practical Ramifications of the Completion Strategies of the UN International Tribunals” in Professor William Schabas, Yvonne Mc Dermott and Niamh Hayes (eds) “The Ashgate Research Companion to International Criminal Law: Critical Perspectives”. (Ashgate Publishing, 2011).

 Book Chapter forthcoming – “Complementarity in Practice: ICTY Rule 11bis and the Use of the Tribunal’s evidence in the Srebrenica Trials before the Bosnian War Crimes Chamber” in Dr. Carsten Stahn and Dr. Mohamed El Zeidy (eds), “The International Criminal Court and Complementarity: From Theory to Practice” – (Cambridge University Press, 2010)

 Book Chapter – “The Contribution of Hybrid Courts to the Prosecution of International Crimes” in Professor William A. Schabas (editor), “The Routledge Handbook on International Criminal Law” – (Routledge Publishers, 2010)

Book Chapter – “Justice: From the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia to the War Crimes Chamber of Bosnia” in Dina Haynes (editor), “Deconstructing the Reconstruction of Bosnia” (Ashgate Publishing, 2008).

Contributor to – “Combating Serious Crimes in Post Conflict Societies – A handbook for Policymakers and Practitioners” Colette Rausch (editor), (United States Institute of Peace Press, 2006).

Conference Papers

“Complementarity and Practice under Rule 11bis. The Admissibility of ICTY Evidence in national trials before the Bosnian War Crimes Chamber.” The Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies, International Research Conference – The ICC and Complementarity: From Theory to Practice (2009)

The Enforcement of International Criminal Law through Domestic Criminal Law – “Completion or Creation: Is the closure of international courts promoting the creation of domestic courts to enforce international criminal law?” International Society for the Reform of Criminal Law - Codifying the Criminal Law: Modern Initiatives (2008)

Legal Mechanisms for the Protection of Human Rights – “ Accountability for past atrocities in Bosnia and Herzegovina: The Specialised Chambers in the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina – a transitional justice model for other post-conflict environments” Irish Department of Foreign Affairs Eighth Annual NGO Forum on Human Rights -  Global Human Rights Protection – the way Forward. (2006).

The Role of International Institutions in Territorial Administration and Post-Conflict Justice – “International Involvement in Domestic Criminal Law Enforcement in the fields of Organised Crime and War Crimes”- The American Society of International Law and the T.M.C. Asser Institute Hague Joint Conference on Contemporary Issues of International Law (2005).

The Completion Strategies of the International Criminal Tribunals; lessons for Complementarity.

Contemporary transitional justice is marked by evolving relationships between national and international legal regimes. Despite exercising primacy over national courts the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) faced with increasing pressure from the UN Security Council to complete their work, are now transferring cases back to national courts. The Completion Strategies of ICTY and ICTR call on the tribunals to take all possible measures to complete investigations by the end of 2004, to complete all trial activities at first instance by the end of 2008, and to complete all work in 2010. The strategies are underpinned by concentration on the prosecution of the most senior leaders suspected of being most responsible for the crimes and transferring cases involving intermediate and lower-rank accused to competent national jurisdictions.

Gravity testing is employed by the tribunals as a means to determine the most senior leaders for prosecution and the referral of intermediate and lower ranked accused to national jurisdictions. This research analyses the gravity tests applied in the transfer cases to identify and clarify the ad hoc tribunals’ conceptualization of the most senior leaders. This thesis explores if the targeted prosecution strategy employed at international level signals a new prosecution strategy between the ad hoc tribunals and national jurisdictions which can be employed as part of the complementarity regime of the International Criminal Court.

The catalytic effect of the completion strategies are researched to identify whether they have resulted in the development of the Bosnian and Rwandan judicial systems and/or an increase in the application of universal jurisdiction. Finally, by employing a forward looking approach this thesis considers the future of the relationship between the international and national regimes will be in the context of the completion of the work of the ad hoc tribunals after 2010.

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