Tēnā koutou, yumalundi, and welcome to this edition of ANZSIL Perspective.
This edition is a great one to see out 2024, with wonderful contributions from ICJ Judge Hilary Charlesworth and Katherine Arditto, Second Secretary (Legal Adviser & Consul) at the Australian Embassy in the Netherlands, ICC defence and victims counsel, Kate Gibson, and law academic, Jack Holmes. I note that Kate Gibson’s article was generated after we bumped into each other, and I persuaded her to contribute. Please feel free to encourage your colleagues to submit their articles for review by our team – which includes our new member for 2025, John Morss.
Perspectives from a diverse mix of practitioners and academics underline the value of ANZSIL Perspective as a publication. On occasions, this editorial also gives insight into what practitioners are coping with and the issues that arise when working in international law and in international courts. For example, I recently heard from a speaker at the annual conference for the Association of Defence Counsel in International Courts and Tribunals (ADC-ICT) on 30 November 2024 who discussed judicial questioning in the Kosovo Specialist Chambers where parties are making submissions on judicial interventions.
The speaker raised key issues such as: that judges’ questions sometimes take more time than those of a party; that judicial questions are often leading; that judges may put material to witnesses that has not been relied on by the parties. They also touched on related issues including how such questions might be perceived by a reasonable on-looker and whether these is any perception of bias against the defence.
These issues were also the subject of motions in the current Thaci et al case. It is interesting for scholars to read about law in action and this is a belter – you can read more here in this recent joint request on measures to ensure the appearance of impartiality and avoidance of prejudice to the defence, by defence counsel for the co-accused (also worth reading are the Prosecution’s response and the Defence reply to the response).
One other key takeaway from the ADC-ICT conference for me as a ‘pracademic’, was the pressing issues which arise in relation to emerging technologies and the use of AI in evidence-gathering. The role of international law in safeguarding fair trial rights was also emphasized. All food for thought for next year’s Perspectives perhaps!
2024 has been a fantastic year at ANZSIL Perspective with perspectives published on many topics ranging from space treaties to the value of comparative law, allowing us to emphasise the importance of a global dialogue in shaping how we approach cooperation between nations, transnational legal issues and the harms and conflicts affecting people, the environment, space and the sea.
We look forward to more in 2025!
ANZSIL Perspective welcomes submissions from every level of post-graduate scholarship and legal practice for review and publication. Submissions and questions can be emailed to: anzsil@anu.edu.au. Read the submission guidelines here.
Our next deadline is 21 February 2025.
Felicity Gerry KC (Editor)
Felicity Gerry KC
Dr Felicity Gerry KC is on the lists of counsel for the ICC and KSC, recently on the defence team for Mr Al Hassan at the ICC and leading the defence for Mr Bahtijari at the KSC. She is admitted in England and Wales and Victoria, Australia and specialises in homicide, terrorism and war crimes trials and appeals. She has a particular interest in complicity law. She led amicus briefs in the Radovan Karadžić appeal on the lack of foundation for JCEIII and in the Dominic Ongwen appeal on the non-punishment principle. She is a Professorial Fellow at RJ4All, an Hon Prof at the University of Salford and formerly Professor of Legal Practice at Deakin University. She has a long history of teaching topics around contemporary international legal challenges such as terrorism, modern slavery law, climate change law and war crimes. She is widely published in areas including women & law, technology & law and reforming justice systems.
