Moghalu, Kingsley Chiedu 1963–

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Moghalu, Kingsley Chiedu 1963–

PERSONAL:

Born 1963; married; wife's name Maryanne (a lawyer); children: four. Education: Tufts University, Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, M.A.; London School of Economics and Political Science, Ph.D., M.Phil.; Nigerian Law School, Lagos, Nigeria, B.L.; University of Nigeria, Nsukka, L.L.B. (honors).

ADDRESSES:

Home—Geneva, Switzerland.

CAREER:

Author, lawyer, diplomat. International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, 1997-2002, legal adviser and spokesperson; United Nations Internal Justice System, 2006, member of redesign panel.

MEMBER:

American Society of International Law, Academy of Political Science, International Bar Association, American Bar Association, Nigerian Bar Association, Isaac Moghalu Foundation (chairman, board of trustees).

AWARDS, HONORS:

Joan Gillespie Fellow, Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy; fellow, Southwestern Legal Foundation; research fellow scholar in residence, Southwestern Legal Foundation; named Leader on the Rise by Newswatch, 2005.

WRITINGS:

Rwanda's Genocide: The Politics of Global Justice, Palgrave Macmillan (New York, NY), 2005.

Global Justice: The Politics of War Crimes Trials, Praeger Security International (Westport, CT), 2006.

SIDELIGHTS:

Born in 1963, diplomat and lawyer Kingsley Chiedu Moghalu has spent his career in the service of human rights and international justice. His primary concerns have been in the areas of international criminal justice and the establishment of international criminal courts.

Moghalu received his M.A. from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University in Boston and holds both a Ph.D. and M.Phil. from the London School of Economics at the University of London. He also earned postgraduate degrees from the Nigerian Law School in Lagos and the University of Nigeria in Nsukka, Nigeria.

He has worked on many projects for the United Nations in New York, Croatia, Cambodia, and Geneva. He served as legal adviser and spokesman of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda from 1997 to 2002 and was instrumental in establishing the permanent International Criminal Court. In 2006 the Secretary-General of the United Nations appointed him to the Redesign Panel on the United Nations Internal Justice System whose mission was to reform the United Nations.

Moghalu's first two books are about global justice: Global Justice: The Politics of War Crimes Trials and Rwanda's Genocide: The Politics of Global Justice.

In Global Justice, Moghalu's central theme is that international criminal justice is a political process, and that all decisions relating to international criminal prosecutions are political. These decisions include both the laws themselves and the procedures used to prosecute them. In particular, international criminal tribunals have to deal with the horrors of war, terrorism, and violent oppression, which necessitates special applications and thinking regarding criminal law. Moghalu argues that political problems require political solutions, and that addressing this as a reality can provide for more equitable justice in court. In his review of Global Justice for International Affairs, Maziar Jamnejad wrote, "The diversity of Moghalu's criticisms and examples is refreshing…. Global Justice has the potential to make a real contribution to the way international criminal justice is administered."

Moghalu's second book, Rwanda's Genocide, is about the establishment of the International Criminal Tribunal on Rwanda, despite many political and legal difficulties. Since Moghalu was intimately involved with the tribunal, his viewpoint is unique. It is his belief that justice is itself on trial as the international community tries to determine how to hold the perpetrators of genocide accountable for their deeds, and that the Rawanda tribunal has had a significant impact on international humanitarian law. Vanessa Bush, in her review for Booklist, called Rwanda's Genocide a "compelling account written by an insider."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries, April 1, 2007, S.R. Silverburg, review of Global Justice: The Politics of War Crimes Trials, p. 1412.

Internet Bookwatch, March 1, 2007, review of Global Justice.

Osgoode Hall Law Journal, September 22, 2006, Obiora Chinedu Okafor, review of Rwanda's Genocide: The Politics of Global Justice, p. 597.

Reference & Research Book News, February 1, 2007, review of Global Justice.