Genocide: The International Community’s Response

By Bryan Kotowski
Bryan Kotowski graduated from University at Albany SUNY in 2013 where he majored in Psychology. He was accepted into the “3 plus 3” SUNY Albany and Albany Law pipeline program and is now a third year law student at Albany Law.
During his time in law school he has participated in the Gabrielli Appellate Advocacy Competition where he was a Quarter-Finalist, worked with attorneys at the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Immigration and Custom Enforcement and studied International Business Transactions in Rome, Italy. 
After law school, Bryan is hoping to pursue a position as a JAG Officer in the United States Army, which he hopes will later lead to a career with the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
This essay was prepared for Prof. Bonventre's International Law of War and Crime Seminar.

I. Genocide; Generally

Genocide is defined as “any of the following acts committed with an intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: (a) Killing members of the group; (b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; (c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; (d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; (e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.”

While genocide was originally thought of as a crime against humanity it became it’s own separate offense in 1948 with the adoption of the U.N. Genocide Convention. This Convention not only punishes acts of genocide but those acts associated with genocide, such as the “conspiracy to commit genocide”, as well as establishes individual criminal responsibility and international state responsibility for genocide. The Convention has been “widely acknowledged as representing customary international law.”

A World of Innocent Bystanders: UN Monitoring in Darfur and Syria [A Presentation]

By Kristin Keehan

Kristin Keehan is a third year student at Albany Law School who hopes to pursue a career in civil litigation. She is a Senior Editor for the Albany Government Law Review, an Associate Editor for the Center for Judicial Process, and a teaching assistant for Professor Timothy Lytton's Torts class.

Kristin prepared this presentation for the Prof. Bonventre's International Law of War & Crime Seminar, Fall 2013.

The United Nations Peacekeepers is an organization that few are familiar with. The group as a whole is dedicated to insuring the success of peaceful resolutions in warring countries. However, the peacekeepers have been met with great hostility, largely owing to their avoidance of intervention, even in the face of horrible atrocities occurring right before their eyes. They have frequently assumed the role of the not so innocent bystander.

The three basic principles of the UN Peacekeepers are: (1) consent of the parties involved; (2) impartiality; and (3) non-use of force, except in self-defense and defense of populations.

The presentation looks at the organization through the lens of the United Nations. Notably, while "peaceful resolutions" is the aspiration repeated throughout United Nations publications, the ultimate outcome of many peacekeeping missions is quite different.

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For the entire presentation, open HERE.
(It is then best to Download [by clicking on File] and then Open the downloaded power-point presentation.)

Humanitarian Intervention [presentation]

An Introduction to Legal Force

By Andrea A. Long
Andrea Long, a third-year student at Albany Law School, is the Executive Editor of the Center for Judicial Process. She is a magna cum laude graduate of the Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam. Andrea is a Senior Editor on the Albany Law Review, she served as Project Director of the Education Pro Bono Project, and she works year-round as a law clerk in the Office of General Counsel of New York State United Teachers. She was both the winner and Best Oral Advocate of the 2011 Domenick L. Gabrielli Appellate Advocacy Moot Court Competition. For the Fall 2012 semester, Andrea is a legal intern in the law school's Domestic Violence Prosecution Hybrid Clinic.
Andrea prepared this presentation for Professor Bonventre's seminar on International Law of War & Crime, Fall 2012. She has previously been published on ILS. (See Just War: Augustine, Aquinas, & Today, Oct. 28, 2012.)

Humanitarian intervention has become a controversial subject in international law. This presentation begins with a brief overview of humanitarian intervention and situations that often require it. The presentation then describes several different international conflicts with an analysis of the humanitarian intervention that occurred. It ends by suggesting methods for future improvements in humanitarian intervention.

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For the entire presentation, open HERE.
(It is then best to download the presentation and view it from there.)

African Union: An Effective Cure or Western Caricature?

By Christina French

Christina French, a third year student at Albany Law School, is the Editor-in-Chief of Albany Law School's Journal of Science and Technology. She works at New York State United Teacher as a Law Clerk for the Office of General Counsel.

This paper was prepared for the International Law of War & Crime Seminar, Fall 2011 semester.
Ms. French has also been published by the Center for Judicial Process. (See, e.g., The New York Court of Appeals: Analyzing the Status of Workers’ Rights in New York, March 23, 2012.)

The divisive nature of the African continent dates back to the colonial era and decolonization of the 1950s and 1960s. Artificial borders resulted in artificial states and today internal armed conflict is in all likelihood, the primary impediment to the political, economic, and social development of contemporary Africa. In its search for unity, a regional organization such as the African Union may be Africa’s only hope for ending conflict in the divided African nation-states. This paper will address whether the African Union can effectively resolve internal conflicts as a necessary step in African development.

In order to maximize colonial control, colonialists drew artificial borders within African States without any understanding or interest in the ethnicity and tribalism that existed there. This did not pose a problem so much when the colonialists were there, acting as a centralizing government, providing a central police force, and for some, representing a common enemy. However, when the colonists left, there was a power vacuum.

Rather than returning to pre-colonial status, African states maintained the colonial power structure and merely replaced white imperial leaders with black African leaders. The maintenance of the status quo both in terms of borders and in large part, the leadership, created a situation in which conflict management in Africa was more likely to be within states than between states. In fact, the deadliest post-colonial conflicts were within African states. Conditions of civil unrest demanded that any attempt at conflict management, required an understanding of what was causing the internal conflicts more urgently than an understanding of the causes of external war. In other words, the African “situation” required a different response from the international community.*

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* Citations to references in this introduction are available in the paper.

To read the entire paper, open HERE.

African Union: Current Issues

By Gizem Basbug

Gizem Basbug, a third year student at Albany Law School, is a Senior Editor of International Law Studies. A native of Turkey, she is a graduate of the University of Virginia.

She prepared this presentation for the International Law of War and Crime Seminar, Fall 2011.

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For the entire presentation, open HERE.
(It is then best to download the presentation and view it from there.)

McBean-Hammoumi on Developments in Darfur & Mumford on 'Genocide' in Cambodia

International Law Studies is pleased to present its first publications.

These two works, prepared respectively by this year's student Executive Editors, deal with a pair of international legal and humanitarian crises.

Darfur: Update on Developments, a presentation

By Tschika McBean

      LL.M. Student, Albany Law School

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Genocide in Cambodia? A Look at the ‘Protected Groups’ in the 1948 Genocide Convention

By Anna R. Mumford

     Albany Law School, Class of 2012

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Darfur

Update on Developments, a presentation

By Tschika McBean

Tschika McBean, a co-Executive Editor of International Law Studies, is an LL.M candidate in International Law at Albany Law School. She is a graduate of the College of Law of Loyola University New Orleans. In addition to the United States, she has studied international law in Austria and Costa Rica. Her writings have appeared in publications such as the NYU Gallatin Literacy Project and Ithaca College’s academic journal. She was the president of the International Law Society at Loyola and she has interned or worked in several human rights organizations, including the Tompkins County Human Rights Commission, Citizens for Global Solutions, the Advancement Society and the New Orleans Family Justice Center. She has lived in five countries, spanning from Guyana to Morocco, and is currently working as a research assistant for Albany Law School's Distinguished Professor James Gathii.
This presentation was prepared for the International Law of War and Crime Seminar, Fall 2011.

(click to enlarge on all slides)

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For the entire presentation, open HERE.
(It is then best to download the presentation and view it from there.)