Negotiating Justice

PILPG’s Peace Negotiation Summer School commences on Monday, July 15, 2024. Day five of the summer school includes mini lectures with experienced peace negotiators and a panel discussion with individuals from the international criminal justice field. This page includes the schedule for the day, details on the experts who presented, additional resources and a recording of the July 19 zoom session.

Click on the video above to watch a recording of this session.

Schedule:

Expert Insight Video

Additional Resources

Experts:

  • David Crane is a Professor at the Syracuse University College of Law and was the founding Chief Prosecutor of the Special Court for Sierra Leone from 2002 to 2005. With the rank of Undersecretary General, Dr. Crane’s mandate was to prosecute those who bear the greatest responsibility for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and other serious violations of international human rights committed during the civil war in Sierra Leone during the 1990’s. Among those he indicted was the President of Liberia, Charles Taylor, the first sitting African head of state to be held accountable. Prior to this position, he served over 30 years in the Senior Executive Service of the United States government. Dr. Crane teaches international criminal law, international law, international humanitarian law, and national security law. He speaks around the world and publishes extensively on international humanitarian law and founded the Global Accountability Network in 2017.

Emma Bakkum
LinkedIn

  • Mohammed Hassan Osman al-Ta’ishi is a former member of the Sovereignty Council of Sudan - an eleven-member transitional council which acted as the collective Head of State in the aftermath of Sudan’s 2019 popular revolution. In that role, he made substantial contributions to the transitional government’s endeavors to restructure, reform, and democratize the Sudanese state. He was ex officio a member of the government’s Security and Defense Counsel and the Higher Council for Peace.

    Among his many roles as a Member of the Sovereignty Council, Mohammed was the Chief Negotiator and main architect of the Juba Agreement for Peace in Sudan, signed by the transitional government and the Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF) in October 2020. He thereafter took on the role of Chair of the High Committee for Monitoring and Evaluating the Implementation of the Juba Peace Agreement (Darfur Track), as well as Chair of the Conference on Governance High Committee.

    Prior to this, Mohammed worked at the Darfur Compensation Commission and the Darfur Reconstruction and Development Fund - two organizations established in accordance with the Abuja Peace Agreement (2006)’s aims of ending the conflict in Darfur.

    He has authored a book chapter on the role of students in the political struggle in Sudan, and published numerous articles on various topics including immigration, demographic changes, peace and democratization in Sudan.

  • Judge Professor Margaret deGuzmanis a Senior Peace Fellow with PILPG, James E. Beasley Professor of Law at Temple University’s Beasley School of Law, and Co-Director of Temple’s Institute for International Law and Public Policy. Her scholarship focuses on the role of international criminal law in the global legal order, with a particular emphasis on the work of the International Criminal Court. In 2022, Judge Professor deGuzman was appointed by the United Nations Secretary General to the roster of Judges of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals. She has worked as an international expert in a group studying the proposed addition of criminal jurisdiction to the mandate of the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, and is currently working on a project researching the impact of the Extraordinary African Chambers in the Courts of Senegal on national, regional, and global justice norms. Prior to joining Temple’s faculty, Judge Professor deGuzman clerked on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and practiced law in San Francisco for six years, specializing in criminal defense. Judge Professor deGuzman also served as a legal advisor to the Senegal delegation at the Rome Conference where the International Criminal Court was created and as a law clerk in the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia. She was a Fulbright Scholar in Darou N’diar, Senegal.

  • Jackline Nasiwa is a Senior Peace Fellow with PILPG. Ms. Nasiwa is an experienced lawyer and rule of law specialist based in Juba, South Sudan. She currently serves as the National Director for the Centre for Inclusive Governance, Peace and Justice. As part of PILPG’s work in South Sudan through the SUCCESS Consortium, Ms. Nasiwa provided technical assistance to South Sudanese civil society actors to more effectively engage in both formal and informal peace processes, including matters of transitional justice, traditional justice, constitutional development, and civic education. She also supported women's participation in political processes including the peace process and constitutional development. Prior to joining PILPG, Ms. Nasiwa worked with the National Democratic Institute as the Senior Manager on Constitutional Development. She also has previous experience with the South Sudan Referendum Bureau, the International Development Law Organization, and the United Nations Development Program.

    Ms. Nasiwa is member of the Technical Committee appointed by the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs to facilitate public consultations in the process to develop legislation for the constitution of the Commission of Truth Healing and Reconciliation. Together with other CSOs, Ms. Nasiwa shall provide technical support to the committee given her expertise in public consultation, civic education material development and dialogues on transitional justice issues. Jackline is the Chairperson of the National Alliance of Women Lawyers of South Sudan and has a long history of facilitating TOTs to CSO, academia and women groups on understanding transitional justice and human rights. Ms Jackline is winner of the Every Girl Win in 2021 and was awarded the South Sudanese Women Achievers for Peace for Human Rights Defender in 2021 by the South Sudanese Women Intellectuals Forum.

  • Dean Michael P. Scharf is the Co-Founder of the Public International Law & Policy Group (PILPG). He is also the Co-Dean of the Case Western Reserve University School of Law and the Joseph C. Hostetler—BakerHostetler Professor of Law.

    Scharf has led USAID-funded transitional justice projects in Uganda, Cote d’Ivoire, Libya, and Turkey (for Syria), and maritime piracy projects in Kenya, Mauritius, and The Seychelles. During a sabbatical in 2008, Scharf served as Special Assistant to the Prosecutor of the Cambodia Genocide Tribunal and during the elder Bush and Clinton Administrations, he served in the Office of the Legal Adviser of the U.S. Department of State, where he held the positions of Attorney- Adviser for Law Enforcement and Intelligence, Attorney-Adviser for United Nations Affairs, and delegate to the United Nations Human Rights Commission.

    A graduate of Duke University School of Law (Order of the Coif and High Honors), and judicial clerk to Judge Gerald Bard Tjoflat on the Eleventh Circuit Federal Court of Appeals, Scharf is the author of over 100 scholarly articles and 20 books, four of which have won national book of the year honors. A past recipient of the Case Western Reserve University School of Law Alumni Association's "Distinguished Teacher Award" and Ohio Magazine's "Excellence in Education Award," Scharf continues to teach International Law and was ranked as among the most cited authors in the field since 2010 by the 2016 and 2019 Sisk/Leiter studies. Since 2013, Scharf has been the producer and host of "Talking Foreign Policy," a radio program broadcast on WCPN 90.3 FM and other NPR affiliates across the country. Scharf was recently elected President-elect of the American Branch of the International Law Association.

Sindija Beta
LinkedIn

Katie Hetherington
LinkedIn

  • Marieke de Hoon is Assistant Professor of (International) Criminal Law.  In her research and teaching she focuses on international law, international criminal law, national prosecution of international crimes and human rights. She is also a Senior Legal Advisor at the Public International Law & Policy Group, where she provides pro bono legal assistance in (post-)conflict situations.

  • Dr. Paul R. Williams holds the Rebecca I. Grazier Professorship in Law and International Relations at American University where he teaches in the School of International Service and at the Washington College of Law. Dr. Williams is also the co-founder of the Public International Law & Policy Group (PILPG), a pro bono law firm providing legal assistance to states and governments involved in peace negotiations, post-conflict constitution drafting, and the prosecution of war criminals. As a world renowned peace negotiation lawyer, Dr. Williams has assisted over two dozen parties in major international peace negotiations and has advised numerous parties on the drafting and implementation of post-conflict constitutions. Several of Dr. Williams' pro bono government clients throughout the world joined together to nominate him for the Nobel Peace Prize.

  • Mr. von Hebel is a Dutch lawyer with extensive experience in international human rights law, international criminal and humanitarian law, and the promotion and protection of the rule of law on a national and international level. For over 17 years, Mr. von Hebel served in four different international criminal tribunals, of which over 5 years as a Senior Legal Officer in the Chambers of the Yugoslav tribunal and 12 years as (Deputy) Registrar at the Special Court for Sierra Leone, the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, and the International Criminal Court.Prior to this, Mr. von Hebel served as a representative for the Dutch Government before the European Court of Human Rights and participated in the elaboration of the ICC Rome Statute. He chaired the working group on the definition of war crimes at the 1998 Rome Conference. From 1999-2000, he chaired the working group on the Elements of Crimes.

    Since 2018, Mr. von Hebel serves as an independent expert on the strengthening of the rule of law and participated in projects in, amongst others, Ukraine, Georgia, Albania, Moldova, and Northern-Macedonia. He is also a part time judge in a Dutch Court of Appeal in criminal matters.