Public Advocacy

As a component of its International Justice practice, PILPG engages in various public advocacy initiatives.

Genocide in Darfur: A Legal Analysis

PILPG produced a legal memorandum explaining how the acts of violence in Sudan constituted Genocide. PILPG was advised informally that the Department of State widely disseminated the memorandum to key allies and international NGOs.

Crimes Against Humanity and the Possibility of Genocide in Gambella

The Public International Law & Policy Group is serving as legal advisers to the Anuak of Ethiopia regarding their current conflict with the central government over the land in the Gambella region of Ethiopia.   

The Ethiopian government and highlander militias have undertaken a sustained campaign of violence and discrimination against the Anuak people of Ethiopia.  Numerous reports from international organizations, NGOs, and media sources detail the sustained attacks, rapes, killings and destruction of Anuak villages that have taken place in Gambella. Raids have continued throughout the Anuak region during the past year, driving more than 10,000 Anuak into refugee camps in neighboring Sudan and Kenya. 

Drafting Guidelines for Combating Impunity
PILPG, in cooperation with DePaul University’s International Human Rights Law Institute, drafted a set of Guiding Principles for Combating Impunity for International Crimes which was submitted to the United Nations. As part of the attempt to promote awareness of these Guiding Principles, PILPG co-chaired a weekend-long seminar hosted by the Stanley Foundation, and sponsored a panel at the Annual International Law Association meeting on the topic of the merits of such Guiding Principles.

Congressional Testimony

Hostile Outsider or Influential Insider? American Policy Toward the International Criminal Court, before the House Human Rights Caucus (September 2000) by Michael Scharf.

Holding War Criminals Accountable, before the Joint Committee on Security and Cooperation in Europe (September 1999) by Paul Williams.

A Case for the International Criminal Court, before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (July 23, 1998) by Michael Scharf.

Books

The Role of Justice in PeaceBuilding: War Crimes and Accountability in the Former Yugoslavia (Rowman & Littlefield 2002), Paul Williams & Michael Scharf.

Slobodan Milosevic on Trial: A Companion (Continuum Press, 2002), Michael Scharf & William Schabas.

Indictment at the Hague: The Milosevic Regime and Crimes of the Balkan Wars (New York University Press 2001), Paul Williams & Norman Cigar.

The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (Transnational Publishers, 1998) (2 vols), Michael Scharf & Virginia Morris.

Balkan Justice: The Story Behind the First International War Crimes Trial Since Nuremberg (Carolina Academic Press, 1997) (nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in Letters), Michael Scharf.

An Insider's Guide to the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (Transnational Publishers, 1995), Michael Scharf & Virginia Morris.

Making Justice Work
At the request of the Twentieth Century Fund, PILPG served as legal counsel to the Fund’s Task Force on Apprehending War Criminals, Chaired by Judge Goldstone. Members of PILPG contributed substantially to the final book length report entitled “Making Justice Work,” released in April 1998.

Monographs

A Prima Facie Case for the Indictment of Slobodan Milosevic, published by the Bosnia Institute and reprinted in the United Kingdom, United States, Germany and Bosnia (April 1996).

Bringing War Criminals to Justice
Together with the Balkan Institute and the Center for International Programs at the University of Dayton, PILPG created an expert working group to identify and advocate for means by which Yugoslavian war criminals could be brought to justice.

Conferences

Responding to Rogue Regimes: From Smart Bombs to Smart Sanctions. Co-sponsored with New England School of Law's Center for International Law and Policy (Boston, November 2001).

Combating Impunity: Universal Jurisdiction: Myths, Realities, and Prospects. Co-sponsored with New England School of Law's Center for International Law and Policy (Boston, November 2000).

Op-eds

Can this Man Get a Fair Trial, The Washington Post, December 19, 2004, at B1,B2 (Outlook Section) by Michael Scharf.

Making a Spectacle of Himself, Milosevic Wants a Stage, Not the Right to Provide His Own Defense, The Washington Post, August 29, 2004, at B2 (Outlook Section) by Michael Scharf.

In the Cross Hairs of a Scary Idea, The Washington Post, April 25, 2004, at B1, B4 (Outlook Section) by Michael Scharf.

Don’t Just Fight Him, Indict Him, The Los Angeles Times, October 6, 2002, at M-1 by Michael Scharf.

Peace Before Prosecution? Washington Post, (August 25, 2003), by Morton Abramowitz & Paul Williams.

Yes, Military Commissions Are Appropriate, Knight Ridder, (April 23, 2003), by Abraham D. Sofaer & Paul Williams.

The case against amnesty for Hussein, Chicago Tribune, (February 14, 2003) by Paul Williams.

With its acts of war, al-Qaida yielded rights, Baltimore Sun, (February 4, 2002), by Richard L. Hubbell & Paul Williams.

Prosecute Terrorists on a World Stage, Los Angeles Times, (November 18, 2001), Paul Williams & Michael Scharf.

“How the Lockerbie Trial Paid Off For U.S. Security Interests,” The Boston Globe ( February 10, 2001 ) by Michael Scharf.

“Indicted for War Crimes, Then What,” The Washington Post (October 3, 1999) by Michael Scharf.

“War Criminals Must be Prosecuted,” The Boston Herald (July 3, 1999) by Michael Scharf.

“Indict Serbia’s Milosevic for Crimes Against Humanity,” International Herald Tribune (March 21, 1998) by Michael Scharf and Paul Williams.

“Reward Serbs With the Town of Brcko? Don’t Do It,” Christian Science Monitor (March 11, 1998) Paul Williams and Norman Cigar.

“The Tribunal’s Own Failings,” Tribunal, A Publication of the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (August/September 1997) by Bruce Hitchner.

“For the Peace in the Balkans, Indict Milosevic Now,” International Herald Tribune (January 8, 1997) by Norman Cigar and Paul Williams.

“International Justice: Luring Out Humanity's Dark Side,” The Boston Globe (December 1, 1996) by Michael Scharf.