Lunch seminar with Amanda Bills
Exploring Standard(s) of Proof at the International Court of Justice
This project examines the use of, and justifications for, a differentiated standard of proof by the International Court of Justice. As a decisional threshold indicating when evidence can be taken as proof of a factual allegation, the standard of proof is often decisive for the outcome of judicial proceedings. Beyond the general understanding that the Court is not bound by prescriptive rules of evidence and may exercise ‘flexibility’, little is known about the rationale that guides the Court’s determination of the standard of proof. As the Court is increasingly confronted with fact-intensive and politically sensitive cases – the recent cases brought under the Genocide Convention, such as The Gambia v Myanmar and South Africa v Israel, to name two examples – understanding not only how, but also why, the standard of proof varies in cases before the Court is important theoretically as well as from the perspective of litigating states. This presentation will set out a theoretical framework to explain the Court’s use of a differentiated standard of proof. Drawing on this framework, the presentation will discuss on-going work with a case study.
Speaker bio
Amanda Bills is a Doctoral Candidate at Lund University, Faculty of Law.
Her doctoral project addresses questions of evidence and proof before international courts and tribunals, with a specific focus on the use of a differentiated standard of proof by the International Court of Justice.
She holds a Master of Laws (LL.M), also from Lund University.
Meeting ID: 625 7933 6349
Passcode: 721636