Projects

Philip Alston meets with the leader of the Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) while on mission in Sri Lanka as UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions. Former EJE Project Director, Bill Abresch, is seated to his left.

Project on Extrajudicial Executions

The Center's Project on Extrajudicial Executions was established to provide rigorous analysis of international law protecting the right to life and to support the work of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions. Philip Alston, the Center’s Faculty Director and Chair, was appointed Special Rapporteur in 2004. His mandate is to act on allegations transmitted to him by victims and their families, engage governments in constructive dialogue, and provide early warning to the U.N. Human Rights Council of emerging patterns of unlawful violence.

As UN Special Rapporteur, Prof. Alston has undertaken the following human rights fact-finding missions:

• Nigeria (report)
• Sri Lanka (report)
• Guatemala (report
• Israel and Lebanon (report)
• Philippines (report)
• Brazil (preliminary statement)

Philip Alston meets with the Minister of Defense and the Chief of Staff of the armed forces while on mission in the Philippines as UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions.

He has also corresponded with the governments of over 100 countries concerning the death penalty, deaths in custody, killings during armed conflicts, and other issues.

The Project is directed by Sarah Knuckey. Current areas of research include the use and abuse of commissions of inquiry in investigating unlawful killings, the mandatory death penalty under human rights law, and the regulation of lethal force in armed conflicts and counter-terrorism.

The Project has its own web site (www.extrajudicialexecutions.org). The website is designed to make more accessible and more convenient all of the relevant information about the issues taken up by the Rapporteur and the analyses that he and his predecessors have adopted on specific issues.

Philip Alston speaks with an inmate at a prison outside of Guatemala City while on mission as UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions.