Plans to examine responsibility of the British government for the tragic events of the Great Famine
Fordham Law School
Irish Famine Tribunal to examine the responsibility of the British
Government, under international law, for the tragic consequences of this
period.
Photo by Fordham
The Irish Famine Tribunal, which plans to
examine the responsibility of the British government, under
international law, for the tragic events of this period of Irish
history, will be convened at Fordham Law School this weekend.
The
Tribunal, sponsored by the Irish Famine Tribunal Committee and the
Brehon Law Society, will consider whether the British role during the
Famine amounted to either genocide or a crime against humanity.
Prosecution and defense teams, including law students from Fordham Law
School and Dublin City University, will present their cases before an
international panel of judges.
This
panel will include Judge Fidelma Macken, recently retired from the
Supreme Court of Ireland and the first female judge to sit on the
European Court of Justice; Judge John Ingram, a renowned New York
Supreme Court judge who has presided over many high profile criminal
trials; and, Judge William Schabas, professor of international law at
Middlesex University in London, chairman of the Irish Centre for Human
Rights at the National University of Ireland Galway, and widely
considered the world’s leading authority on genocide.
They
will be joined by Tim Pat Coogan (“The Famine Plot: England's Role in
Ireland's Greatest Tragedy”) and John Kelly (“The Graves Are Walking:
The Great Famine and the Saga of the Irish People”), along with
historians Dr. Ciarán Ó Murchadha (“The Great Famine: Ireland's Agony
1845-1852”) and Dr. Ruan O’Donnell, Head of the Department of History at
the University of Limerick.
During
Irish Famine of 1845-1852 (also known as the Great Hunger or An Gorta
Mór) it is estimated that over one million people died, 2.5 million
emigrated within ten years, and almost 300,000 smallholdings
disappeared.
In 1997, then British
Prime Minister, Tony Blair stated that “[t]hose who governed in London
at the time failed their people through standing by while a crop failure
turned into a massive human tragedy.”
This tribunal plans to ask if that failure, however, give rise to liability under international criminal law?
Amongst the other questions that will be asked:
-
Were the repeated, devastating failures of the potato crop beyond the
power of any government, in the context of the time, to effectively
manage?
- Was Ireland particularly vulnerable to famine and, if so, why?
- What relief efforts were made?
- How responsive was the government in London to reports from relief officials in Ireland?
- How influential were laissez-faire and providentialist ideologies?
The
Irish Famine Tribunal will take place on Saturday, April 20th and
Sunday, April 21st at Fordham University Law School, NY. For more
information visit their Facebook page.
TRIBUNAL PROGRAM (Day 1)
Saturday, April 20, 2013
Saturday, April 20, 2013
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