OPEN LETTER
To: Joe Biden, President of the United States
Charles Michel, President of the European Council
Rishi Sunak, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada
Copy: Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
21 December 2022
Excellencies,
We write to request that your nations set up a joint accountability mechanism for rapid collective action to help halt the execution of detained protesters in Iran.
The brave young men and women of Iran who are continuing to courageously take to the streets demanding an end to political oppression deserve our full support and admiration.
Since popular protests began in Iran following the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, the authorities have murdered as many as 700 protesters, including dozens of children, on the streets or in prison. As many as 30,000 protesters have been arrested, with dozens receiving the death sentence for ‘moharebeh’ (waging war on God) in fast-track sham trials without the right to due process.
In recent days, despite a global outcry, the authorities have begun executing protesters, including in public. Mohsen Shekari was executed on 8 December, less than three weeks after he was convicted and sentenced to death for taking part in the protests. In a separate case, Majidreza Rahnavard was hanged in public in the city of Mashhad on 12 December, less than three weeks after he was arrested, in an attempt by the authorities to intimidate the brave young Iranians and quell the popular uprising that seeks an end to the clerical dictatorship.
Decades of apparent silence and inaction by the international community have helped fuel a culture of impunity in Iran. Since the 1980s, the authorities in Iran have extra-judicially executed tens of thousands of dissident protesters and political prisoners, some as young as 13. As many as 30,000 political prisoners, mostly MEK members, were extra-legally executed or forcibly disappeared during the 1988 massacre.
Today, as brave young Iranians continue their defiant protests to end decades of tyranny, it is imperative that the world’s leading democratic nations act urgently to prevent the Iranian authorities in their attempts to quell the ongoing protests through the use of the death penalty in contravention of international law.
We urge you to hold the leadership of the Islamic Republic of Iran to account for committing crimes against humanity, for acts including the killing of children and the public hanging of protesters, and to use all internationally available means to bring them to justice.
While we welcome the Fact-finding Mission recently commissioned by the UN Human Rights Council in relation to the crackdown on the ongoing protests, we note that that mission has a more long-term agenda, whereas it is critical to take urgent action now to stop the unlawful use of the death penalty against protesters.
As such, we propose that your nations set up a joint mechanism to rapidly identify and impose joint sanctions against the individual masterminds and perpetrators of the ongoing crackdown on the protesters.
We furthermore ask that your countries consider imposing more targeted economic sanctions that would help cut off funds to the state’s machinery of suppression, and in particular blacklist the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and its affiliated entities that are leading the crackdown.
Finally, we request that, where applicable, your nations downgrade diplomatic ties with the Islamic Republic of Iran, including by withdrawing your ambassadors and likewise expelling the representatives of what is in fact a murderous government.
Sincerely,
SIGNED:
Individual signatories:
Amb. Joachim Rücker – (Germany)
President of the UN Human Rights Council (2015)
Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Germany to the UN in Geneva (2014-2016)
Inspector General of the Federal Foreign Office (2011-2014)
Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General and Head of the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) (2006-2008)
Judge Sang-Hyun Song – (South Korea)
President of the International Criminal Court (ICC) (2009-2015)
Oleksandra Matviichuk – (Ukraine)
2022 Nobel Peace Prize laureate
Head of Center for Civil Liberties (CCL)
Prof. José Luís da Cruz Vilaça – (Portugal)
President of the Court of First Instance of the European Communities (1989-1995)
Judge of the Court of Justice of the European Union (2012-2018)
Member of the Portuguese Government (1980-1983)
Professor of EU Law
Attorney at law, founder and managing partner of Cruz Vilaça Advogados
Helen Clark – (New Zealand)
Former Prime Minister of New Zealand (1999-2008)
UN Development Programme (UNDP) Administrator (2009-2017)
Sir Howard Morrison KC – (United Kingdom)
President of the Appeals Division of the International Criminal Court (ICC) (2012-2018 & 2020-2021)
Former Judge, UN International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY)
Amb. Jorge Lomonaco – (Mexico)
Former Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva
PILPG Circle of Former Ambassadors
Amb. Zorica Marić-Djordjević – (Montenegro)
Ambassador of Montenegro to the UN Human Rights Council and World Trade Organization (2013-2018)
Senior Peace Fellow at PILPG
Amb. Amanda Ellis – (New Zealand)
Ambassador and Permanent Representative of New Zealand to the United Nations in Geneva (2013-2016)
Amb. Filloreta Kodra – (Albania)
Former Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Albania to the United Nations in Geneva
Amb. Stephen J. Rapp – (United States)
US Ambassador-at-Large for Global Criminal Justice (2009-2015)
Prosecutor of the UN Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) (2007-2009)
Senior Fellow at Center for the Prevention of Genocide of US Holocaust Memorial Museum and at Center for Ethics, Law & Armed Conflict (ELAC) of Oxford University
Amb. Sam Brownback – (United States)
US Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom (2018-2021)
Amb. François Zimeray – (France)
French Human Rights Ambassador-at-Large (2008-2013)
Member of the European Parliament (1999-2004)
Ambassador to the Kingdom of Denmark (2013-2018)
Amb. Ken Blackwell – (United States)
Former US Ambassador to the UN Commission on Human Rights
Dr. Karen Smith – (South Africa)
United Nations Assistant Secretary-General and Special Adviser of the UN Secretary-General on the Responsibility to Protect (2019-2021)
Prof. Jennifer Welsh – (Canada)
United Nations Assistant Secretary-General and Special Adviser of the UN Secretary-General on the Responsibility to Protect (2013-2016)
Canada 150 Research Chair in Global Governance & Security, McGill University
Anne Ramberg – (Sweden)
Co-Chair, International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI)
Ad hoc Judge, European Court of Human Rights (ECHR)
Board Member, European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA)
Chair, Board of Uppsala University
Former Secretary General, Swedish Bar Association
Charles Petrie – (United Kingdom)
Former United Nations Assistant Secretary-General
UN Resident Coordinator for Myanmar (2012)
Head of UNSG’s Internal Review Panel for UN in Sri Lanka
Prof. Claudio Grossman – (Chile)
Member, UN International Law Commission (ILC) (2016-present)
Chair, ILC’s Drafting Committee (2019)
President, Inter-American Institute of Human Rights (IIDH) (2014-present)
President, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) (1996, 2001)
Chair, UN Committee against Torture (CAT) (4 terms, from 2008-2015)
Chair, UN Human Rights Treaty Bodies (2013)
Professor of Law & Dean Emeritus, R. Geraldson Scholar for International and Humanitarian Law, American University Washington College of Law
Prof. Leila Nadya Sadat – (United States)
Director, Crimes Against Humanity Initiative
James Carr Professor of International Criminal Law and Director of the Whitney R. Harris World Law Institute at Washington University Law School
Visiting Fellow, Schell Human Rights Center, Yale Law School
Hon. Richard J. Goldstone – (South Africa)
Former Judge of the Constitutional Court of South Africa
Former Chief Prosecutor of the UN International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda
Honorary President of the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI)
Prof. William A. Schabas – (Canada)
Chair of the UN Independent Commission of Inquiry on the 2014 Gaza Conflict (2014-2015)
Member of the Sierra Leone Truth and Reconciliation Commission (2002-2004)
Chair of the Board of Trustees at the UN Voluntary Fund for Technical Cooperation in the Field of Human Rights (2009-2011)
President of the International Association of Genocide Scholars (2009-2011)
President of the Institute for International Criminal Investigation (2021-present)
Professor of international law at Middlesex University in London
Prof. Sir Geoffrey Nice KC – (United Kingdom)
Chair Uyghur Tribunal
Chair China Tribunal
Lead prosecutor at the trial of Slobodan Milošević in The Hague
prosecuted the case of Bosnian Croat Dario Kordić at the UN International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), successfully prosecuted Goran Jelisić at the ICTY
Prof. Pierre d’Argent – (Belgium)
Professor, Law Faculty of the University of Louvain
Member, Institute of International Law (IIL)
Member, Brussels Bar
President, European Society of International Law (ESIL)
First Secretary of the International Court of Justice (2009-2011)
Prof. Manfred Nowak – (Austria)
Secretary General of the Global Campus of Human Rights in Venice/Italy
Former UN Special Rapporteur on Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment (2004-2010)
Independent Expert leading the UN Global Study on Children Deprived of Liberty (2016-2019)
Former member of the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID)
Former Judge, Human Rights Chamber for Bosnia and Herzegovina
Prof. Theo van Boven – (The Netherlands)
Former Director of the United Nations Division of Human Rights (1977-1982)
former UN Special Rapporteur on Torture (2001-2004)
Dr. Dubravka Šimonovic – (Croatia)
UN Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women (2015-2021)
former Chairperson of UN CEDAW
Chairperson of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (2001-2002)
Prof. Jean Ziegler – (Switzerland)
UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food (2000-2008)
former Vice-President of the UN Human Rights Council Advisory Committee
Maud De Boer-Buquicchio – (The Netherlands)
UN Special Rapporteur on the Sale and Sexual Exploitation of Children (2014-2020)
former Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe
Gabriela Knaul – (Brazil)
UN Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers (2009-2015)
Prof. Yakin Ertürk – (Turkey)
UN Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women (2003-2009)
Prof emeritus, Middle East Technical University, Ankara
Director of UN Division for the Advancement of Women (1999-2001)
Member, Council of Europe Committee on the Prevention of Torture (2009-2013)
Prof. Heiner Bielefeldt – (Germany)
UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief (2010-2016)
Former Director, German Institute for Human Rights / Deutsche Institut für Menschenrechte (DIMR)
Gulnara Shahinian – (Armenia)
UN Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Slavery, Including Its Causes and Consequences (2008-2014)
Anand Grover – (India)
UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health (2008-2014); Senior Advocate, Supreme Court of India; Adjunct Professor, Georgetown Law Center, Georgetown University, Washington; Member, Global Commission on Drug Policy; Director, Lawyers Collective
Prof. S. James Anaya – (United States)
Former UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
Prof. Rashida Manjoo – (South Africa)
UN Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women, its Causes and Consequences (2009-2015)
Emeritus Professor, University of Cape Town
Santiago Corcuera-Cabezut – (Mexico)
Former Chair-Rapporteur of the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID)
Former Chair of the UN Committee against Enforced Disappearances
Former Chair of the Co-ordinating Committee of the Special Procedures of the UN Human Rights Council
Prof. John H. Knox – (United States)
UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and the Environment (2012-2018)
Henry C. Lauerman Professor of International Law, Wake Forest University School of Law
Prof. Jeremy Sarkin – (South Africa)
Former Chair-Rapporteur of the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID)
Prof. Robert K. Goldman – (United States)
Former UN Independent Expert on the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism
President, International Commission of Jurists (ICJ)
Former President and member, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR)
Professor of Law & Louis C James Scholar, Washington College of Law, American University
Prof. Soledad Villagra de Biedermann – (Paraguay)
Member of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (2002-2008)
Dr. Rowan Williams – (United Kingdom)
Former Archbishop of Canterbury
former Master of Magdalene College, University of Cambridge
Garry Kasparov – (United States)
Chairman of the Renew Democracy Initiative
World Chess Champion
Erkki Tuomioja – (Finland)
President of the Nordic Council
Former Foreign Minister of Finland
Member of Finnish Parliament
Petrit Selimi – (Kosovo)
Former Foreign minister of the Republic of Kosovo
Morten Kjaerum – (Denmark)
Director of the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law in Sweden
Director of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) (2008-2015)
Board Member of the UN Voluntary Fund for Technical Cooperation (VFTC) in the Field of Human Rights and of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Trust Fund for Financial and Technical Assistance
Thomas Hammarberg – (Sweden)
Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights (2006-2012)
Secretary General of the Stockholm-based Olof Palme International Center (2002–2005)
Ambassador of the Swedish Government on Humanitarian Affairs (1994–2002)
Secretary General of the NGO “Save the Children Sweden” (1986–1992)
Secretary General of Amnesty International (1980–1986)
Representative of the UN Secretary General for human rights in Cambodia (1996-2000)
Member of Parliament (2018-2022)
Lord Neil Kinnock – (United Kingdom)
Vice President of the European Commission (1999-2004)
Member of the House of Lords
Rep. Patrick Kennedy – (United States)
Former Member of the US House of Representatives
Prof. Paul R. Milgrom – (United States)
2020 Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences
Prof. Michel Mayor – (Switzerland)
2019 Nobel Laureate in Physics
Sir Gregory P. Winter – (United Kingdom)
2018 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry
Prof. Barry C. Barish – (United States)
2017 Nobel Laureate in Physics
Prof. Kip S. Thorne – (United States)
2017 Nobel Laureate in Physics
Prof. Joachim Frank – (United States)
2017 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry
Prof. Jean-Pierre Sauvage – (France)
2016 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry
Prof. Oliver Hart – (United States)
2016 Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences
Prof. David Wineland – (United States)
2012 Nobel Laureate in Physics
Dr. John C. Mather – (United States)
2006 Nobel Laureate in Physics
Prof. Roger Kornberg – (United States)
2006 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry
Elfriede Jelinek – (Austria)
2004 Nobel Laureate in Literature
Prof. Finn E. Kydland – (Norway)
2004 Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences
Sir Richard J. Roberts Ph.D. F.R.S. – (United Kingdom)
1993 Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine
Prof. Dudley R. Herschbach – (United States)
1986 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry
Bandana Rana – (Nepal)
Member, UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)
Prof. Irwin Cotler – (Canada)
Former Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada
Founder and Chair of the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights
Emeritus Professor of Law McGill University
Senator Orry Van de Wauwer – (Belgium)
Member of the Senate of Belgium
Dr. Juan E. Garcés – (Spain)
Spanish lawyer and former advisor to Chilean President Salvador Allende
Winner of the 1999 Right Livelihood Award (Sweden)
Director of “Garcés y Prada Abogados”, Madrid
President of the Spanish Foundation “President Allende”
Frej Fenniche – (Switzerland)
Chief of Asia, Pacific, Middle East and North Africa Branch (APMENAB) at the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, based in Geneva (2015-2017)
Prof. Andrzej Rzepliński – (Poland)
President of the Constitutional Tribunal in Poland (2010-2016)
Member of the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (1994-2004)
Member of the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (2004-2008)
Member of the Advisory Board of the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea (2013-present)
Prof. Rui Manuel Gens Moura Ramos – (Portugal)
Judge, General Court of the European Union (1995-2003)
President of the Constitutional Court of Portugal (2007-2012)
Prof. Valeriu M. Ciucă – (Romania)
Judge, General Court of the European Union (2007-2010)
Prof. Josef Azizi – (Austria)
Judge, General Court of the European Union (1995-2013)
Prof. Vilenas Vadapalas – (Lithuania)
Judge, General Court of the European Union (2004-2013)
Prof. Franklin Dehousse – (Belgium)
Judge, General Court of the European Union (2003-2016)
Legal Adviser to the Chamber of Representatives of Belgium (1981-1990)
Professor, University of Liège
Sir David Edward KCMG KC – (United Kingdom)
Judge, European Court of Justice (1992-2004)
Professor Emeritus, University of Edinburgh
Prof. Wolfgang Schomburg – (Germany)
Judge, UN International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) (2001-2008)
Former Judge, UN International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR)
Prof. Giovanni Grasso – (Italy)
Former International Judge of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Former Judge of the Human Rights Chamber for Bosnia and Herzegovina
Klaus U. Rackwitz – (Germany)
Former Director, International Nuremberg Principles Academy
Prof. Brice Dickson – (United Kingdom)
Chief Commissioner of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission (1999-2005)
Professor of International and Comparative Law, Queen’s University Belfast (QUB)
Prof. Eric David – (Belgium)
Member of the UN-affiliated International Humanitarian Fact-Finding Commission (2006-2016)
International Public Law Professor. Em., Université Libre de Bruxelles
Prof. David M. Crane – (United States)
Founding Chief Prosecutor, UN Special Court for Sierra Leone
Founder, Global Accountability Network
Tahar Boumedra – (United Kingdom)
Justice for the Victims of the 1988 Massacre in Iran (JVMI)
Former Chief of UNAMI Human Rights Office and Representative of the HCHR in Iraq
Marek Antoni Nowicki – (Poland)
Former President of the UN Human Rights Advisory Panel in Kosovo
UN-appointed International Ombudsperson in Kosovo (2000-2005)
Member of the European Commission of Human Rights (1993-1999)
Sonja Biserko – (Serbia)
Former Member of the UN Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights Violations in North Korea (DPRK)
Founder and President of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia
Dr. Maude Barlow – (Canada)
Former Senior Advisor on Water to the President of the United Nations General Assembly
Former Chairperson of the Council of Canadians
Clair Duffy – (Australia)
Former Prosecution Appeals Counsel, UN International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR)
Dr. Mark Ellis – (United Kingdom)
Executive Director, International Bar Association (IBA)
former Chair of the UN Advisory Panel on Matters Relating to Defence Counsel of the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals
Hiljmnijeta Apuk – (Kosovo)
Winner, United Nations Prize in the Field of Human Rights for 2013
Director, Little People of Kosova
Member, Ad Hoc Committee of the UN General Assembly on drafting of the Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
Kate Mackintosh – (United Kingdom)
Executive Director, Promise Institute for Human Rights, UCLA School of Law
Deputy Registrar, UN International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) (2012-2017)
Dominique Attias – (France)
President, European Bars Federation / Fédération des Barreaux d’Europe (FBE)
Toby Cadman – (United Kingdom)
Co-founder of Guernica 37 International Justice Chambers
Kyle Matthews – (Canada)
Executive Director of the Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies (MIGS) at Concordia University
Dr. William H. Wiley – (Canada)
Executive Director, Commission for International Justice and Accountability (CIJA)
Cynthia Tai – (United States)
Executive Director and Founder, Project Expedite Justice (PEJ)
Former Senior Investigator and Senior Trial Lawyer at the ICC
Pro tem Judge in the State of Hawaii
Prof. Pål Wrange – (Sweden)
Director of the Stockholm Centre for International Law and Justice, member of the Swedish government’s International Law and Disarmament Delegation, member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration, professor of public international law at Stockholm University, Former principal legal advisor at the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs and a former political advisor to the European Union’s Special Representative for the Great Lakes Region
Prof. Wendy Lower – (United States)
Director, Mgrublian Center for Human Rights, Claremont CA
Prof. David J. Simon – (United States)
Director, Genocide Studies Program at Yale University
Prof. Debórah Dwork – (United States)
Director, Center for the Study of the Holocaust, Genocide, and Crimes Against Humanity at The Graduate Center—City University of New York (CUNY)
Andreas Bummel – (Germany)
Executive Director, Democracy Without Borders
Dr. Victoria Sanford – (United States)
Founding Director, Center for Human Rights & Peace Studies at Lehman College-City University of New York (CUNI)
Lehman Professor of Excellence, 2021-2024
Ezechia Paolo Reale – (Italy)
Secretary General, The Siracusa International Institute for Criminal Justice and Human Rights
Member of the List of Counsel for the International Criminal Court (ICC)
Pierre Bercis – (France)
President, Nouveaux Droits de l’Homme (NDH)
Dr. Tibi Galis – (United States)
Executive Director, Auschwitz Institute for the Prevention of Genocide and Mass Atrocities (AIPG)
Elizabeth Silkes – (United States)
Executive Director, International Coalition of Sites of Conscience (ICSC)
Almudena Bernabeu – (Spain)
Executive Director, Guernica Centre for International Justice
Dr. Ellen J. Kennedy – (United States)
Executive Director, World Without Genocide
Dr. Yevgeniy Zhovtis – (Kazakhstan)
Director, Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and Rule of Law (KIBHR)
Board Member, International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI)
Sergio Fausto – (Brazil)
Executive Director, Fernando Henrique Cardoso Foundation
Mélanie Sonhaye-Kombate – (Togo)
Executive Director, West Africa Human Rights Defenders Network (WAHRDN / ROADDH)
Tali Nates – (South Africa)
Founder and Executive Director, Johannesburg Holocaust and Genocide Center
Prof. Eric Heinze – (United Kingdom)
Executive Director, Centre for Law, Democracy, and Society (CLDS), Queen Mary University of London
Professor of Law & Humanities, School of Law, Queen Mary University of London
Prof. James Silk – (United States)
Director, Orville H. Schell, Jr. Center for International Human Rights, Yale Law School
Binger Clinical Professor of Human Rights, Allard K. Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic, Yale Law School
Prof. Stephen Eric Bronner – (United States)
Co-Director, International Council for Diplomacy and Dialogue (ICDD)
Board of Governors Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Political Science, Rutgers University
Affiliate Distinguished Fellow, Center for the Study of Genocide and Human Rights (CGHR), Rutgers University
Sergio D’Elia – (Italy)
Secretary General, Hands Off Cain
Dr. Mabel Bianco – (Argentina)
President of Foundation for Studies and Research on Women – Fundacion Para Estudio e Investigacion De la Mujer (FEIM)
Co-Chair of the UN-affiliated Major Groups and other Stakeholders High-Level Political Forum Coordination Mechanism (MGoS HLPF CM)
Prof. Alain Goldschläger – (Canada)
Director, Holocaust Literature Research Institute (HLRI), Western University
Former Chair, League for Human Right (Ontario)
Member, Canadian delegation to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA)
Professor Emeritus, University of Western Ontario
Tracy Edwards MBE – (United Kingdom)
Founder, The Maiden Factor
Dr. Élise Le Gall – (France)
President, French Association for the Promotion of Universal Jurisdiction – Association Française pour la Promotion de la Compétence Universelle (AFPCU)
Member of the List of Counsel for the International Criminal Court (ICC)
Professor Errol P. Mendes – (Canada)
President, International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), Canadian Section
Faculty of Law, University of Ottawa
Editor-in-Chief, National Journal of Constitutional Law
Latest Book: Peace and Justice at the International Criminal Court, 2020
Dr. Elisa von Joeden-Forgey – (United States)
Co-Founder and Co-President, Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention
Endowed Chair, Department of Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Keene State College
Academic Board Member, Zoryan Institute
Former President, Genocide Watch
Former First Vice President, International Association of Genocide Scholars
Irene Victoria Massimino – (Argentina)
Co-President of the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention
Professor of Jurisprudence and Human Rights
Former High Criminal Court Rapporteur of Buenos Aires, Argentina (2016-2020)
Former Co-Secretary-Treasurer of the International Association of Genocide Scholars (2015-2017)
Member of the Resolutions Committee of the IAGS (2017-Present)
Nana-Jo N’Dow – (Gambia)
Founder and Executive Director, African Network against Extrajudicial Killings and Enforced Disappearances (ANEKED)
Dr. Alexa Koenig – (United States)
Co-Executive Director of the Human Rights Center, University of California, Berkeley, School of Law
Co-Chair, International Bar Association Human Rights Law Committee
Betsy Popken – (United States)
Co-Executive Director of the Human Rights Center, University of California, Berkeley, School of Law
Prof. Susana SáCouto – (United States)
Director, War Crimes Research Office (WCRO), American University Washington College of Law (AUWCL)
Dr. Kerry Whigham – (United States)
Co-Director, Institute for Genocide and Mass Atrocity Prevention (I-GMAP), Binghamton University
Member, Executive Board, International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS)
Maria Elena Elverdin – (Argentina)
President of AAMCJ (Asociacion Argentina de Mujeres de Carreras Juridicas), Honorary President of FIFCJ (Federation Internationale des Femmes des Carrieres Juridiques)
Hans Noot – (The Netherlands)
Director, Gerard Noodt Foundation for Freedom of Religion or Belief
Antonio Stango – (Italy)
President, Italian Federation for Human Rights (FIDU)
Igor Bandović – (Serbia)
Director, Belgrade Center for Security Policy (BCSP)
R. Bruce McColm – (United States)
President, Institute for Democratic Strategies
Former Executive Director, Freedom House
Alastair Logan OBE, LL.B – (United Kingdom)
Chair, Solicitors International Human Rights Group
Council Member of The Law Society of England and Wales
Dr. Adam Muller – (Canada)
Director, Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Manitoba
Habib Nassar – (The Netherlands)
Director of Policy and Research, Impunity Watch
Former Senior Transitional Justice Advisor/Human Rights Officer, OHCHR
David Russell – (United Kingdom)
UK Coordinator, Survivors Fund (SURF)
Prof. Laurel E. Fletcher – (United States)
Co-Director, International Human Rights Law Clinic (IHRLC), University of California, Berkeley; Chancellor’s Clinical Professor of Law, University of California, Berkeley; Co-Director, Miller Institute for Global Challenges and the Law, University of California, Berkeley
Dr. Frank Chalk – (Canada)
Professor of History and Founding Co-director, The Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies, Concordia University
President, the Association of Genocide Scholars (1999-2001)
Rabbi Abraham Cooper – (United States)
Vice Chair, United States Commission on International Religious Freedom
Associate Dean, Simon Wiesenthal Center
Judge Tom C. Rawlings – (United States)
Former Director of the Georgia Division of Family and Children Services and former Judge of the US Juvenile Courts
Eric Sottas – (Switzerland)
Founder and former Secretary General of Organisation Mondiale Contre la Torture – World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT)
William Bourdon – (France)
International human rights lawyer
Founder of SHERPA
President of PPLAAF
Dr. Victor Tsilonis – (Greece)
Alternate Member, ICC Disciplinary Board (2018-2022)
Greece’s 2020 ICC Judicial Nominee
Vice-President for Victims of the International Criminal Court Bar Association (ICCBA)
Member of the List of Counsel for the International Criminal Court (ICC)
Peter Haynes KC – (United Kingdom)
President, International Criminal Court Bar Association (ICCBA) (2019-2021)
Prof. Steven M. Schneebaum – (United States)
International Law and Organizations Program, Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), The Johns Hopkins University
Elisabetta Zamparutti – (Italy)
Co-founder and Treasurer of Hands Off Cain, former Member of Parliament
Prof. Ben Saul – (Australia)
Challis Chair of International Law, University of Sydney
Prof. Alexander Alvarez – (United States)
Professor, Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Northern Arizona University
Founding Director of the Martin-Springer Institute for Teaching the Holocaust, Tolerance, and Humanitarian Values
Prof. James Scott – (United States)
Sterling Professor of Political Science
Director, Agrarian Studies Program
Professor of Anthropology, Yale University
Sir Ivan Lawrence KC – (United Kingdom)
Barrister and former Recorder of the Crown Courts
Former Member of Parliament and Chairman of the House of Commons Home Affairs Select Committee
Co-Chairman, Cambridge International Symposium on Economic Crime
Member of the List of Counsel for the International Criminal Court (ICC)
Prof. Eduardo Salvador Barcesat – (Argentina)
Professor of Constitutional Law of Argentina, University of Buenos Aires (UBA)
Member of the Constitutional Assembly of Argentina (1994)
Prof. Geoffrey Dancy – (United States)
Director, Transitional Justice Evaluation Tools (TJET)
Associate Professor, University of Toronto
Prof. Timothy J. Christian KC – (Canada)
Chief Federal Negotiator of the Government of Canada (1996–2010)
Dean of the Faculty of Law at the University of Alberta (1985-1995)
Charles A. Adeogun-Phillips – (United Kingdom & Nigeria)
Barrister, Guerinca37 International Justice Chambers
Former lead prosecutor in 12 precedent-setting genocide trials before the UN International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda between 1998 and 2010
Member of the List of Counsel for the International Criminal Court (ICC)
Contributor, International Criminal Investigations: Law and Practice, 2017
Prof. Alejandro Baer – (United States)
Former Director of the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies (CHGS)
Professor, Department of Sociology at the University of Minnesota
María Zambrano Fellow, Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia
Prof. Ben Kiernan – (United States)
A. Whitney Griswold Professor of History, Yale University
Professor of International & Area Studies, MacMillan Center
Founding Director of the Cambodian Genocide Program (1994-1999)
Founding Director of the Genocide Studies Program (1998-2015) at Yale University
Convenor of the Yale East Timor Project (2000-2002)
Prof. Predrag Dojčinović – (United States)
Adjunct Professor and Research Affiliate at the Human Rights Institute at the University of Connecticut
War Crimes expert at the Office of the Prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) (1998-2017)
Prof. Benjamin E. Goldsmith – (Australia)
Professor at the Australian National University (ANU)
scholar in genocide and mass atrocities
Prof. Jerry P. White – (Canada)
Professor Emeritus, Sociology, Western University
Director, Aboriginal Policy Research Consortium
Prof. Rebecca Cook – (Canada)
Professor Emerita, Faculty of Law at the University of Toronto
Dr. Fabián O. Raimondo – (Argentina)
Associate Professor of Public International Law, Maastricht University
Executive Director, Maastricht Blog on Transitional Justice (www.transitionaljustice.net)
Member of the List of Counsel for the International Criminal Court (ICC)
Richard C. Dieter, J.D. – (United States)
Former Executive Director of the Death Penalty Information Center, Adjunct Professor of Law at the Catholic University of America
Prof. Sara Chandler KC (Hon) – (United Kingdom)
Secretary to the Human Rights Commission of the European Bars Federation (Fédération des Barreaux d’Europe – FBE)
Former President of the FBE
Former Chair of the Human Rights Committee, Law Society of England & Wales
Kirsty Brimelow KC – (United Kingdom)
Former Chair of Bar Human Rights Committee of England and Wales (BHRC)
Visiting Professor, Goldsmith University
Head of International Human Rights team at Doughty Street Chambers
Prof. Yasushi Higashizawa – (Japan)
Professor, Faculty of Law, Meijigakuin University
Co-Chair, Human Rights Committee of the Law Association for Asia and the Pacific (LAWASIA)
Member of the List of Counsel for the International Criminal Court (ICC)
Prof. Felicity Gerry KC – (United Kingdom)
Barrister, Crockett Chambers, Melbourne
Professor of Legal Practice, Deakin University
Member of the List of Counsel for the International Criminal Court (ICC)
Jonathan Elystan Rees KC – (United Kingdom)
Member of the List of Counsel for the International Criminal Court (ICC)
Prof. Max du Plessis – (South Africa)
Senior Counsel
Adjunct Professor, University of Cape Town and Nelson Mandela University
Brian Kennedy – (United States)
Member of the List of Counsel for the International Criminal Court (ICC)
Prof. Rhoda E. Howard-Hassmann – (Canada)
Professor Emerita, Wilfrid Laurier University
Canada Research Chair in International Human Rights (2003-2016)
Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada
Prof. Nicholas Grief – (United Kingdom)
Emeritus Professor of Law, University of Kent
Barrister, Doughty Street Chambers
Prof. Gerhard Kemp – (United Kingdom / South Africa)
Professor of Law, University of Derby
Extraordinary Professor of Public Law, Stellenbosch University
Dr. Jared O. Bell – (United States)
Program Manager, Europe and Eurasia, American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative
Prof. Jennifer Wright Knust – (United Kingdom)
Professor of Religious Studies, Duke University
Director, Elizabeth A. Clark Center for Late Ancient Studies
Co-Director, Franklin Humanities Institute Manuscript Migration Lab
Prof. Alexander Motyl – (United States)
Professor of Political Science, Rutgers University
Prof. Pearl Eliadis – (Canada)
Law Office of Pearl Eliadis (practice in human rights)
Associate Professor (Professional), McGill University
Prof. Louise Mallinder – (United Kingdom)
Professor of Law, School of Law, Queen’s University Belfast (QUB)
Dr. Tracy M. Lemos – (Canada)
Gerstein Distinguished Visiting Professor in Jewish Studies and Religion, University of Toronto
Professor of Hebrew Bible and Faculty Affiliate of the Centre for Transitional Justice and Post-Conflict Reconstruction, Western University
Prof. Bruce Robbins – (United States)
Old Dominion Foundation Professor in the Humanities, Columbia University
Prof. Timothy Williams – (Germany)
Junior Professor of Insecurity and Social Order, Chairman of Research Centre RISK, Universität der Bundeswehr München (Germany)
2nd Vice President, International Association of Genocide Studies (IAGS)
Prof. Caroline Bennett – (New Zealand)
Advisory Board Member, International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS), University of Sussex School of Global Studies
Achille Campagna – (San Marino)
Member of the List of Counsel for the International Criminal Court (ICC)
Dr. Paulo Ilich Bacca – (Colombia)
Deputy Director, Center for Law, Justice and Society, Dejusticia
Lecturer in Legal Theory, Javeriana Universit
Peter Carter KC – (United Kingdom)
Barrister at Doughty Street Chambers, London
Former Chair of Bar Human Rights Committee of England and Wales (BHRC)
patron of Amicus
Dr. François Larocque – (Canada)
Professor, Research Chair in Language Rights, Faculty of Law, Common Law Section, University of Ottawa
Fellow 2021, Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation
David Matas – (Canada)
Human rights lawyer and Co-Founder of International Coalition To End Transplant Abuse In China
Elisabeth Rabesandratana – (France)
Member of the List of Counsel for the International Criminal Court (ICC)
Amos Waldman – (United Kingdom)
Barrister at Doughty Street Chambers
Member of the List of Counsel for the International Criminal Court (ICC)
Geoffrey Philip Roberts – (United Kingdom)
Member of the List of Counsel for the International Criminal Court (ICC)
Prof. Hilary Earl – (Canada)
Professor of European History and Genocide Studies, Nipissing University
former Member of the Advisory Board, International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS)
Greg Boos – (United States)
Member of the List of Counsel for the International Criminal Court (ICC)
Hon. Dr. Jocelynne A. Scutt – (United Kingdom / Australia)
Senior Fellow at the University of Buckingham, former Anti-Discrimination Commissioner of Tasmania, and former judge on the High Court of Fiji
John Traversi – (United Kingdom)
Member of the List of Counsel for the International Criminal Court (ICC)
Barrister, 9BR Chambers in London
Prof. Juan Carlos Manriquez – (Chile)
Member of the List of Counsel for the International Criminal Court (ICC)
Professor of Criminal Law, Criminal Proceedings and International Criminal Law
Prof. Amanda Grzyb – (Canada)
Associate Professor, Faculty of Information and Media Studies, University of Western Ontario
Project Director, Surviving Memory in Postwar El Salvador, University of Western Ontario
Prof. David Palumbo-Liu – (United States)
Louise Hewlett Nixon Professor, Stanford University
Dr. Steven Leonard Jacobs – (United States)
Professor of Religious Studies and Emeritus Aronov Endowed Chair of Judaic Studies, University of Alabama
Former First Vice-President, International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS)
Dr. Jennifer Leaning – (United States)
Former FXB Professor of the Practice of Health and Human Rights and former Director of the FXB Center for Health and Human Rights, Harvard University
Senior Research Fellow at the FXB Center and Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Prof. Johan D. van der Vyver – (South Africa)
I.T. Cohen Professor of International Law and Human Rights, Emory University School of Law
Prof. Tozun Bahcheli – (Canada)
Emeritus Professor of Political Science, King’s University College, University of Western Ontario
Jelia Sane – (United Kingdom)
Barrister, Doughty Street Chambers
Prof. Flynn Coleman – (United States)
Technology & Human Rights Fellow, Carr Center for Human Rights Policy, Harvard Kennedy School
Thom Dyke – (United Kingdom)
Barrister at Deka Chambers
Member of the List of Counsel for the International Criminal Court (ICC)
Adam M. VanHo – (United States)
Member of the List of Counsel for the International Criminal Court (ICC)
Silke Studzinsky – (Germany)
Former International Civil Party Lawyer at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia
Member of the List of Counsel for the International Criminal Court (ICC)
Dr. Ranjana Kumari – (India)
Director, Centre for Social Research (CSR); former Member, Task Force on Industrial Relations, International Labour Organization (ILO)
Nigel Edwards KC – (United Kingdom)
Head of International Law, 33 Bedford Row
Co-signatory academic institutions and NGOs:
Justice for the Victims of the 1988 Massacre in Iran (JVMI) – (United Kingdom)
Center for Civil Liberties (CCL) (2022 Nobel Peace Prize laureate) – (Ukraine)
CIVICUS – (South Africa)
Bar Human Rights Committee of England and Wales (BHRC) – (United Kingdom)
International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) – (United States)
Human Rights Monitoring Institute / Žmogaus Teisių Stebėjimo Institutas – (Lithuania)
Project Expedite Justice (PEJ) – (United States)
The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention – (United States & Argentina)
Institute for Genocide and Mass Atrocity Prevention (I-GMAP) at Binghamton University, NY – (United States)
Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies (MIGS) – Concordia University – (Canada)
Center for the Study of the Holocaust, Genocide, and Crimes Against Humanity, The Graduate Center—City University of New York (CUNY) – (United States)
Human Rights Center, Berkeley Law – (United States)
The Promise Institute for Human Rights, UCLA Law – (United States)
Mgrublian Center for Human Rights, Claremont CA – (United States)
Nouveaux Droits de l’Homme (NDH) – (France)
Guernica 37 Chambers – (United Kingdom)
The International Coalition of Sites of Conscience (ICSC) – (United States)
German Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty (GCADP) – (Germany)
West African Human Rights Defenders Network / Réseau Ouest Africain des Défenseurs des Droits Humains (WAHRDN/ROADDH) – (Togo)
Gerard Noodt Foundation for Freedom of Religion or Belief – (The Netherlands)
World Without Genocide – (United States)
Hands Off Cain – (Italy)
International Council for Diplomacy and Dialogue (ICDD) – (United States)
Women’s Network for Change (WNC) – (France)
Global Accountability Network – (United States)
French Association for the Promotion of Universal Jurisdiction – Association Française pour la Promotion de la Compétence Universelle (AFPCU) – (France)
African Network against Extrajudicial Killings and Enforced Disappearances (ANEKED) – (Gambia)
Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and Rule of Law (KIBHR) – (Kazakhstan)
Les Femmes, La Force du Changement – (France)
Belgrade Center for Security Policy (BCSP) – (Serbia)
Women’s Human Rights International Association (WHRIA) – (France)
Women Worldwide Advancing Freedom and Equality (WWAFE) – (United Kingdom)
NGO Little People of Kosovo – (Kosovo)
Community Work Ireland (CWI) – (Ireland)
Greater Caribbean for Life – (Puerto Rico)