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Sharon Weill

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Sharon Weill

Associate Professor

  • Department: History and Politics
  • Graduate Program(s): International Affairs, International Affairs, Conflict Resolution and Civil Society Development, Diplomacy and International Law
  • Office: 
    G-L18
  • Office Hours: 
    By appointment

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Professor of International Law, Sharon Weill joined The American University of Paris in 2018, where she directs the Justice Lab. In 2022, she was nominated as a Research Associate at the Centre for Comparative Law & the Internationalization of Law at Sorbonne University. Alongside these roles, she teaches at the master’s programs of Sciences Po Paris and Paris II University. She holds a PhD from the Law Faculty of the University of Geneva (2012), and her postdoctoral research was conducted at the Center for the Study of Law and Society, University of California, Berkeley (2015-2016). She is a member of the Law and Society Association (LSA), the Onati Center for Socio-Legal Studies and the International Law Association (ILA).

In addition to her academic work, she served as an expert member of the French National Consultative Commission for Human Rights (CNCDH) (2018-2021) and as a judge in the French Asylum Court (UNHCR nomination, 2019-2022).

Her research focuses on the relationship between law, conflicts, and the role of courts - topics on which she has published numerous articles, chapters and books. Her method combines legal doctrine with socio-political approaches including trial ethnography.  

Since 2017, she has been co directing empirical research within the French terrorism courts with a multidisciplinary research team for Mission Droit et Justice (CNRS/Ministry of Justice). In 2022, Professor Weill got a second grant to co-direct two-year multidisciplinary empirical research on French Asylum courts. Prior to that, she led research projects on the hybrid court in Senegal (Berkeley-France Foundation), the Guantanamo military commissions, and the Israeli military courts in the Occupied Palestinian territories (funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation). Additionally, she held positions as a visiting research fellow in the ERC project 'Security in Transition' under the guidance of Professor Mary Kaldor at LSE and served as a research fellow at the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian and Human Rights Law for several years.

She is the author of the monograph The Role of National Courts in Applying International Humanitarian Law (Oxford University Press, 2014) and co-editor of the book Prosecuting the President - The Trial of Hissène Habré (Oxford University Press, 2020). Currently she is working on her third book Terror on trial: An Ethnography of French Court (under contract with Cambridge Series in Law and Society, forthcoming).



Education/Degrees

Sharon Weill received her PhD in international law from the University of Geneva in 2012.

News

Publications

Books

  • Terror on Trial: An Ethnography of French Courts (under contract with Cambridge Studies in Law and Society, forthcoming )
  • The President on Trial: Prosecuting Hissène Habré, edited by Sharon Weill, Kim Thuy Seelinger and Kerstin Carlson (Oxford University Press, 2020).

Book reviews were published in the Law and Society Review (by Alexa Koenig, February 2021), the Journal of International Criminal Justice (by Alex Whiting, June 2021), the International Criminal Law Review (by Valérie Arnould, July 2021) and the International Review of the Red Cross Review (by Charlotte Moher, in May 2022).

  • The Role of National Courts in Applying International Humanitarian Law (Oxford University Press, 2014).

The book was reviewed by Shane Darcy in the International Review of the Red Cross (2015), Kreiger in the German Yearbook of International law (2015) and Manuel Ventura in the Journal of International Criminal Justice (2016).


Peer Reviewed Articles

 

Book Chapters

  • "The French Bataclan trial: A new paradigm for the prosecution of mass crimes trials? " in  Frédéric Mégret, Damien Scalia & Marie-Laurence Hébert Dolbec (eds), Mass Trials for Mass Crimes (Routledge, 2024).
  • “Engagement of Domestic Courts with International Humanitarian Law” in Y. Shany et al (eds),  Engagement of Domestic Courts with International Law (Oxford University Press, 2024).
  • "Punishment in French Terrorism Trials: The Impact of the Trial's Protagonists" in Róisín Mulgrew and Mikkel J. Christenden (eds), Research Handbook on the Punishment of Atrocity Crimes (Elgar, 2024).
  • "The War on Terror and Law: Hybridization and Radicalization" (with A Megie and EP Guittet) in Mathias Delori and Christian Olsson (eds), The French War on Terror (Routledge, 2024).
  • “Military Courts and Terrorism: The 9/11 Trial before the Guantanamo Bay Military Jurisdiction”, in B. Saul, Research Handbook on International Law and Terrorism (Edward Elgar, 2020).
  • “The Situation of Palestine in Wonderland: An Investigation into ICC’s Impact in Israel", in C. Stahn and M. Bergsmo (eds) Quality Control in Preliminary Examination: Reviewing Impact, Policies and Practices (Torkel Opsahl Academic EPublisher, 2018).
  • “Arguing Civilian Rights and IHL Standards in National Courts” in Mark Lattimer and Philip Sands (eds) The Grey Zone: Civilian Protection Between Human Rights and the Laws of War (Hart/Bloomsbury, 2018).
  • “The Administration of Justice through Military Tribunals: The Decaux Principles and the Military Commissions in Guantanamo Bay” (with M. Robinson) in Olivier de Frouville et al (eds), Source et regimes du droit international des droit de l’Homme - Melange a l’honneur de Pr Emmanuel Decaux (Paris, Pedone, 2017). 
  • “Communication with the Outside World” in A. Clapham, M. Sassoli and P. Gaeta (eds), A Commentary to the Geneva Conventions (Oxford University Press, 2015).
  • “The 2014 Gaza War: Reflections on Jus ad Bellum, Jus in Bello and Accountability” (with V. Azarova) in A. Bellal (ed), The War Report 2014 (Oxford University Press, 2015). 
  • “The Use of Weapons under International Humanitarian Law” (with S. Casey-Maslen) in S. Casey-Maslen (ed), Weapons under International Human Rights Law (Cambridge University Press, 2014).
  • “The Investigation Mechanism of Torture Claims in Israel: An Analysis of the 2012 GSS Investigation Decision and the Türkel Report”, in Stuart Melsen (ed), The War Report 2012 (Oxford University Press, 2013).
  • “Israel Palestine - International law updates”, in N. Erakat and M. Rabbani (eds) Aborted State? The UN Initiative and New Palestinian Junctures (Washington, Tadween Publishing, 2013).
  • “The Follow up to the Goldstone Report in Israel and Beyond” in C. Meloni and G. Tognoni (eds), Is There A Court for Gaza?- A Test Bench for International Justice (Asser/Springer, The Hague, 2012).
  • “National War Crimes Prosecution in Post-Conflict Era and Pluralism of Jurisdictions: the Experience of the Belgrade War Crimes Chamber” (with Ivan Jovanovic) in A. Nollkaemper (ed.), Importing International Law in Post-Conflict States: The Role of Domestic Courts (Intersentia, Antwerp, 2012). 
  • “Reframing the Legality of the Israeli Military Courts –Military Occupation or Apartheid?” in A. Baker & A. Matar (eds), Threat - Palestinian Political Prisoners in Israel (Pluto Press, London, 2011).


Reports

  • “Les filieres djihadistes en process: Approche ethnographique des audiences criminelles et correctionnelles (2017-2019)” (“Jihadist networks on Trial: An Ethnographic Approach to Criminal Trials (2017-2019”): Report for the French Ministry of Justice co-authored with Christiane Besnier (anthropologist), Antoine Mégie (sociologist) and Denis Salas (judge). The report is the result of 36 months of empirical research in court. It was published on the Ministry’s website in March 2020 (GIP/CNRS): http://www.gip-recherche-justice.fr/publication/etude-pluridisciplinaire-de-lactivite-de-la-cour-dassises-competente-pour-les-affaires-de-terrorisme-2017-2019/.
  • French counter-terrorism: Administrative and Penal Avenues - Report prepared for the official visit of the UN Special Rapporteur on CounterTerrorism and Human Rights (May 2018). The report was cited in the report of the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism: A/HRC/40/52/Add.4 (8 May 2019, note 50)
  • "Côte d’ivoire: De la crise post-électorale à la construction d’un État de droit : la nécessaire réforme de la justice militaire", Report for the Fédération Internationale des Droits de L’Homme - FIDH, September 2015. 
  • “Shielded From Accountability - Israel's Unwillingness to Investigate and Prosecute International Crimes”, Report for the Fédération Internationale des Droits de L’Homme - FIDH, September 2011.
  • Ce que change l’adhésion de la Palestine à la Cour pénale internationale, Les incertitudes d'une justice inégalitaire, Magazine ORIENT XXI, Janvier 2015
  • Fausse impartialité de la Haute Cour de justice israélienne, La Légitimation du Mur, Magazine ORIENT XXI, Juillet 2014
  • “Israël, le tribunal Russell contre l’impunité”, Le blog du Monde Diplomatique, January 2013 
  • “La Cour pénale internationale en question”, Le blog du Monde Diplomatique, August 2011
  • “De Gaza à Madrid, l’assassinat ciblé de Salah Shehadeh”, Le Monde Diplomatique, September 2009
  • Borders, Documentary film, 52 minutes – Available at the médiathèque of the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Genève. The film was aired several times on the French TV Channel Public Senat (La chaîne parlementaire) in August 2008.
  • French counter-terrorism: Administrative and Penal Avenues - Report prepared for the official visit of the UN Special Rapporteur on Counter-Terrorism and Human Rights (May 2018.
  • "Côte d’ivoire: De la crise post-électorale à la construction d’un État de droit : la nécessaire réforme de la justice militaire", Report for the Fédération Internationale des Droits de L’Homme - FIDH, September 2015. 
  • “Shielded From Accountability - Israel's Unwillingness to Investigate and Prosecute International Crimes”, Report for the Fédération Internationale des Droits de L’Homme - FIDH, September 2011.
  • Ce que change l’adhésion de la Palestine à la Cour pénale internationale, Les incertitudes d'une justice inégalitaire, Magazine ORIENT XXI, Janvier 2015
  • Fausse impartialité de la Haute Cour de justice israélienne, La Légitimation du Mur, Magazine ORIENT XXI, Juillet 2014
  • “Israël, le tribunal Russell contre l’impunité”, Le blog du Monde Diplomatique, January 2013 
  • “La Cour pénale internationale en question”, Le blog du Monde Diplomatique, August 2011
  • “De Gaza à Madrid, l’assassinat ciblé de Salah Shehadeh”, Le Monde Diplomatique, September 2009
  • Borders, Documentary film, 52 minutes – Available at the médiathèque of the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Genève. The film was aired several times on the French TV Channel Public Senat (La chaîne parlementaire) in August 2008.

Media

Conferences & Lectures

2023

  • Invited speaker at the international workshop and public round table “Protection and Justice in Times of Counter-Terrorism: Insights from France and the UK”, with the participation of practitioners and academics, King’s College London (UK, 7-8 Sept 2023).
  • "The French Bataclan Trial: What are the Lessons for the Prosecution of Mass Crimes? ", Research Seminar, The Centre for Human Rights in Africa, the University of Pretoria, South Africa, 21 February 2023/ The Geneva Academy, University of Geneva, 23 March 2023/ The Centre for Human Rights, University College Dublin, 26 October 2023
  • “The Special Jurisdiction for Peace in Colombia: What Innovations for ICL?”, paper presentation at the International Research Conference “Latin America's Contribution to the Development of a Common Law”, Cidade Universitária, São Paulo, Brazil (Online, 30-31 Oct 2023)
  • Participation in the round table “Restorative Justice: The Colombian Model”, organized by the Colombian French Jurists Association. With the participation of key actors from the restorative process at the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (Paris Bar Association, 17 Oct 2023).
  • Invited speaker at the seminar “Justice et War: Contemporary/Post Civil Wars: Laboratories for the Reconfiguration of Law and Politics? The case of Afghanistan and Colombia”, The Institute for Research on Law and Justice (Paris, 14 Sept 2023).
  • Presented a paper at the international workshop “Toolkits and Standards in Transitional Justice: Consolidation, Innovation and Implications”, Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá (Colombia, 15-16 Feb. 2023).

2022

  • The Bataclan Trial seen by the social sciences: An ethnographic and multidisciplinary approach (organizer of the conference); paper presentation: “Poursuivre les crimes de masses. Le procès V13 comme expérimentation judiciaire”), Sciences po Paris, Nov 10th 2022 https://www.sciencespo.fr/centre-etudes-europeennes/fr/node/38358.html
  • “The French Bataclan Trial: What are the Lessons for the Prosecution of Mass Crimes?”, Lecture at the Oxford Center for Socio-Legal Studies (CSLS Socio-Legal Seminar Series), Nov 7, 2022 https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/content/event/french-bataclan-trial-what-are-lessons-prosecution-mass-crimes-ethnographic-account
  • “Local courts as Global Actors”, Law and Society Global Conference, Lisbon, July 2022
  • Presentation of a paper in the international workshop “Empirical research with judicial professionals and courts: Methods and practices" organized by the International Institute for the Sociology of Law (Onati, Spain, 23-24 June 2022).
  • Presentation of a paper “Slow Justice: The French Bataclan trial as a new paradigm?” in the international conference The McDonaldization of justice and the disappearance of fair trial conference, 11th Conference on the future of adversarial and inquisitorial systems (Warwick University, 19-21 May 2022).
  • Presentation of a paper “Lower courts and judicialization: The New Transnational Players”, in the international conference “Sociological Perspectives on International Economic Law and Human Rights Law” (EUI, Florence, 12-13 May 2022).
  • Seminar, “The transformation of the terror trial in the era of transnational jihadism: What can we learn from the French Bataclan trial for the prosecution of mass crimes?”, International Law Forum, Law faculty (Hebrew university, Jerusalem, 11 April 2022)
  • Terrorism on Trial: Insights from the French Bataclan trial and beyond (Sciences Po, 6 April 2022) available online: https://www.sciencespo.fr/psia/headlines-events/terrorism-trial.html

2021

  • Invited to a round table discussion at the conference « Comprendre et juger, le démocratie face au djihadism ».  Title of the presentation: “La transformation des procès pénaux à l’ère du terrorisme djihadiste”, CERI, Sciences-Po, 23 November 2021.
  • Invited speaker at the seminar held at the French Supreme Court/ Cour de Cassation : “ La justice pénale internationale : quelle perception mémorielle ?”, Séminaire à la Cour de Cassation, Cycle 2021 - La justice entre mémoire et oubli, 27 septembre 2021   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIWcWQz4XSM
  • “The Inter/National tracks of judicialization”, paper presented in the Annual Conference of the Socio-Legal Studies Association- SLSA (with S Dezalay), Online, March 2021.
  • “The Role of Courts in the War on Terror”, paper presented in the Law and Society Annual Conference, ONLINE, May 2021.
  • Participation and book presentation at the International Symposium “Mass trials for Mass violence? 75 Years after Nuremberg”, Université libre de Bruxelles and McGill University (Brussels, 4-5 October 2021).
  • Book talk: “The President on Trial Prosecuting Hissène Habré”:
    • Faculty of Laws, UCL, London (March 2022)
    • School of Law, The Queens University, Belfast, Northern Ireland (Zoom, May 2022)
    • Round table and book presentation with a panel of international lawyers, Human Rights Institute, Columbia Law School (Zoom, Oct 2021).
    • Centre for Conflict, Security and Societies, Cardiff University, UK (Zoom, Feb 2021)
    • “Victims Rights: What Justice for Victims of International Crimes?”, Round table and book presentation PSIA, Sciences Po, (Zoom, February 2021)

2020

  • I organized the launch of our research report in “Jihadists on Trial: an Ethnographic Study at the French Assize Court (2017-2019)”, an interdisciplinary colloquium with the participation of judicial actors including the French Counter-terrorism Prosecutor, President of the Assizes Criminal Court, a counter-terrorism investigative judge and a defense lawyer (CERI, Sciences po, March, 2020). The program is available at https://www.sciencespo.fr/agenda/ceri/fr?event=1953
  • Terror in Court: Transnational Jihadism and the Fabrication of its Judges. Talk by Sharon Weill at the Center for Socio-Legal Studies, Oxford University, UK (30 January 2020). https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/events/terror-court-transnational-jihadism-and-fabrication-its-judges-ethnography-french-criminal

2019

  •  "Is International Criminal Justice "Model" Justice?" The American University of Paris, October 17, 2019 | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ButXTSX-3Fw&feature=youtu.be
  • Law and Society Annual Conference, Washington DC, June 2019: organizing a panel “Terror, Rights, and Belonging: Dignity before the Law and Courts” and presenting a paper “Terror in Courts: The Radicalization of French Actors and Law”.
  • Cardiff Centre of Law and Society Annual Conference “Wars on law, wars through law? Reflections on the past and the present of the War on terror,” invited to present a paper on French trials of foreign fighters, Cardiff University, UK, May 2019.
  • Trial Watch Conference, The Clooney Foundation, Colombia University, NYC, April 2019. participation in a closed workshop with George and Amal Clooney who launched their Trial Watch project.

2018

  • International Workshop “Countering Extremism: Now What?”, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Singapore September 2018. Particiapting in the panel on “Extremists in Detention”.
  • International colloquium “Intelligence, Transnational Activities and National Security in France and Europe: Transnationalisation, Oversight th Role of Courts”, CERI, Sciences Po, September 2018. Title of presentation: “Security Services Representation in Trials.”
  • “French Counterterrorism Practices: Criminal and Administrative Avenues- A talk by Sharon Weill,” PILAC, Harvard Law School (Boston, April 2018).
  • “The Hissene Habré Trial, National Courts and the Future of International Criminal Justice,” – presentation in the conference entitled The Trial of Hissene Habré, a turning point in African and International justice? (Dakar, February 2018).
  • “ICC Preliminary Examination and the Situation of Palestine,” paper presented in the international conference Quality Control in Preliminary Examination, organized by the Center for International Law Research and Policy (International Court of Justice, The Hague, June 2017). 

2017-2016 (selected conferences)

  • “The Military Trials in Guantanamo Bay,” paper presented in the conference The Act of Judging Facing the Turmoil of History (The French National School of Magistrates - ENM, November 2017).
  • “Generating Respect for IH: an African perspective,” invited speaker in the round table organized at the bi-annual conference of the International Law Association (Johannesburg, August 2016).
  • “Transnational lawyering: The Guantanamo trials and beyond”, paper presented in the international workshop: The emerging transnational criminal law at iCourt - The Danish National Research Foundation’s Centre of Excellence for International Courts (University of Copenhagen, May 2016).
  • “Should and Will Guantanamo Close?”, public seminar with the participation of academics and high-level officials (co-organizer and speaker), University of California (Berkeley, April 2016)
  • “Stopping War Crimes Before They Happen: Preventing Violations of the Law in Armed Conflict,” roundtable and launch of the International Review of the Red Cross on generating respect for IHL (organizer and speaker), University of California (Berkeley, March 2016).
  • “The Role of Domestic Courts during Armed Conflicts: Generating Respect for International Humanitarian law,” paper presentation at 10th anniversary conference of the European Society for International law (Vienna, October 2014).

Affiliations

  • CERI, Sciences Po: Associated researcher
  • Law and Society Association (LSA)
  • International Studies Association (ISA)
  • European Society of International law (ESIL)
  • International Law Association (ILA)

Research Areas

  • Socio legal approaches for the study of trials and courts
  • Military and criminal justice, counter terrorism trials, the role of lawyers.
  • The relationship between international and domestic law
  • The politics of international law.
  • International law applicable to armed conflicts, military occupation; targeted killings, the war on terror.
  • Human rights, UN protection mechanisms; international criminal law and courts.
  • Asylum courts