Top
Skip to Content
LOGO(small) - Queen's University Belfast
  • Our x-twitter
LOGO(large) - Queen's University Belfast

The Senator George J. Mitchell Institute
For Global Peace, Security And Justice

  • Home
  • About us
  • Research and Impact
    • Research Areas
    • Research Impact
    • Publications
    • Digital Events & Public Engagement
    • Blogs
    • GFA25
  • Podcasts
    • Taliban Turbans and The Smartphone
    • Mitchell Institute Conversations Podcast
    • The Partition of Ireland: Causes and Consequences
    • Postgraduate MPod Podcast
  • People
    • Academic Staff
    • GRI Fellows
    • Research-Funded Posts
    • Visiting Scholars
    • Professors Emeriti
    • Honorary Professors
    • Honorary Professors of Practice
    • International Advisory Board
  • Study
    • LINAS Doctoral Training Programme
    • LINCS Doctoral Training Programme
    • MA Conflict Transformation and Social Justice
    • Previous Scholarships
  • News
  • Events
  • Annual Reviews
  • Policies
  • Contact us
  • Home
  • About us
  • Research and Impact
    • Research Areas
    • Research Impact
    • Publications
    • Digital Events & Public Engagement
    • Blogs
    • GFA25
  • Podcasts
    • Taliban Turbans and The Smartphone
    • Mitchell Institute Conversations Podcast
    • The Partition of Ireland: Causes and Consequences
    • Postgraduate MPod Podcast
  • People
    • Academic Staff
    • GRI Fellows
    • Research-Funded Posts
    • Visiting Scholars
    • Professors Emeriti
    • Honorary Professors
    • Honorary Professors of Practice
    • International Advisory Board
  • Study
    • LINAS Doctoral Training Programme
    • LINCS Doctoral Training Programme
    • MA Conflict Transformation and Social Justice
    • Previous Scholarships
  • News
  • Events
  • Annual Reviews
  • Policies
  • Contact us
  • Our x-twitter
In This Section
  • Home
  • About us
  • Research and Impact
  • Podcasts
  • People
  • Study
  • News
  • Events
  • Annual Reviews
  • Policies
  • Contact us

  • Home
  • News

News

Professor Louise Mallinder Delivers Inaugural Professorship Lecture

28 February, 2025

Does Customary international Law Prohibit Amnesties?

On 29 January 2025, Mitchell Institute Deputy Director, Professor Louise Mallinder, delivered her inaugural professorship lecture.  The lecture was entitled ‘Does Customary international Law Prohibit Amnesties?’.

In 2004, the Special Court of Sierra Leone observed that there was a ‘crystallising international norm that a government cannot grant amnesty for serious violations of crimes under international law’.  In this Lecture Louise examined whether, two decades years later, this international norm has indeed crystallised into a binding rule of customary international law.  Louise explored how we can identify if a purported norm is a customary international law rule and presented evidence drawn from Professor Mallinder’s newly updated Amnesties, Conflict and Peace Agreement Database, to document how states have engaged with this norm.  This empirical data demonstrated that there is little evidence that the anti-amnesty norm has attracted sufficiently widespread state support to be viewed as a customary international law norm.  Louise discussed what this enduring gap within the international legal framework means for politicians, peace mediators, and civil society groups seeking to ensure peaceful and stable transitions from mass violence.

This event was jointly hosted by the School of Law and the Mitchell Institute and chaired by Mitchell Institute Director Professor Richard English.

Watch the recording below:

 

Professor Louise Mallinder

Professor Mallinder is the Deputy Director and Theme Lead for Legacy at the Mitchell Institute. Louise is also Professor of Law at the School of Law at Queen’s University Belfast. Her research interests relate to the fields of international human rights law, international criminal law, and law and politics in political transitions.

 

Share
Latest News
  • Law, Policy and Practice in Sustaining Peace
    19 May, 2025
  • Professor Kieran McEvoy Takes Up Visiting Scholar Position at Harvard
    19 May, 2025
  • Election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
    16 May, 2025
  • Palestinian Bedouins and the Risk of Forced Displacement
    15 May, 2025
  • Reflections on Kharkiv
    14 May, 2025
The Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice
  • The Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice
  • Home
  • About us
  • Research and Impact
  • Podcasts
  • People
  • Study
  • News
  • Events
  • Annual Reviews
  • Policies
  • Contact us
QUB Logo
Contact Us

The Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice 

Queen's University Belfast
18-19 University Square
Belfast
United Kingdom
BT7 1NN

T: +44 (0) 28 9097 3609 / 1346 
E: mitchell.institute@qub.ac.uk

Quick Links

  • Home
  • Study
  • Research
  • Podcasts
  • Newsletter

Social Media

© Queen's University Belfast 2024
  • Privacy and cookies
  • Website accessibility
  • Freedom of information
  • Modern slavery statement
  • Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
  • University Policies and Procedures
Information
  • Privacy and cookies
  • Website accessibility
  • Freedom of information
  • Modern slavery statement
  • Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
  • University Policies and Procedures

© Queen's University Belfast 2024

Manage cookies