Evelyne Schmid (PhD International Law, ’12) proposes solutions to some of the most difficult challenges relating to the legacies of widespread human rights abuses in the aftermath of armed conflicts and other situations of violence.

Written by an Alumna who holds a PhD in International Law from the Graduate Institute and published by Cambridge University Press, this book answers the question of whether neglect of economic, social and cultural abuses in international criminal law is a problem of positive international law or the result of choices made by lawyers involved in mechanisms such as criminal prosecutions or truth commissions. Based on a thorough examination of the elements of international crimes, the author sets forth evidence that the same situation can sometimes simultaneously be described as a violation of economic, social and cultural rights and as an international crime. Against the background of the emerging debates on selectivity in international criminal law and the role of socioeconomic and cultural abuses in transitional justice, the book argues that international crimes overlapping with violations of economic, social and cultural rights deserve to be taken seriously, for much the same reasons as other international crimes.

Evelyne Schmid is now a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Basel. Between 2011 and 2014, she was a lecturer of international and European law at the University of Bangor, Wales, where her research explored how various branches of international law address, or don’t address, harm and injury arising from armed violence. She previously completed a doctoral fellowship at Harvard Law School and was the project coordinator for the International Criminal Court’s Legal Tools Project at TRIAL, the Swiss Association against Impunity, a board member of Amnesty International Switzerland and the researcher for the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) Truth Commission Digital Collection.