Professor Felicity Gerry KC — What is it like to Defend at the International Criminal Court?
I am delighted to speak to you all today at the Melbourne Journal of International Law Annual Cocktail Evening for 2023. Normally I would thank the faculty staff but today I will thank them for their strike to improve pay and conditions.
I would like to thank Editors Jasmine Gan, Eleanor Twomey and Jonathan Ta for their kind invitation to speak on my experiences of what it is like to defend at the International Criminal Court. I was an ideal candidate to ask since I recently returned home to Melbourne from the International Criminal Court (‘ICC’) where I was on the team defending Mr Al Hassan who is accused of various international crimes arising from the situation in Mali. We have made our closing submissions and we are awaiting verdicts, so I will be a little circumspect in what I say. That said, to recognise that this Journal strives to shape discussion of the most important and relevant legal issues, I have decided to engage in a little theory as well as the odd practice anecdote under three topics:
(i) Being able to defend, especially as a woman;
(ii) The importance of defending in international criminal law (‘ICL’);
(iii) The challenges defending in the ICC.
Read full address here
Delighted to see my address to Melbourne Journal of International Law in print – What it’s like to defend at the International Criminal Court https://t.co/Bx3cmbNOUa pic.twitter.com/oj1sqeNubA
— Dr Felicity Gerry KC (@felicitygerry) November 13, 2023
