LJMU invite Director of Service Prosecutions Andrew Cayley to discuss the prosecution of genocide at the next Roscoe lecture
Monday, 19 March, 2018
- Free Roscoe public lecture with guest speaker Andrew Cayley CMG QC FRSA – Prosecuting Genocide: The Crimes of Crimes to take place on Tuesday March 20 starting at 5pm in St George’s Hall, Liverpool.
Director of Service Prosecutions and former United Nations International Prosecutor Andrew Cayley CMG QC FRSA is the latest guest speaker to present a Roscoe Lecture as part of the LJMU series.
Mr Cayley’s presentation Prosecuting Genocide: The Crime of Crimes will see him discussing his experiences of investigating and prosecuting genocide in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Cambodia and Sudan.
Genocide was first recognised as a crime under international law by the United Nations General Assembly in 1946. The crime was then codified by the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. The heart of the offence is targeted actions aimed at the destruction of a particular group of people.
As Director of Service Prosecutions Mr Cayley is responsible for the prosecution of all cases before the Military Service Courts.
Until 2013 he was the United Nations Chief International Co-Prosecutor of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia responsible for prosecuting the leadership of the Khmer Rouge for the genocide, extermination and murder of up to two million of their own citizens between 1975 and 1979.
Prior to this, he was Senior Prosecuting Counsel at the International Criminal Court where he led the first investigation and pre-trial proceedings in respect of allegations of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes committed since July 2002, in Darfur Sudan.
Up until 2005 and for a period of ten years he was Prosecuting Counsel and then Senior Prosecuting Counsel at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia where, amongst other cases, he was co-counsel in the prosecuting team that secured the court’s first conviction for genocide in respect of events at Srebrenica in Bosnia-Herzegovina in July 1995.
Mr Cayley said: "It is an honour to be asked to give the Roscoe lecture and I hope the audience will find what I have to say is of interest to them."
The Roscoe lecture series was launched in November 1997 in memory of abolitionist William Roscoe, known as the father of Liverpool Culture, who initiated the first public debates in Liverpool more than 200 years ago.
He passionately believed that education shaped attitudes and created opportunity; and the Roscoe lectures were established as a gift from LJMU to the city, embodying our role as a modern civic university informing and developing the global citizens of tomorrow.
The lectures play an important part in the intellectual life of Merseyside, helping to foster informed debate, broadening horizons and upholding the crucial spirit of intellectual inquiry and free speech.
Previous guest speakers includeHRH Prince of Wales, The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Presidents of Ireland and Ghana, and Sir Brian Leveson, now Chancellor of LJMU.
LJMU has hosted passionate and informed debate from lawyers, religious and political leaders, astronomers, soldiers, poets, writers, scientists, musicians, journalists, doctors, scholars, survivors of crimes against humanity, campaigners, sports people and many others from diverse backgrounds.
By bringing these influential voices to the city of Liverpool LJMU aims to generate discussion and promote a sense of citizenship.
To register for a place visit: https://www.ljmu.ac.uk/about-us/events/roscoe-lecture-andrew-cayley
The Roscoe lectures are recorded and will be available to listen back to by visiting the LJMU SoundCloud channel: https://soundcloud.com/ljmu
