Andrew Clapham

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Andrew Clapham (born in Tunbridge Wells) is a British international lawyer specializing in human rights, international courts and tribunals and international humanitarian law. He has served in various advisory capacities at the United Nations.

Contents

Background and personal life

Clapham is currently professor of public international law at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, in Geneva, Switzerland. [1] After undergraduate studies at the University of Cambridge, he wrote his Ph.D. at the European University Institute in Florence under the guidance of Antonio Cassese. [2] [3] He is an associate member of the Matrix Chambers. [4] [5]

He was among survivors of the Canal Hotel Bombing in Iraq during which de Mello was killed with 20 other members of his staff on 19 August 2003. [6] [7]

Work

Clapham has worked as Special Adviser on Corporate Responsibility to High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson, and Adviser on International Humanitarian Law to Sergio Vieira de Mello, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General in Iraq. [8] He has also been the representative of human rights group Amnesty International to the United Nations between 1991 and 1994. [9]

He was the first director of the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights between 2008 and 2014.

In 2015, Clapham was among two international lawyers whose legal opinion Amnesty International commissioned to reach the conclusion that the United Kingdom was breaching the law by allowing the sales of weapons to Saudi Arabia despite knowing about their use to bomb civilians. [10]

In 2017, he was appointed to serve as a member of the U.N. Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan, charged with monitoring and assessing the human rights situation in the country. [11] He advises the government of Ukraine as part of the Task Force on Accountability for Crimes Committed in Ukraine, a group of lawyers investigating war crimes committed during the war with Russia. [12]

His book The 1949 Geneva Conventions: A Commentary (Oxford University Press; co-edited with Paola Gaeta, and Marco Sassóli) won a Certificate of Merit from the American Society of International Law for "a preeminent contribution to creative scholarship" in 2017. [13]

Clapham is often cited in the news media for his expertise in relation to the United Nations' efforts to hold perpetrators of war crimes accountable and uphold human rights law. [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20]

Publications

Representative publications include:

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">War crime</span> Individual act constituting a violation of the laws of war

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The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (CPPCG), or the Genocide Convention, is an international treaty that criminalizes genocide and obligates state parties to pursue the enforcement of its prohibition. It was the first legal instrument to codify genocide as a crime, and the first human rights treaty unanimously adopted by the United Nations General Assembly, on 9 December 1948, during the third session of the United Nations General Assembly. The Convention entered into force on 12 January 1951 and has 152 state parties as of 2022.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">International criminal law</span> Public international law

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies</span> Higher Education Institute in Geneva, Switzerland

The Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, also known as the Geneva Graduate Institute, is a public-private, government-accredited postgraduate institution of higher education located in Geneva, Switzerland.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights</span>

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International and national courts outside Syria have begun the prosecution of Syrian civil war criminals. War crimes perpetrated by the Syrian government or rebel groups include extermination, murder, rape or other forms of sexual violence, torture and imprisonment. "[A]ccountability for serious violations of international humanitarian law and human rights is central to achieving and maintaining durable peace in Syria", stated UN Under-Secretary-General Rosemary DiCarlo.

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References

  1. "The Graduate Institute, Geneva | Personal Webpages | Andrew Clapham". graduateinstitute.ch. Archived from the original on 8 December 2017. Retrieved 19 November 2017.
  2. Stahl, Daniel. "Andrew Clapham". www.geschichte-menschenrechte.de (in German). Retrieved 14 January 2024.
  3. "Andrew Clapham in conversation with Martin Scheinin - EUI Life". EUI Life. 4 March 2014. Retrieved 19 November 2017.
  4. "Prof. Andrew Clapham - Matrix Chambers". Matrix Chambers. Retrieved 19 November 2017.
  5. "Andrew Clapham > Matrix Chambers > London > England | Lawyer Profile".
  6. Power, Samantha (14 February 2008). Chasing the Flame: One Man's Fight to Save the World. Penguin. ISBN   9781101202746.
  7. "UN Baghdad hotel bombing survivors: Andrew Clapham". 10 August 2018.
  8. "Mr. Andrew Clapham" (PDF).
  9. "Clapham". graduateinstitute.ch. Archived from the original on 5 November 2017. Retrieved 19 November 2017.
  10. correspondent, Owen Bowcott Legal affairs (17 December 2015). "UK fuelling Yemen civil war with arms sales to Saudi Arabia, says Amnesty". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 19 November 2017.
  11. "OHCHR | Human Rights Council President appoints Andrew Clapham of the United Kingdom to serve on South Sudan body". www.ohchr.org. Retrieved 19 November 2017.
  12. https://www.doughtystreet.co.uk/news/government-ukraine-announces-creation-legal-task-force-accountability-crimes-committed-ukraine
  13. "Honors and Awards | ASIL". www.asil.org. Retrieved 17 December 2023.
  14. Chan, Sewell; Cumming-Bruce, Nick (23 August 2017). "U.N. Panel Condemns Trump's Response to Charlottesville Violence". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 19 November 2017.
  15. Cumming-Bruce, Nick (4 July 2017). "Ex-Judge Chosen by U.N. to Gather Evidence of Syria War Crimes". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 19 November 2017.
  16. "New U.N. team aims to bring Syria war crimes to court". Reuters. 16 February 2017. Retrieved 19 November 2017.
  17. Cumming-Bruce, Nick (16 June 2016). "ISIS Committed Genocide Against Yazidis in Syria and Iraq, U.N. Panel Says". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 19 November 2017.
  18. "Syria war criminals will face justice, U.N. rights boss vows". Reuters. 12 March 2015. Retrieved 19 November 2017.
  19. "Ukraine war crimes trials a step closer after Red Cross assessment". Reuters. 22 July 2014. Retrieved 19 November 2017.
  20. "Exclusive: Red Cross ruling raises questions of Syrian war crimes". Reuters. 14 July 2012. Retrieved 19 November 2017.