Theodor Meron

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Theodor Meron : biography

28 April 1930 –

Early life

Born in Kalisz, Poland, Meron received his legal education at the Hebrew University (M.J.), Harvard Law School (LL.M., J.S.D.) and Cambridge University (Diploma in Public International Law). Since 1977, he has been a Professor of International Law at the Geneva Graduate Institute of International Studies and, since 1994, the holder of the Charles L. Denison Chair at New York University School of Law. In 2000-2001, he served as Counselor on International Law in the U.S. Department of State.

Lectures

in the

Legal career

Meron is a member of the Institute of International Law, the Council on Foreign Relations and the Shakespeare Institute among other organizations.See http://www.acls.org/programs/Default.aspx?id=3434 He was awarded the 2005 Rule of Law Award by the International Bar Association and the 2006 Manley O. Hudson Medal of the American Society of International Law. He was made Officer of the Legion of Honor by the government of France in 2007.See id. He received the Charles Homer Haskins Prize of the American Council of Learned Societies for 2008.See http://www.acls.org/programs/Default.aspx?id=160 In 2009, Meron was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.See http://www.law.nyu.edu/news/MERON_AAAS He was awarded a doctorate of law honoris causa by the University of Warsaw in 2011.See http://www.law.nyu.edu/news/MERON_DOCTORATE_WARSAW

Command responsibility in ICTY rulings

In June 2013, Judge Frederik Harhoff of Denmark, a judge at the ICTY, circulated a letter saying that Meron had pressured other judges into acquitting Serb and Croat commanders. The letter, which repeated complaints by other legal scholars, said that Meron had raised the degree of responsibility that senior military leaders should bear for war crimes committed by their subordinates, to the point where it a conviction has become nearly impossible. They blamed Meron, whom they identified as an American, for the acquittals of top Serb and Croat commanders., By MARLISE SIMONS, New York Times, June 14, 2013