ICC President Philippe Kirsch To Discuss International Criminal Court March 3

Philippe Kirsch Q.C., President of the International Criminal Court and a judge in its Appeals Division, will deliver the Inaugural Judge Jon O. Newman Lecture on March 3, 2008, at Yale Law School. The lecture is titled “From Rome to The Hague:  The Creation and Development of the International Criminal Court.” It will be held at 4:30 p.m. in Room 127. A reception will follow in the Alumni Reading Room.

“My lecture will trace the establishment and development of the ICC from the adoption of the Rome Statute in 1998 to the current context of the ICC as a fully-functioning institution and a key component of the broader system of international justice,” said President Kirsch. “My experiences and insight with the Court over the past ten years as Chairman of the Committee of the Whole of the Rome Conference, Chairman of the Preparatory Commission for the ICC, and as its current President and judge of Appeals Chamber will also inform the lecture.”

Judge Kirsch is a member of the Bar of the Province of Quebec and was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 1988. He has extensive experience in the establishment of the International Criminal Court, international humanitarian law, international criminal law, and public international law.

In addition, he has experience in the development of international criminal law, with particular regard to issues related to terrorism. He served as chairman of the United Nations Ad Hoc Committee for the Suppression of Acts of Terrorism and as chairman or president of international conferences addressing terrorism-related issues such as the suppression of unlawful acts in the contexts of international civil aviation and maritime navigation. He has written extensively on the International Criminal Court and other international legal issues. 

He holds a Bachelor of Civil Law and an LL.M. degree from the Université de Montréal.