Date: 06 November 2008
In Cooperation with the Arab Organization for Human Rights (AOHR) and the Arab Center for the Independence of the Judiciary and the Legal Profession (ACIJLP),
PCHR Organizes an International Conference in Cairo on Extra-judicial Executions and Prosecution of Israelis Suspected of Committing War Crimes
On 8 November, 2008, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) is organizing, in cooperation with AOHR and ACIJLP, an international conference on the impunity and prosecution of Israeli war criminals in Cairo.
The conference is organized as part of PCHR’s “Awareness raising and lobbying against the Death Penalty in the OPT” project that is funded by the EC and Oxfam Novib.[1]
Dozens of international and Arab legal experts and human rights defenders have been invited to attend the conference that aims at discussing issues related to extra-judicial executions perpetrated by the Israeli military (Israeli occupation forces occupying the Occupied Palestinian Territories) against Palestinians. The conference intends to highlight the policy of extra-judicial executions and relevant crimes. In addition, the conference will address efforts made by PCHR in cooperation with international legal organizations to internationally prosecute suspected Israeli war criminals utilizing the principle of universal jurisdiction.
The opening session of the conference will include 3 presentations by: Mr. Mohsen ‘Awadh, Secretary-General of AOHR, Mr. Nasser Amin, Director of ACIJLP, and Mr. Raji Sourani, Director of PCHR. The presentations will be followed by the screening of a documentary produced by PCHR on the extra-judicial execution crimes perpetrated by IOF against Palestinian civilians in the OPT.
The panelists in the three-session conference will focus on significant relevant topics. The first session will be chaired by Christina Ruiz, Chairperson of al-Quds Malaga Association-Spain, and will review extra-judicial execution crimes perpetrated by IOF. During the session, Mr. Raji Sourani, Director of PCHR, will review extra-judicial execution crimes perpetrated by the Israeli military in the OPT, and lawyer Anees al-Qassem will review the legal implications of the extra-judicial executions.
The second session will be chaired by Sameh Aashour, President of the Egyptian Bar Association and the Arab Bar Association, and will focus on the prosecution of war criminals through 3 papers. The first paper will be presented by Mr. Sourani on Universal Jurisdiction: Successes,
Failures and Future Possibilities. Daniel Machover, Human Rights Lawyer at Hickman and Rose Solicitors in London, will present the 2nd paper on Expanding Universal Jurisdiction and the Principle of Universal Jurisdiction from a British Legal Perspective. The 3rd paper will be presented by lawyer Gonzalo Boye and will highlight the Current Spanish National Court Case against Israeli Military Officials, the Lessons Learned, and the Principle of Universal Jurisdiction from a Spanish Perspective.
The third session, which will be chaired by Mustafa Boshashi, President of the Algerian Association for Human Rights Defense, will review experiences in transitional justices through 3 papers. Mr. Shawqi Ben Ayyoub, President of the Moroccan Organization for Human Rights, will talk in the first presentation about the Moroccan Experience in the Field of Transitional Justice. In the third and forth presentations, Brian Currin and Jacob Van Garderen will respectively talk about the Northern Ireland’s Experience in the Field of Transitional Justice and the South Africa’s Experience in the Field of Transitional Justice.
Every session of the conference will be concluded by an open discussion to know the comments of the participants and to reply to their questions and inquiries. The conference will be also concluded by a set of closing notes that will be presented by the organizers of the conference.
[1] The EC is funding this project with a contribution of $US 349,575.70 over a 3-year period (2006-2008).
