JUSTICE Scotland Reports

Genocide Denial, Disinformation, Armed Conflict: What can lawyers do?.

This report, written by Jacqueline Fordyce for JUSTICE and in collaboration with the Faculty of Advocates’ Human Rights and Rule of Law Committee, summarised the closed discussion event on 20 June 2022, as part of the JUSTICE Ukraine Series. A panel of speakers addressed an invited audience on a range of themes, followed by a general discussion (subject to the Chatham House rule) of the issues arising.

The report highlights three main ways to tackle disinformation and genocide denial – prevention, by international bodies and legal education, intervening and ensuring that evidence is captured accurately, and accountability, including legislation, prosecution and reparations.

Read the full report here.


 Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill

On 25 September 2023, JUSTICE hosted a roundtable to discuss the recent Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill.

Chaired by former JUSTICE Scotland Chair, Shelagh McCall KC, the roundtable discussed areas of support within the Bill, areas that gave cause for concern, and how best practice may be embedded within the Bill to ensure that it has the best chance of achieving its purposes.

This paper seeks to identify areas of the Bill that attendees would like to see developed further, provisions that attract conflicting views, and also areas of consensus.  It is clear from the roundtable that further work is required to increase confidence on those aspects of the Bill which are controversial and/or to respond to calls to remove these aspects of the Bill entirely.  This paper also highlights areas of the Bill that attendees found ambiguous. For example, a number of attendees questioned how the Sexual Offences Court will operate in practice. 

Read the full report here.