Jeremy Sarkin
Biographic Data
| ID | 260300 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Jeremy Sarkin |
| GIVEN NAMES | Jeremy |
| FAMILY NAME | Sarkin |
| SIGNATURE | SARKIN J |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Lisbon |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-9424-6874 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 47 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 25 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 47 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1993 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
From Weapons to Watchdogs: Reimagining AI-Enabled Drones as Tools For Peace and Civilian Protection in UN Peacekeeping Operations
This article examines how Artificial Intelligence (AI)-enabled drones can be legally and operationally used in UN peacekeeping operations. It challenges the dominant, risk-focused narrative surrounding military AI, which casts drones primarily as weapons. It proposes an alternative framing: reimagining non-lethal, AI-enabled drones as ‘protective infrastructure’ for civilian protection. The core argument is that the lawful and legitimate use of t…
Decolonising migration law and border security in Israel: The intersectional and colonial impact of the Prevention of Infiltration Law
Around the world, so-called migration crises often mask severe human rights violations resulting from domestic laws and border securitisation policies. Abuses occur along numerous routes taken by migrants and refugees. This article argues that these routes, as well as the laws and policies governing them, require greater scrutiny to understand their impact on those seeking refuge. In this context, this qualitative research paper focuses on Israel…
Balancing Retributive and Restorative Justice Processes at the National Level: Addressing Violence Against Refugees and Asylum-seekers in Uganda
This interdisciplinary qualitative research on Uganda combines an empirical approach with an analysis of theoretical studies. It argues that the retributive-oriented state justice system should take a more hybrid approach by absorbing the restorative method of traditional justice systems arbitrated by community leaders to improve the way sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) cases of refugees and asylum-seekers are addressed. The goal is to exa…
Why the International Criminal Court Should Apply Restorative Justice and Transitional Justice Principles to Improve the Impact of Its Criminal Trials on Societies around the World
Both restorative and transitional justice have increasingly been applied in transitional settings to overcome the insufficient role that criminal trials have played. Using restorative justice was supposedly incorporated into the International Criminal Court (ICC) processes to overcome the so-called justice versus peace dilemma, that is, the choice between punishment or contributing to peacebuilding and preventing their reoccurrence. However, this…
The politics of vulnerability: Asylum-seeking women and EU migration policy in Greece
Issues concerning refugees and asylum-seekers are very much on the minds of law and policy-makers worldwide. This article seeks to understand the way the concept of vulnerability is used in forced migration in the European Union. It does so by examining the experience of women asylum-seekers in Greece, to assess their vulnerability, especially regarding the social–legal–economical conditions that favour the commission of sexual and gender-based v…
The role of the European Union’s securitisation policies in exacerbating the intersectional vulnerability of refugees and asylum seekers
Gender and migration: A continuum of gender-based violence echoing across the Sinai Desert and into Israel
Gender-based violence (GBV) is widespread globally and is based on social roles. These social roles represent society’s expectations of men and women carrying out stereotyped functions and behaviours. These gendered social expectations vary across culture, space and time. Drawing from an empirical study in Israel and building on the previous literature on these issues, this qualitative and interdisciplinary article identifies various forms of GBV…
Reaching for both justice and peace in Colombia: Understanding the Special Jurisdiction for Peace’s mixed approach (using both retributive and restorative justice) to deal with international crimes
In the wake of the five-decade-long armed conflict in Colombia, the Comprehensive System of Truth, Justice, Reparation, and Non-Repetition was created as an ambitious system to deal with past crimes. It aims at engaging with all the pillars of transitional justice to ensure long-lasting peace and stability. Within this system, the Special Jurisdiction for Peace is tasked with delivering justice, while contributing to securing reconciliation and p…
Will the International Criminal Court (icc) Be Able to Secure the Arrest of Vladimir Putin When He Travels: Understanding State Cooperation Through Other icc Non-Arrest Cases Against Malawi, Chad, Nig…
The arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court ( icc ) in March 2023 against Russian President Vladimir Putin for crimes committed in Ukraine is one of the most momentous cases taken up by the Court. As Putin is unlikely to be arrested in Russia, the only way that he may be arrested and surrendered to the Court is if he travels to another state, particularly one that is a member of the icc , which would then have obligations to arr…
Law and State Practice in Armenia: Dealing with the Issues Concerning the Search, Exhumation and Identification of Missing Persons in Conflict Zones
This article deals with missing persons in Armenia. So far around 5,000 people from all sides in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict have been reported as having gone missing. This article contextualises the democratic and human rights situation in Armenia and argues that if progress is to occur, there needs to be a coordinating mechanism involving all conflict parties to search, recover, and identify the missing. One sign of progress is that a new Com…
Introduction: Understanding How the Historical, Democratic and Human Rights Contexts of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia Affect the Search, Exhumation, and Identification of Conflict-Related Missing P…
This article introduces the Special Section dealing with conflict related missing persons in Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia. It examines the context to the conflicts in the region and brings to the fore the fact that the breakup of the Soviet Union has had a massive legacy in terms of the conflicts it spawned, over identity matters and various territorial claims, and how that vestige lingers today. The article examines why the three countries a…
Law and State Practice in Georgia: Dealing with the Issues Concerning the Search, Exhumation and Identification of Missing Persons in Conflict Zones
This article deals with the issues associated with missing persons in Georgia, which are deeply interrelated with the conflicts over the disputed territories of Abkhazia since 1992 and South Ossetia from 1991. The article examines the historical, democratic, and human rights context of these issues in Georgia to understand the situation in the country and its effects on how the missing are dealt with. The article deals with the various processes …
Law and State Practice in Azerbaijan: Dealing with the Issues Concerning the Search, Exhumation and Identification of Missing Persons in Conflict Zones
This article deals with missing persons in Azerbaijan. The issue of missing persons occurred because of the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the Nagorno- Karabakh region. About 5,000 people from all sides were reported as having gone missing by 2020. This article firstly contextualises the democratic and human rights situation in Azerbaijan since independence to understand the backdrop to the issues and why little progress has been ma…
Reforming the International Court of Justice to Deal with State Responsibility for Conflict and Human Rights Violations
The world has experienced numerous armed conflicts and violations of human rights arising from conflicts. However, many millions of human rights abuses have occurred outside of conflict. These have been on the rise over the last fifteen years. This article enquires why the International Court of Justice ( icj ) has not played the role it could have over the last seventy-five years. This is done with reference to the use of force by the Russian Fe…
The Need for a New Paradigm in International Law to Provide International Protection: Learning the Lessons from Past Processes and Designing a Mechanism to Assist Victims of Arbitrary Detentions and E…
Too little is provided, not only in international law, but also by the United Nations, for victims around the world. This article therefore argues that a new paradigm is needed. It uses the conflict in Syria since 2011, specifically focusing on how enforced disappearances and arbitrary detentions have been used, to examine these questions. It has been reported that at least 150,000 people have been affected by these practices, but the number may …
Understanding South Africa’s Changing Positions on International Criminal Justice: Why the country wanted to withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC) and why it may remain in the ICC for t…
1 This article examines why the South African Government decided to withdraw from the Rome Statute for the ICC in 2016. South Africa’s history with international law and international justice are examined to indicate how these matters over time reflect South Africa’s political history and political developments. The next section of the article examines the role the United Nations Security Council plays in relation to the ICC and why that, along w…
Reforming the International Criminal Court (icc) to Achieve Increased State Cooperation in Investigations and Prosecutions of International Crimes
This article examines the issue of state cooperation with the International Criminal Court ( icc ), and why it is vitally needed to achieve the institution’s mandate, including that of human rights protection. The article examines why state cooperation with the icc is so important and what issues undermine it, including disputes with the African Union, but many other issues as well. It surveys what the icc has done to promote cooperation and what…
The 2020 United Nations human rights treaty body review process: Prioritising resources, independence and the domestic state reporting process over rationalising and streamlining treaty bodies
This article reflects concerns about what may emerge from the United Nations human rights treaty body (TB) review process that began in April 2020. The fear specifically is what the outcome of that review may be and whether the goal of strengthening and/or streamlining TBs will actually result in a less robust state oversight and human rights compliance methodology in the future. Already TBs have been weakened by being granted fewer resources, wh…
Why victimology should focus on all victims, including all missing and disappeared persons
This article examines issues concerning the scope and role of victimology specifically as far as they relate to missing and disappeared persons. It argues that victimology ought to have a greater effect on the world by dealing with more victims, and that it should not be a solely academic discipline. It is contended that victimology should confront the real issues that arise for the victims after the crimes they suffer, and thus it needs to play …
Redesigning the Definition a Truth Commission, but Also Designing a Forward-Looking Non-Prescriptive Definition to Make Them Potentially More Successful
How Conditional Amnesties Can Assist Transitional Societies in Delivering on the Right to the Truth: Are Such Processes Compatible with International Law
This article explores how conditional amnesties can assist post-conflict societies to recover truth. It examines how such amnesties can be used optimally to achieve the best results as part of transitional justice mechanisms. Thus, a central question is to see how amnesties can be used for truth recovery purposes. For that reason, the status and role of amnesties, and whether such amnesties can be used to learn more about the past and assist in t…
Respecting and protecting the lives of migrants and refugees: The need for a human rights approach to save lives and find missing persons
The world is in a migration crisis. Thousands of people are dying annually trying to get across the Mediterranean. However, this is not a problem unique to Europe. It has remained a hidden global problem for a long time. What is specifically unknown are the numbers of people who have gone missing while migrating. This article therefore focuses on such missing people. It examines the numbers of people that are known to have died, and argues that t…
The Togolese Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission: Lessons for Transitional Justice Processes Elsewhere
Certain truth and reconciliation processes around the world remain understudied. This means that valuable lessons for transitional justice processes elsewhere are not learned. This article therefore examines lessons from the Togolese Truth, Justice, and Reconciliation Commission (CVJR). It examines the historical context of violence in Togo in order to understand why the country decided to establish a truth commission and looks at how previous in…
How developments in the science and technology of searching, recovering and identifying the missing/ disappeared are positively affecting the rights of victims around the world
This article examines the ways in which missing persons have been dealt with, mainly in the former Yugoslavia, to show how the huge advances made in the search for, recovery and identification of those who disappeared is positively impacting on the ability of families to find their loved ones. The article surveys the advances made in dealing with the missing on a range of fronts, including the technical and forensic capacities. It examines some o…
Understanding the Journey to Reconciliation in Transitional Societies: Using the Metaphor of a Motor Vehicle Road Trip to Understand South Africa's Path (Process) to Political Reconciliation
This article, using the metaphor of a motor vehicle road trip, explores South Africa's much-lauded and deftly exported transitional experiment. It explores how the journey, and process of reconciliation, was a prominent feature of the post-1994 transition. It is argued that the journey did not begin in 1994. It began way before. While the main journey began after the democratic elections, many preparations were done before that. Thus, the time pe…
Respecting and protecting the lives of migrants and refugees: The need for a human rights approach to save lives and find missing persons
The world is in a migration crisis. Thousands of people are dying annually trying to get across the Mediterranean. However, this is not a problem unique to Europe. It has remained a hidden global problem for a long time. What is specifically unknown are the numbers of people who have gone missing while migrating. This article therefore focuses on such missing people. It examines the numbers of people that are known to have died, and argues that t…
The 2020 United Nations human rights treaty body review process: Prioritising resources, independence and the domestic state reporting process over rationalising and streamlining treaty bodies
This article reflects concerns about what may emerge from the United Nations human rights treaty body (TB) review process that began in April 2020. The fear specifically is what the outcome of that review may be and whether the goal of strengthening and/or streamlining TBs will actually result in a less robust state oversight and human rights compliance methodology in the future. Already TBs have been weakened by being granted fewer resources, wh…
Reparations for Historical Human Rights Violations: The International and Historical Dimensions of the Alien Torts Claims Act Genocide Case of the Herero of Namibia
The Trials and Tribulations of South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission
The Togolese Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission: Lessons for Transitional Justice Processes Elsewhere
Certain truth and reconciliation processes around the world remain understudied. This means that valuable lessons for transitional justice processes elsewhere are not learned. This article therefore examines lessons from the Togolese Truth, Justice, and Reconciliation Commission (CVJR). It examines the historical context of violence in Togo in order to understand why the country decided to establish a truth commission and looks at how previous in…
Special Issue for GR2P: Africa's Responsibility to Protect Introduction
The introduction sketches the recent development of the 'responsibility to protect' norm and emphasises its African roots, both in terms of its conceptualisation and implementation and with particular respect to two tragedies—the genocide in Rwanda in 1994 and the crisis in Darfur since 2003—that have lent urgency to the norm's formulation and widespread international adoption. The number and extent of R2P cases in Africa are outlined and the rol…
The Responsibility to Protect and Humanitarian Intervention in Africa
This essay investigates the connection between humanitarian intervention and R2P within an historical, legal, and conceptual context. It challenges the widely held view that Africa lacks the capacity to intervene in areas of conflict and human rights violations, arguing instead that the continent possesses the will and instruments to protect human rights. The author notes that, while the UN Security Council retains the primary responsibility for …
The Drafting of South Africa's Final Constitution from a Human-Rights Perspective
Journal Article The Drafting of South Africa's Final Constitution From a Human-Rights Perspective Get access Jeremy Sarkin Jeremy Sarkin 1Jeremy Sarkin is Associate Professor, Law Faculty, University of the Western Cape; former National Chairperson, Human Rights Committee of South Africa; B.A. LL.B. (Natal), LL.M. (Harvard), LL.D. (UWC); attorney of the High Court of South Africa, attorney at law in the State of New York, USA. I would like to tha…
The role of the European Union’s securitisation policies in exacerbating the intersectional vulnerability of refugees and asylum seekers
Will the International Criminal Court (icc) Be Able to Secure the Arrest of Vladimir Putin When He Travels: Understanding State Cooperation Through Other icc Non-Arrest Cases Against Malawi, Chad, Nig…
The arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court ( icc ) in March 2023 against Russian President Vladimir Putin for crimes committed in Ukraine is one of the most momentous cases taken up by the Court. As Putin is unlikely to be arrested in Russia, the only way that he may be arrested and surrendered to the Court is if he travels to another state, particularly one that is a member of the icc , which would then have obligations to arr…
How Conditional Amnesties Can Assist Transitional Societies in Delivering on the Right to the Truth: Are Such Processes Compatible with International Law
This article explores how conditional amnesties can assist post-conflict societies to recover truth. It examines how such amnesties can be used optimally to achieve the best results as part of transitional justice mechanisms. Thus, a central question is to see how amnesties can be used for truth recovery purposes. For that reason, the status and role of amnesties, and whether such amnesties can be used to learn more about the past and assist in t…
Restructuring the Legal Profession and Access to Justice: The Duty of Law Graduates and Lawyers to Provide Legal Services
(1993). Restructuring the Legal Profession and Access to Justice: The Duty of Law Graduates and Lawyers to Provide Legal Services. South African Journal on Human Rights: Vol. 9, No. 2, pp. 223-236
The Prevention of Domestic Violence Draft Bill
(1993). The Prevention of Domestic Violence Draft Bill. South African Journal on Human Rights: Vol. 9, No. 2, pp. 288-310
The effect on corporal punishment of the South African transitional Constitution and Bill of Rights
The Trials and Tribulations of South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission
Case Notes
Current Developments
The Drafting of South Africa's Final Constitution from a Human-Rights Perspective
Journal Article The Drafting of South Africa's Final Constitution From a Human-Rights Perspective Get access Jeremy Sarkin Jeremy Sarkin 1Jeremy Sarkin is Associate Professor, Law Faculty, University of the Western Cape; former National Chairperson, Human Rights Committee of South Africa; B.A. LL.B. (Natal), LL.M. (Harvard), LL.D. (UWC); attorney of the High Court of South Africa, attorney at law in the State of New York, USA. I would like to tha…
Focus: The Constitutional Court's 1999 Term
(2000). Focus: The Constitutional Court's 1999 Term. South African Journal on Human Rights: Vol. 16, No. 2, pp. 283-371
The Tension Between Justice and Reconciliation in Rwanda: Politics, Human Rights, Due Process and the Role of the Gacaca Courts in Dealing With the Genocide
Rwanda, since the genocide of 1994, has had immense difficulty in dealing with the past. It has pursued the model of prosecutions without being able to bring many of the alleged perpetrators before the courts. The article examines why this is so, as well as the political situation in Rwanda in the context of the country's human rights record, to determine whether sufficient weight is being given to truth, reconciliation, peace and stability. The …
Promoting Access to Justice in South Africa: Should the Legal Profession have a Voluntary or Mandatory Role in Providing Legal Services to the Poor
(2002). Promoting Access to Justice in South Africa: Should the Legal Profession have a Voluntary or Mandatory Role in Providing Legal Services to the Poor? South African Journal on Human Rights: Vol. 18, No. 4, pp. 630-644
O advento das ações movidas no Sul para reparação por abusos dos direitos humanos
Reparações por violação dos direitos humanos e abusos humanitários constituem um desafio central tanto no âmbito doméstico como no internacional. Apesar dos novos avanços em relação à questão das indenizações pelos abusos cometidos, inúmeras violações ocorridas na África e em outros lugares, durante o período colonial, permanecem sem solução. Este artigo faz um resumo desses avanços e os contextualiza contra o pano de fundo de processos que têm s…
Reparation for Past Wrongs: Using Domestic Courts Around the World, Especially the United States, to Pursue African Human Rights Claims
Human rights have never received more attention than at present. All around the world there is new vigor in dealing with gross human rights abuse. As a result, the last ten years have seen major developments in international criminal processes to deal with these issues. Accountability for these violations, a major problem in the past, has improved to some degree. This is true at both international and domestic levels. With the establishment of th…
Reconciliation in Divided Societies: Finding Common Ground
As nations struggling to heal wounds of civil war and atrocity turn toward the model of reconciliation, Reconciliation in Divided Societies takes a systematic look at the political dimensions of this international phenomenon
Reparations for Historical Human Rights Violations: The International and Historical Dimensions of the Alien Torts Claims Act Genocide Case of the Herero of Namibia
Prisões na África: Uma Avaliação Da Perspectiva Dos Direitos Humanos
Embora as prisões na África sejam consideradas as piores do mundo, muitos outros sistemas carcerários são ainda piores no que concerne à violência, superlotação e vários outros problemas. Com isso, não se pretende afirmar que as prisões africanas sejam exemplos de direitos humanos. Muitas estão em condições deficientes e suas práticas estão em conflito com os padrões de direitos humanos. No entanto, as prisões em diferentes partes do mundo estão …
The Role of the United Nations, the African Union and Africa's Sub-Regional Organizations in Dealing with Africa's Human Rights Problems: Connecting Humanitarian Intervention and the Responsibility to…
This article examines the basis for humanitarian intervention (HI) in the United Nations Charter, the African Union (AU) Charter and in a number of African sub-regional institutions. It traces the historical development of HI and argues that, while the right to HI emerged more than 100 years ago, that right also emerges from the Genocide Convention. The article argues that this treaty connects HI to the developing norm of the responsibility to pr…
Special Issue for GR2P: Africa's Responsibility to Protect Introduction
The introduction sketches the recent development of the 'responsibility to protect' norm and emphasises its African roots, both in terms of its conceptualisation and implementation and with particular respect to two tragedies—the genocide in Rwanda in 1994 and the crisis in Darfur since 2003—that have lent urgency to the norm's formulation and widespread international adoption. The number and extent of R2P cases in Africa are outlined and the rol…
The Responsibility to Protect and Humanitarian Intervention in Africa
This essay investigates the connection between humanitarian intervention and R2P within an historical, legal, and conceptual context. It challenges the widely held view that Africa lacks the capacity to intervene in areas of conflict and human rights violations, arguing instead that the continent possesses the will and instruments to protect human rights. The author notes that, while the UN Security Council retains the primary responsibility for …
The African Commission on Human and People's Rights and the future African Court of Justice and Human Rights: Comparative lessons from the European Court of Human Rights
This article focuses on two regional human rights systems — the system that exists in Africa and the mechanism that exists within the Council of Europe. It examines the development and specifics of each system to determine what lessons the African Commission and the future African Court of Justice and Human Rights can learn from the European model and its Court of Human Rights. The article also examines what can be learnt from the role of the Afr…
The Role of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in Reducing Massive Human Rights Violations Such as Enforced Disappearances in Africa: Towards Developing Transitional Justice Strategies
This article examines the role that the International Criminal Court (ICC) can play in Africa, especially concerning enforced disappearances. The role of the Court on the continent is controversial, partly because the Court only adjudicates cases from Africa. The argument presented in this article is that the ICC has a role beyond prosecutions and that it ought to expand its role into restorative and transitional justice paradigms. In doing so, t…
Understanding the Journey to Reconciliation in Transitional Societies: Using the Metaphor of a Motor Vehicle Road Trip to Understand South Africa's Path (Process) to Political Reconciliation
This article, using the metaphor of a motor vehicle road trip, explores South Africa's much-lauded and deftly exported transitional experiment. It explores how the journey, and process of reconciliation, was a prominent feature of the post-1994 transition. It is argued that the journey did not begin in 1994. It began way before. While the main journey began after the democratic elections, many preparations were done before that. Thus, the time pe…
Ensuring Justice, Reparations and Truth through a Truth Commission and Other Processes in Uganda
VRÜ Verfassung und Recht in Übersee , Seite 390 - 401
Complementarity in the line of fire: The catalysing effect of the International Criminal Court in Uganda and Sudan
Sarah Nouwen's book is a deeply researched account about how the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the complementarity concept have been playing out in Uganda and Sudan. The 500-page book seek
How Conditional Amnesties Can Assist Transitional Societies in Delivering on the Right to the Truth: Are Such Processes Compatible with International Law
This article explores how conditional amnesties can assist post-conflict societies to recover truth. It examines how such amnesties can be used optimally to achieve the best results as part of transitional justice mechanisms. Thus, a central question is to see how amnesties can be used for truth recovery purposes. For that reason, the status and role of amnesties, and whether such amnesties can be used to learn more about the past and assist in t…
Respecting and protecting the lives of migrants and refugees: The need for a human rights approach to save lives and find missing persons
The world is in a migration crisis. Thousands of people are dying annually trying to get across the Mediterranean. However, this is not a problem unique to Europe. It has remained a hidden global problem for a long time. What is specifically unknown are the numbers of people who have gone missing while migrating. This article therefore focuses on such missing people. It examines the numbers of people that are known to have died, and argues that t…
Political science (44 works) · Law (38 works) · Sociology (29 works) · Human rights (23 works) · Law (22 works) · Global Peace and Security Dynamics (18 works) · International Law and Human Rights (18 works) · Politics (16 works) · Criminology (13 works) · International law (13 works)