Speakers:

• Jonathan McCaskill (Temple University, Japan Campus)
• Peter Morris (Temple University, Japan Campus)

Moderator:

• Kyle Cleveland, ICAS Co-Director

Overview

Despite the significant time gap between the Yugoslav Wars and the ongoing crisis in Myanmar, striking parallels and contrasts exist in the nature of the conflicts and the international responses to them. This lecture will delve into these aspects, focusing on the application and challenges of international criminal and humanitarian law across both cases.

In our exploration of the Yugoslav Wars, particularly in Bosnia and Herzegovina, we will delve into the deeply personal and brutal nature of the conflict, where ethnic and nationalistic tensions escalated to the point where former work colleagues, classmates, and neighbors turned violently against one another. This seminar will highlight specific incidents where these devastating transformations occurred, illustrating the complexity and tragedy of civil conflict. Additionally, we will address the significant challenges faced in gathering reliable evidence due to the limitations of the era's investigative technologies. The reliability of eyewitness testimonies was often compromised by hearsay and errors in identifying perpetrators, with some witnesses mistakenly placing individuals at crime scenes when verifiable evidence indicated their presence elsewhere. These factors underscore the difficulties in achieving accurate and just outcomes in post-conflict investigations.

In contrast, the Myanmar section will address the complex political history leading up to the current conflict, including the discovery of oil and its exacerbation of the resource curse, the significant role played by external influences including colonial powers, and the controversial leadership of Aung San Suu Kyi. The impact of modern technology on human rights abuses and investigations, such as the use of social media platforms like Facebook in spreading hate speech and the international critique of such platforms, will be highlighted.

Both situations reveal how advances in technology and international scrutiny have evolved, offering new tools and challenges in the pursuit of justice. The seminar will compare how historical contexts shaped the conflicts and explore the ongoing international efforts to prosecute perpetrators through entities like the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and initiatives by the International Criminal Court (ICC) concerning Myanmar.

Participants will gain a nuanced understanding of how global dynamics, technological advancements, and resource politics influence the prosecution of war crimes and crimes against humanity, alongside the enduring need for effective international mechanisms to address these grave violations.

Speakers:

Johnathan McCaskill

Temple University, Japan Campus

Johnathan McCaskill is the Coordinator of TUJ’s General Education Program and the Faculty Advisor for the General Studies major. A US- qualified attorney, Johnathan is a legal practitioner who specializes in international humanitarian, human rights and criminal law. He has spent most of his 25-year legal career working in prosecution services or as an advisor to international organizations such as the United Nations Interim Administration Mission to Kosovo (UNMIK), the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP), and the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia-Herzegovina Special Department for War Crimes. He has also served as a legal expert or chief administrator on U.S. State Department- funded rule of law projects in the Philippines, Indonesia, and Liberia. Johnathan has been teaching courses on race & the law, the U.S. legal system, international law, and law & economics at the undergraduate level, and trial advocacy, property, criminal procedure, criminal law, international development law, and international human rights law at the graduate school level.

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Peter Morris

Temple University, Japan Campus

Peter Morris is a lawyer, journalist, and linguist who teaches law and "news topics" at TUJ. Peter began working on Myanmar issues in 2008 during an internship at Burma Lawyers' Council, an NGO on the Thai-Myanmar border. After law school, Peter moved back to Southeast Asia, where he wrote news articles, taught at "Peace Law Academy," and edited draft intellectual property (IP) legislation for Myanmar’s parliament. IP law is one of Peter’s focus areas and he occasionally gives lectures on copyright law and other IP issues. After obtaining his bar license in 2019, Peter opened his own law firm in Irvine, California. Most of Peter’s clients are tech start-ups, and he recently decided to work in-house for Peafowl, an AI research lab founded by Myanmar diaspora tech professionals.

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Moderator:

Kyle Cleveland

Temple University, Japan Campus

Kyle Cleveland is the co-director of ICAS and associate professor of Sociology at Temple University, Japan Campus. His expertise ranges from political and theoretical sociology to race and ethnicity, popular culture and ideology.

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