Wednesday, April 30, 2008

A GAL analysis of the Security Council Panels of Experts

Just a quick post to flag a new GAL-related publication in the Emerging Scholars Working Papers Series, run by the Institute of International Law and Justice at NYU. Luciana Ricart's paper, entitled "Due Process of Law in the Fact-Finding work of the Security Council’s Panels of Experts: An Analysis in terms of Global Administrative Law", is a detailed analysis of an as yet relatively under-studied area of the global administrative activity carried out under the auspices of the UN Security Council.

Through two case-studies, namely the Panels established with respect to violations of the sanctions regimes in Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ricart argues that not only are these panels fulfilling an important public function in their fact-finding role, but that they are also, in evaluating the conformity of the facts that they uncover with certain normative standards (e.g. those established by the sanctions regimes), they are also performing a quasi-judicial function that can have profound and far-reaching implications for the individuals and companies involved. On this basis, she finds that far more robust administrative law-type rules and mechanisms must accompany the work of these panels of experts, in order to ensure that the rights of those accused of wrongdoing are adequately protected. Ricart concludes by suggesting what some of these mechanisms might look like, drawing on both international human rights law and the best practices found in domestic constitutional frameworks.

Well worth a look.

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