Assoc Prof Gideon Boas - Researcher Profile

Gideon Boas

Address

Faculty of Law
PO Box 12, Clayton

Contact Details

Tel: +61 3 990 51107

Email: Gideon.Boas@monash.edu


Biography

Role for Australia in pursuing war crimes justice

More than 2000 war criminals could be living in Australia under concealed identities.
Leading international criminal law expert Dr Gideon Boas says there is credible evidence to suggest the presence here of war criminals from Cambodia, Somalia, the Sudan and other countries. The issue is gaining a higher public profile and pressure is mounting on the Australian Government to take action.

The research that Gideon is undertaking, through a Monash Research Accelerator Grant, will address government policy and responses on the issue of war crimes and what to do with war criminals who are living in this country. He says it is an issue of concern to many countries and several international participants will be involved in the project. International legal experts, journalists, political scientists and Australian Government representatives will also be involved.

“How can Australia identify these people, how they live here and the impact they have on the communities in which they live? How do we address these problems?” he asks. He will examine Australia’s existing legislation and investigative framework with the Australian Federal Police and make recommendations for changes.

This project is one of four Gideon is working on. They all centre on war crimes, the international community’s response to war crimes, as well as laws relating to genocide, crimes against humanity and massive human rights violations.

“The international community’s response to war crimes is a critical aspect of the global legal system and relations between nations. I’ll be asking questions about how the international community addresses ruptures within and between nations and unspeakable crimes committed against innocent people,” he says.

Before joining Monash, Gideon worked as a senior legal officer at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. He was responsible for the legal team in the case against the former Serbian President, Slobodan Miloševic. Using the trial as a prism to examine issues, he completed his doctorate on complex international criminal proceedings. His book, The Milosevic Trial, is widely regarded as a seminal work on the issue.

“Since Australia’s fraught attempt in the 1980s to prosecute Nazi war criminals, we have almost turned the tap off in terms of interest and resources in relation to this issue. Increasing terrorist threats connected with our involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan mean we must examine legitimate terrorist threats, our current counter-terrorism measures and the implications for our civil liberties.

“Australia cannot say to the world it wants to be part of an enlightened community and take a seat on the UN Security Council if we don’t address our internal human rights issues and the presence of war criminals here. Like us, the international community looks on and is aware of what we need to address.”

He is organising a major multidisciplinary symposium to be held in June 2011 at Monash University Law Chambers. Experts from around the world will examine international criminal justice from legal, historical, sociological, political and psychological perspectives to answer questions about the coherence and legitimacy of international criminal justice.

During the next three years he expects to complete two books of edited essays and an authoritative monograph on international criminal justice. He is also preparing policy papers to address legal issues relating to war crimes and criminal justice. His work will include an online bibliography featuring thousands of publications about the international criminal justice system, accessible from the Monash Law Faculty research page. A second online bibliography will list resources on the issue of war criminals in Australia.

Research & Supervision Interests

    Comparative Law

    Criminal Law

    Criminal Procedure/Criminal Justice

    Human Rights

    International Human Rights Law

    International Law

Keywords

human rights law, comparative criminal law procedure, extradition, complex litigation, international public law, international criminal law and justice, international humanitarian law

Qualifications

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY - LAW
Institution: The University of Melbourne
Year awarded: 2007
MASTER OF LAWS
Institution: The Unviersity of Melbourne
Year awarded: 2001

Publications

Books

Boas, G.J., Schabas, W., Scharf, M.P. (eds), 2012, International Criminal Justice: Legitimacy and Coherence, Edward Elgar, UK.

Boas, G.J., 2012, Public International Law: Contemporary Principles and Perspectives, Edward Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham UK.

Boas, G., Bischoff, J., Reid, N., Taylor, B., 2011, International Criminal Law Practitioner Library: Volume III, International Criminal Procedure, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge UK.

Boas, G.J., Bischoff, J.L., Reid, N., 2008, International Criminal Law Practitioner Library - Volume II: Elements of Crimes Under International Law, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge UK.

Boas, G.J., Bischoff, J.L., Reid, N.L., 2007, Forms of Responsibility in International Criminal Law, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge United Kingdom.

Boas, G.J., 2007, The Milocevic Trial: Lessons for the Conduct of Complex Internatonal Criminal Proceedings, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge United Kingdom.

Abtahi, H., Boas, G.J. (eds), 2006, The Dynamics of International Criminal Justice: Essays in Honour of Sir Richard May, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, The Netherlands.

Boas, G.J., Schabas, W.A. (eds), 2003, International Criminal Law: Developments in the Case Law of the ICTY, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, The Netherlands.

Book Chapters

Boas, G.J., 2012, What is international criminal justice?, in International Criminal Justice: Legitimacy and Coherence, eds Gideon Boas, William A. Schabas and Michael P. Scharf, Edward Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham UK, pp. 1-24.

Boas, G., 2011, Command responsibility for the failure to stop atrocities: the legacy of the Tokyo Trial, in Beyond Victor's Justice? The Tokyo War Crimes Trial Revisited, eds Yuki Tanaka, Tim McCormack and Gerry Simpson, Martinus Nijhoff, Leiden The Netherlands, pp. 163-173.

Boas, G., 2010, Contempt, false testimony and misconduct, in Annotated Leading Cases of International Criminal Tribunals: The Special Court for Sierra Leone 2004-2006, eds Andre Klip, Goran Sluiter, Intersentia Publishing, Antwerp, Belgium, pp. 676-682.

Boas, G., 2010, Omission liability at the International Criminal Tribunals - a case for reform, in Judicial Creativity at the International Criminal Tribunals, eds Shane Darcy, Joseph Powderly, Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK, pp. 204-226.

Boas, G., 2010, The difficulty with individual criminal responsibility in international criminal law, in Future Prespectives on International Criminal Justice, eds Carsten Stahn, Larissa van den Herik, TMC Asser Press, The Hague, The Netherlands, pp. 501-519.

Boas, G.J., 2009, The case for a new appellate jurisdiction for international criminal law, in International Criminal Procedure: Towards a Coherent Body of Law, eds Goran Sluiter, Sergey Vasiliev, CMP Publishing, United Kingdom, pp. 407-444.

Boas, G.J., 2006, The Right to Self-Representation in International and Domestic Criminal Law-Limitations and Qualifications on that Right, in The Dynamics of International Criminal Justice: Essays in Honour of Sir Richard May, eds Hirad Abtahi and Gideon Boas, Martinus Nijhoff, The Netherlands, pp. 39-94.

Boas, G.J., 2004, A Code of Evidence and Procedure for International Criminal Law? The Rules of the ICTY, in International Criminal Law Developments in the Case Law of the ICTY, eds Gideon Boas and William A. Schabas, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, The Netherlands, pp. 1-33.

Journal Articles

Chifflet, P.C., Boas, G.J., 2012, Sentencing coherence in international criminal law: the cases of Biljana Plavsic and Miroslav Bralo, Criminal Law Forum [P], vol 23, Springer, Dordrecht Netherlands, pp. 135-159.

Boas, G., 2011, Self-representation before the ICTY: a case for reform, Journal of International Criminal Justice [E], vol 9, issue 1, Oxford University Press, Oxford UK, pp. 53-83.

Boas, G., 2010, War crimes prosecutions in Australia and other common law countries: some observations, Criminal Law Forum [P], vol 21, issue 2, Springer Netherlands, The Netherlands, pp. 313-330.

Boas, G.J., 2009, Moving from Milosovic, The European Lawyer [P], issue 75, The European Lawyer, UK, pp. 54-56.

Boas, G.J., 2009, Trying tyrants for mass atrocity, Alternative Law Journal [P], vol 34, issue 2, Legal Services Bulletin Co-opeative Ltd, Melbourne, VIC, Australia, pp. 107-110.

Boas, G.J., McCormack, T.L., 2008, Learning the lessons of the Milosevic trial, Yearbook of International Humanitarian Law, vol 2006, issue 9, TMC Asser Press, The Hague, The Netherlands, pp. 65-85.

Boas, G.J., 2004, An Overview of Implementation by Australia of the Statute of the International Criminal Court, Journal of International Criminal Justice, vol 2, issue March, Oxford University Press, Oxford UK, pp. 179-190.

Boas, G.J., 2003, 'Introduction' to Special Edition on Sentencing, Leiden Journal of International Law, vol 16, issue 4, Cambridge Journals On-line and The Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies, Leiden University, The Hague, The Netherlands, pp. 715-716.

Teaching Commitment

International humanitarian law (LAW7218)

International criminal justice (LAW7286)

Grants

Title:
International Criminal Justice: Law, Policy and its Relevance to Australia s security.
Investigators:
Boas, G, Schabas, W, Scharf, M
Funding:
(2010 - 2013). Monash University.
(2010 - 2014). Australian Research Council (ARC).
Title:
Australia's Post World War II War Trials: A systemic and comprehensive Law Reports series.
Investigators:
Boas, G, McCormack, T
Funding:
(2008 - 2012). Australian Research Council (ARC).

Postgraduate Research Supervisions

Current Supervision

Program of Study:
(DOCTORATE BY RESEARCH).
Thesis Title:
Ambiguities Regarding the Prerequisites for the Exercise of Self-Defence.
Supervisors:
Boas, G (Main).
Program of Study:
(DOCTORATE BY RESEARCH).
Thesis Title:
From Milosevic to Guantanamo Bay: an analysis of the construction of the due process norm in the enforcement of International Humanitarian Law.
Supervisors:
Boas, G (Main).
Program of Study:
(DOCTORATE BY RESEARCH).
Thesis Title:
Silent political intrusions to the Rome Statute of ICC: Major threat that may impede Indonesia?.
Supervisors:
Boas, G (Main).
Program of Study:
(DOCTORATE BY RESEARCH).
Thesis Title:
The paradox of legal responsibility: the application of corporate criminal liability to the state.
Supervisors:
Boas, G (Main).
Program of Study:
(DOCTORATE BY RESEARCH).
Thesis Title:
Women, War and Gender-Based Violence: Conceptualising Linkages between the Use of Propaganda in Mass Gender Atrocities and Forms of Individual Criminal Responsibility for Prosecution of Superiors.
Supervisors:
Boas, G (Main).

Completed Supervision

Student:
Eburn, M.
Program of Study:
Australia's international disaster response - laws, rules and principles. (PHD) 2009.
Supervisors:
Boas, G (Main), Mcsherry, B (Associate).