'Reducing Genocide to Law: Definition, Meaning, and the Ultimate Crime' by Professor Payam Akhavan

Duration: 50 mins 39 secs

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Description:	The Lauterpacht Centre for International Law (LCIL), University of Cambridge hosts a regular Friday lunchtime lecture series on key areas of International Law. Previous subjects have included UN peacekeeping operations, the advisory jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice, the crime of aggression, whaling, children and military tribunals, and theories and practices for proving individual responsibility criminal responsibility for genocide and crimes against humanity. This lecture, entitled 'Reducing Genocide to Law: Definition, Meaning, and the Ultimate Crime', was delivered at the Lauterpacht Centre on Friday 22 February 2013 by Professor Payam Akhavan, Professor of International Law, McGill University. For further reading on the topic, please see Professor Akhavan's book, Reducing Genocide to Law, published in 2012 by Cambridge University Press. Please note, the question and answer sections of LCIL lectures are omitted to facilitate a free and frank discussion with participants. For more information about the series, please see the Lauterpacht Centre website at http://www.lcil.cam.ac.uk (Photo: Cover extract from Akhavan, 'Reducing Genocide to Law', CUP, 2012 showing Eleanor Roosevelt dining with delegates in Paris during the 1948 meeting of the UN General Assembly at which both the Genocide Convention and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights were adopted.)

Description:

The Lauterpacht Centre for International Law (LCIL), University of Cambridge hosts a regular Friday lunchtime lecture series on key areas of International Law. Previous subjects have included UN peacekeeping operations, the advisory jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice, the crime of aggression, whaling, children and military tribunals, and theories and practices for proving individual responsibility criminal responsibility for genocide and crimes against humanity.

This lecture, entitled 'Reducing Genocide to Law: Definition, Meaning, and the Ultimate Crime', was delivered at the Lauterpacht Centre on Friday 22 February 2013 by Professor Payam Akhavan, Professor of International Law, McGill University. For further reading on the topic, please see Professor Akhavan's book, Reducing Genocide to Law, published in 2012 by Cambridge University Press.

Please note, the question and answer sections of LCIL lectures are omitted to facilitate a free and frank discussion with participants.

For more information about the series, please see the Lauterpacht Centre website at http://www.lcil.cam.ac.uk

(Photo: Cover extract from Akhavan, 'Reducing Genocide to Law', CUP, 2012 showing Eleanor Roosevelt dining with delegates in Paris during the 1948 meeting of the UN General Assembly at which both the Genocide Convention and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights were adopted.)


Created:	2013-02-25 12:05
Collection:	LCIL International Law Seminar Series (VIDEO MOVED)
Publisher:	University of Cambridge
Copyright:	University of Cambridge
Language:	eng (English)
Keywords:	Genocide; International Criminal Law; Crimes against humanity;


Abstract:	Could the prevailing view that genocide is the ultimate crime be wrong? Is it possible that it is actually on an equal footing with war crimes and crimes against humanity? Is the power of the word genocide derived from something other than jurisprudence? And why should a hierarchical abstraction assume such importance in conferring meaning on suffering and injustice? Could reducing a reality that is beyond reason and words into a fixed category undermine the very progress and justice that such labelling purports to achieve? For some, these questions may border on the international law equivalent of blasphemy. Dr Payam Akhavan, who was the first Legal Advisor to the UN Prosecutor at The Hague, will reflect on empathy and faith in global justice.

Abstract:

Could the prevailing view that genocide is the ultimate crime be wrong? Is it possible that it is actually on an equal footing with war crimes and crimes against humanity? Is the power of the word genocide derived from something other than jurisprudence? And why should a hierarchical abstraction assume such importance in conferring meaning on suffering and injustice? Could reducing a reality that is beyond reason and words into a fixed category undermine the very progress and justice that such labelling purports to achieve? For some, these questions may border on the international law equivalent of blasphemy. Dr Payam Akhavan, who was the first Legal Advisor to the UN Prosecutor at The Hague, will reflect on empathy and faith in global justice.

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