At its sixty-ninth session in 2017, the International Law Commission adopted, on first reading, the text of draft articles on Crimes against Humanity. Professor Sean Murphy, Associate member of Matrix Chambers, is the ILC’s Special Rapporteur on Crimes against Humanity and the principal author of the draft text. Joanna Buckley, member of Matrix Chambers, has been working with Professor Murphy on this project since 2016.
On Friday 9 March 2018, Matrix convened a workshop with a group of experts in international law for an in-depth discussion of those draft articles. The workshop was co-organised by Matrix, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and REDRESS. Sessions were chaired by Professor Sean Murphy, Hugo Relva (Amnesty International), Clive Baldwin (Human Rights Watch) and Rupert Skilbeck (REDRESS), with welcoming remarks by Alison Macdonald QC (Matrix Chambers).
The draft articles have been submitted to the General Assembly of the United Nations for comment and the ILC will consider them again during its session in 2019. Once completed, the draft articles may serve as the basis for a Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Crimes against Humanity.