Press Release: 12 December 2012

ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda appoints Patricia Sellers, Leila Sadat and Diane Marie Amann as Special Advisers

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​Today, 12 December 2012, International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda announced the appointment of three new Special Advisers, Patricia Viseur Sellers, Leila Nadya Sadat, and Diane Marie Amann. 

“I am proud that these three highly respected academics have agreed to serve the Office”, said Prosecutor Bensouda. “Patricia Sellers, Leila Sadat and Diane Marie Amann have a wealth of experience between them. I have no doubt their contributions to the work of the Office and the fight to end impunity for the world’s worst crimes will be invaluable”.

Patricia Viseur Sellers is Special Adviser on International Criminal Law Prosecution Strategies. Ms Sellers will advise the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) on policies and training with regards to international criminal law prosecution strategies. Ms Sellers is a Visiting Fellow at Oxford University, where she lectures on international criminal law. She previously worked as Acting Senior Trial Lawyer, Legal Advisor for Gender and Deputy Head of the Legal Advisory Section in the OTP at the UN International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY). She litigated and advised on prominent international prosecutions such as the Furundžija, Kunarac and Akayesu cases. She has written extensively on sexual violence in armed conflict and counselled governments, international organisations and civil society groups on international criminal law strategies. She is a recipient of the American Society of International Law’s Prominent Women in International Law Award.

Professor Leila Nadya Sadat is the Special Adviser on Crimes against Humanity and will help the OTP formulate office wide strategic policies relating to crimes against humanity. Ms Sadat is currently the Henry H. Oberschelp Professor of Law and the Director of the Whitney R. Harris World Law Institute at Washington University School of Law. She is also the Director of The Crimes Against Humanity Initiative and the Director and Co-Founder of the Summer Institute for International Law and Policy at Utrecht University in the Netherlands. Ms Sadat’s award-winning publications include, among others, Outstanding Books of the Year Awards for Forging a Convention for Crimes Against Humanity (2011) and The International Criminal Court and the Transformation of International Law (2002). An internationally recognized expert in international criminal law, human rights and public international law, Professor Sadat has been doing pro-bono work for international courts and tribunals, including the ICC, for many years. She is a Vice-President of the International Law Association, American Branch, and created and chaired its International Criminal Court Committee. She recently held the distinguished Alexis de Tocqueville Fulbright Chair at the Université of Cergy Pontoise, and has been a visiting Professor at the Université de Paris I (Panthéon-Sorbonne) and Université de Paris II (Assas).

Professor Diane Marie Amann is appointed Special Adviser on Children in and affected by Armed Conflict. As adviser, she will support and advise on OTP policies and training or awareness with regard to children in and affected by armed conflict. Holder of the Emily and Ernest Woodruff Chair in International Law at the University of Georgia School of Law in Athens, Georgia, Ms Amann also has taught on the law faculties of the University of California-Davis, University of California-Berkeley, and University of California-Los Angeles; visited at the Irish Centre for Human Rights in Galway and Université de Paris 1 (Panthéon-Sorbonne); practiced as a federal criminal defense attorney in San Francisco; and served as a Vice President of the American Society of International Law. Recognitions of her extensive work in international law, on issues including child-soldiering, the laws of war, and post-conflict accountability, include an honorary doctorate in law from Utrecht Universiteit, the Mayre Rasmussen Award for the Advancement of Women in International Law, and the Article of the Year in International Criminal Law Award.

Special Advisers to the OTP are persons with recognised expertise in their field, who provide advice to the Prosecutor at her request or on their own initiative on training, policies, procedures and legal submissions. They work on a pro-bono basis and like all ICC staff, are required to sign a confidentiality agreement.

For more information, please contact:

[email protected]

Source: Office of the Prosecutor | Contact: [email protected]