Invitation
Presenter: Prof. Mia Swart, International Law, University of Johannesburg
Date: 19 June 2017 | Time: 12h30 – 13h30 | Venues: Pretoria, Durban and Cape Town
Eleven years since the 2006 conflict between Fatah and Hamas, Palestine remains deeply divided. Currently, the political will to make progress on the goals of national unity of national unity that existed at the time of the formation of the Government of National Consensus in June 2014 and the major reconciliation agreements between Gaza and the West Bank, seems to be almost entirely lacking.
The seminar will address the crisis of legitimacy in law-making in the West Bank and Gaza, the divided nature of legal and political institutions and the applicability of Transitional Justice mechanisms as a way to guide Palestine. Because of the stifling political factionalism that has paralysed legal and political reform in Palestine since 2007, there is an intense need for independent institutions. The impact of the inter-Palestinian conflict on the Israel-Palestine conflict will also be discussed.
Mia Swart is professor of International Law at the University of Johannesburg where she teaches the LLM course in international law. She focuses her research on the fields of transitional justice, international criminal law, and comparative constitutional law. The main focus of her research has been on judicial law-making in international law, reparations for human rights violations as well as international courts, the international judiciary and the regional promotion of the rule of law. She consulted for the United Nations Development Programme in Palestine in 2014 and 2015 and for Amnesty International in 2015 and 2015. Mia’s work has been cited by the International Criminal Court. She regularly contributes to local and international media.
Kindly RSVP by 15 June 2017
The HSRC seminar series is funded by the Department of Science and Technology (DST). The views and opinions expressed therein as well as findings and statements of the seminar series do not necessarily represent the views of DST.
Pretoria: HSRC Video Conference, 1st floor HSRC Library Human Sciences Research Council, 134 Pretorius Street, Pretoria. Arlene Grossberg, Tel: (012) 302 2811, e-mail: acgrossberg@hsrc.ac.za
Cape Town : HSRC, Merchant House 116-118 Buitengracht Street Cape Town, Cape Town. Contact: Jean Witten, Tel (021) 4668004, Fax (021) 461 0299, or JWitten@hsrc.ac.za
Durban : The Atrium, 5th Floor, 430 Peter Mokaba Ridge, Berea, 4001 , Contact Ridhwaan Khan, Tel (031) 242 5400, cell: 083 788 2786 or RKhan@hsrc.ac.za , or Hlengiwe Zulu at e-mail HZulu@hsrc.ac.za