Professor Lyal S. Sunga Travels to Armenia to Train Prosecutors
On October 11 and 12, JCU Professor Lyal S. Sunga traveled to Yerevan, Republic of Armenia, to train prosecutors on how international and regional human rights law applies in pre-trial criminal proceedings within Armenia’s criminal justice system. Professor Sunga conducted the lectures and case study sessions with Criminal Court of Appeal Judge Arsen Nikoghosyan, which focused on the right to liberty and security of person during times of emergency, right not to be arbitrarily detained, right of detainees to be treated humanely, right against self-incrimination, right to remain silent, right not to be tortured, right not to subject to unreasonable search and seizure as well as the importance of judicial consideration of alternatives to pre-trial detention.
Organized jointly by the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of International Human Rights and Humanitarian Law and the Republic of Armenia’s Academy of Justice, the workshop was funded by Swedish Development Cooperation and held at the Academy’s premises in Yerevan. These criminal justice issues require special attention as Armenia, a former Soviet Socialist Republic, has been working continuously since its independence to strengthen democratic institutions, human rights promotion and protection, and the rule of law. This October’s training follows from an earlier mission Professor Sunga undertook to Dilijian in June 2023 that was dedicated to training of Armenian judges.
On October 11, 2023, Professor Sunga gave a lecture at the American University of Armenia on the development of international criminal law and the role of the International Criminal Court (ICC). The presentation focused on the March 2023 ICC indictments and warrants for the arrest of Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin and his Children’s Rights Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova. The ICC’s indictment charges Putin and Lvova-Belova with criminal responsibility for the war crime of unlawful transfer of population, in particular, the abduction and transfer of thousands of children from Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory to the Russian Federation.
Professor Sunga’s 2-hour guest lecture was given as part of the International Criminal Law course for the Master of Laws and Master of Arts in Human Rights and Social Justice programs taught by Dr. Arman Tatoyan, ad hoc Judge of the European Court of Human Rights who formerly served as Human Rights Defender and Deputy Justice Minister of Armenia. During the lecture and ensuing discussions, Professor Sunga also addressed human rights and humanitarian issues arising from the mass exodus of Armenians from Azerbaijan’s Nagorno-Karabakh region following Azerbaijan’s military offensive of September 19 and 20, 2023. He also fielded questions on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and on Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. International criminal law now ranks high among Armenia’s political and legal priorities since the Armenian Parliament’s ratification of the ICC Statute on October 3, 2023, in defiance of pressure from Moscow not to take this important step.
Born and raised in Ottawa, Canada, Dr. Lyal S. Sunga received a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Philosophy at Carleton University in Ottawa, before getting a law degree from Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto. He subsequently earned a Master’s in International Human Rights Law from the University of Essex, UK, and a Ph.D. in International Law from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, Switzerland. After seven years working for various agencies of the United Nations, Dr. Sunga became Associate Professor and Director of the Human Rights Master’s Programme at the University of Hong Kong Faculty of Law. He also taught at the Raoul Wallenberg Institute in Lund, Sweden, taking leave in 2007 for several months to serve as Coordinator for the UN Human Rights Council’s Group of Experts on Darfur. He moved to Rome in 2009, then he lived in The Hague from 2015 to 2018 before moving back to Rome in 2018.
