To Catch a Dictator – The trial of Hissène Habré and universal jurisdiction in an age of impunity

What is Universal Jurisdiction? What challenges do victims of international crimes face when seeking to use this principle in an aim to fight against impunity at the domestic level in countries far from where the crimes happened?

Reed Brody has spent his legal career on the front lines of investigating atrocities and bringing their perpetrators to justice. He worked for 18 years alongside the victims of Chad’s dictator Hissène Habré, who was convicted of crimes against humanity in Senegal, and has helped pursue despots such as Augusto Pinochet of Chile, Jean-Claude Duvalier of Haiti, and Yahya Jammeh of Gambia. He has uncovered abuses by US-backed "contras>" in Nicaragua, led United Nations missions in El Salvador and Congo, and exposed Bush administration torture in Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib. His latest book, To Catch a Dictator (Columbia University Press, 2022) shines a light on the Habré case.

Discussion with:

• Jeanne Sulzer, lecturer at Sciences Po’s Law School (International Criminal Law) and Paris School of International Affairs (Victims’ rights International Justice and proceedings) and Head of the Amnesty International-International Justice Commission
• Professor Sharon Weill, Associate Professor of International Law at the American University of Paris and lecturer at Sciences Po, coeditor of the book Prosecuting the President: the Trial of Hissène Habré (Oxford University Press, 2020)
• Henri Thulliez, lawyer, former senior coordinator of the Hissène Habré case for Human Rights Watch, Executive Director of the Platform to Protect Whistleblowers in Africa (PPLAAF)

This event will also be an opportunity to present and discuss the first findings of Sciences Po’s Human Rights, Economic Development and Globalization’s (HEDG) law clinic’s "Universal jurisdiction (UJ) mapping" project which aims to support the work of Amnesty International France in seeking the revision of the current French UJ law.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

• The "UJ Mapping project" is supported by the American University of Paris Justice Lab, the Clinique juridique de l’Université de Lille and the Clinique de droit international d’Assas
• La France, une terre de refuge pour les criminels de guerre ?, La Chronique d’Amnesty International France
• Contact: clinique.droit@sciencespo.fr

This event is open to all and free of charge, with mandatory online registration. A reminder of your registration will be sent 48 hours before the event.