Yvonne mcdermott

Yvonne.mcdermottgmail.com

Fair Trials and International Criminal Law: Towards a Converging Procedural Ideal

International criminal tribunals, by virtue of the fact that they borrow procedural practices from various domestic jurisdictions (of both inquisitorial and adversarial traditions) and are, at least in theory, procedurally rooted in human rights law, provide an ideal microcosm when developing a procedural ideal for ensuring the fairness both domestic and international criminal trials. This thesis examines fundamental questions surrounding the issue of fairness in international criminal proceedings, to determine what lessons can be learned from the practice of the ad hoc tribunals, from inception to completion, and the practice of the International Criminal Court in its formative years; which practices ought to be transposed and repeated, and which practices in international criminal procedure ought to be left to the annals of history. Such questions include: to whom is a duty of fairness owed, and how can inconsistencies between the rights of various actors be resolved? How can judicial impartiality be assessed and ensured? Have the evidentiary practices of international criminal been fairer or less fair than their domestic counterparts? Have the fairness maxims underpinning criminal law (such as nullum crimen sine lege, the rule against double jeopardy, and the doctrine of abuse of process) been properly interpreted by the major international criminal tribunals? The conclusions of this work will provide a benchmark for the assessment of fairness in criminal procedure for the future.

Yvonne McDermott is from Manorhamilton, Co. Leitrim and holds a Diploma in Irish, a Bachelor of Corporate Law and a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) from NUI, Galway. She graduated with an LL.M. cum laude in Public International Law from Leiden University, The Netherlands in August 2008, where her thesis was on the effects of victim participation in the International Criminal Court on the right of the accused to a fair trial. Yvonne lectures Children's Rights as part of the BA Connect (Children's Studies) programme. She is the winner of the inaugural  Böhler Franken Koppe Wijngaarden advocaten (BFKW) Hague Academic Coalition Award for Young Professionals, and an expert researcher on the project entitled, ’International Criminal Procedure Expert Framework: Towards the Codification of General Rules and Principles’ (www.icp-ef.org). She is managing editor of the Oxford Reports in International Criminal Law series (available at http://oxfordlawreports.com/).

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Books

• The Challenge of Human Rights: Past, Present and Future (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2011) (Co-editor, with David Keane).
• The Ashgate Research Companion to International Criminal Law: Critical Perspectives (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2011) (Co-editor, with William A. Schabas, Niamh Hayes and Maria Varaki).

• Peer-reviewed Journal Articles
• “Some are More Equal than Others :Victim Participation in the International Criminal Court” (2008) 5(1) Eyes on the ICC 23-49.
• “Victims and International Law: Remedies in the Courtroom?” (2009) 4(3) Hague Justice Journal / Journal Judiciaire de la Haye 199-213.
• “Human Rights and the Lisbon Treaty: Consensus or Conditionality?” (2010) 31(4) Whittier Law Review 733-758.
• “ Yong Vui Kong v. Public Prosecutor and the Mandatory Death Penalty for Drug Offences in Singapore: A Dead End for Constitutional Challenge?” (2010) 1 International Yearbook of Human Rights and Drug Policy 35-53.

Book Chapters

• Encyclopaedia entry, “International Criminal Courts”, in Ritzer (ed.) Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Globalization (Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010) (with William A. Schabas).
  
• “Joint case commentary: Prosecutor v. Trbic Milorad, Decision on Trial Chamber’s competence to entertain motion filed after entry into force of decision under Rule 11 bis’ and Prosecutor v. Lukic et al, ’Decision on Milan Lukic's appeal regarding referral” in Klip and Sluiter (eds.) Annotated Leading Cases of International Criminal Tribunals: Vol XXXIV (Antwerp: Intersentia, 2011) (forthcoming).
  
• “Case commentary: Prosecutor v. Krajisnik, ’Decision on Momcilo Krajisnik's motion to reschedule status conference and permit Alan Dershowitz appear’” in Klip and Sluiter (eds.) Annotated Leading Cases of International Criminal Tribunals: Vol XXXV (Antwerp: Intersentia, 2011) (forthcoming).
• “Conceptualizing Fairness at the International Criminal Tribunals” in Schabas, McDermott, Hayes and Varaki (eds) The Ashgate Research Companion to International Criminal Law: Critical Perspectives (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2011) (forthcoming).
• “What has Happened to Double Jeopardy?” in Keane and McDermott (eds), The Challenge of Human Rights: Past, Present and Future (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2011) (forthcoming).

Peer-reviewed Case Reports

• Oxford Reports on International Criminal Law, author of over 80 case reports published online at http://oxfordlawreports.com.

Miscellaneous and Online Publications

• Case commentary, “Victims’ Voices must not Jeopardise Fair Trial”, May 2009, published online at www.lubangatrial.org.
• Case commentary, “Abuse of Process and the ICC Trial in Lubanga”, July 2010, published online at http://intlawgrrls.blogspot.com.
• Feature article, “A Decade of Distinction”, Cois Coiribe (National University of Ireland, Galway Alumni magazine), 2010.
• Blog post, “Mandatory Death Penalty in Singapore”, May 2011, published online at http://intlawgrrls.blogspot.com.

Selected Conference Presentations

• The Judicial Development of Human Rights Law as a Loophole to the State-Centricity of International Law, Association of American Law Schools, Annual Meeting 2008/2009, San Diego, California, 7 January 2009.
• Rights for Exonerated Prisoners: A Lacuna in International Law?, Annual Socio-Legal Studies Association (SLSA) Conference, De Montford University School of Law, Leicester, 7-9 April 2009.
• Human Rights and the Lisbon Treaty, Twenty-Sixth Annual International Law Symposium: The Future of the European Union, Whittier Law School, California, 17 April 2009.
• Fairness in International Criminal Proceedings: Current Issues, Presentation to visiting students from the University of Washington, National University of Ireland, Galway, 1 September 2010.
• The Mushrooming of International Criminal Justice as a Direct Consequence of the End of the Cold War, International Political Science Association Annual Conference, Seoul, South Korea, June 2011.

Media Appearances

• Interview, Radio na Gaeltachta (Irish language national radio station), “Cearta Daonna agus Cúrsaí Oideachais” (“Human Rights and Education”), 11 December 2008.
• Appeared on the recording, The Human Cost of Climate Change: Two Talks, released by the Franciscan Order of Ireland on the occasion of their 800 ^th Anniversary, 20 July 2009 (with Ana Mahe).
• Interview on Radio na Life (Irish language radio station), “Cuspóirí Fobraíochta na Mílaoise agus Geallúna na Rialtais”  (“The Millennium Development Goals and Governmental Obligations”), 5 September 2010.

Research Assistance

• Professor William A. Schabas, The Red Cross and the Death Penalty, Report commissioned by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (2009).
• Dr. Agnès Hurwitz, The Collective Responsibility of States to Protect Refugees (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009).

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