Dr Alison Bisset
Responsibilities
Dr Alison Bisset currently teaches the following courses:
- LLB: International Children's Rights (module convenor)
- LLB: International Human Rights Law (module convenor)
- LLM: The Death Penalty (module convenor)
Dr Bisset is Director of Enterprise, with responsibility for the Law School's co-curricular and pro bono programmes.
Areas of Interest
Transitional Justice, International Criminal Law, International Children's Rights, International Judicial Cooperation.
Doctoral Supervision
Dr Bisset welcomes proposals from prospective doctoral students with an interest in transitional justice, international criminal law, international human rights law and international children's rights.
Research groups / Centres
- Member of Global Law at Reading (GLAR)
Publications
Y
Number of items: 19.
2020
- Bisset, A. (2020) And then two came along at once: inter-state cooperation on core crimes, the ILC and the group of core states. International Criminal Law Review, 20 (3). pp. 551-586. ISSN 1571-8123 doi: https://doi.org/10.1163/15718123-02003001
2019
- Bisset, A. (2019) Children in transitional justice processes: still side-lined? In: Mouthaan, S. and Jurasz, O. (eds.) Gender and War: International and Transitional Justice Perspectives. Intersentia, pp. 259-284. ISBN 9781780686868
2018
- Bisset, A., ed. (2018) Blackstone's international human rights documents. 11th edition. Blackstone's Statute Series. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780198818571
- Bisset, A. (2018) Principle 10: guarantees for victims and witnesses testifying on their behalf. In: Haldemann, F. and Unger, T. (eds.) The United Nations Principles to Combat Impunity: A Commentary. Oxford Commentaries on International Law. Oxford University Press, pp. 129-135. ISBN 9780198743606
- Bisset, A. (2018) Principle 8: definition of a commission’s terms of reference. In: Haldemann, F. and Unger, T. (eds.) The United Nations Principles to Combat Impunity: A Commentary. Oxford Commentaries on International Law. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 116-122. ISBN 9780198743606
- Bisset, A. (2018) Principle 9: guarantees for persons implicated. In: Haldemann, F. and Unger, T. (eds.) The United Nations Principles to Combat Impunity: A Commentary. Oxford Commentaries on International Law. Oxford University Press, pp. 123-128. ISBN 9780198743606
2017
- Bisset, A. (2017) Commissions of inquiry and procedural fairness. In: Henderson, C. (ed.) Commissions of Inquiry: Problems and Prospects. Hart Publishing, Oxford, pp. 309-335. ISBN 9781782258766
- Bisset, A. (2017) The privilege against self-incrimination in truth commission administered accountability initiatives. Leiden Journal of International Law, 30 (1). pp. 155-176. ISSN 1478-9698 doi: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0922156516000613
2016
- Bisset, A., ed. (2016) Blackstone's international human rights documents. 10th edition. Blackstone's Statute Series. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp504. ISBN 9780198768302
- Bisset, A. (2016) Building resilience in post-conflict disaster contexts: children and transitional justice. In: Breau, S. C. and Samuel, K. L. H. (eds.) Research Handbook on Disasters and International Law. Research Handbooks in International Law. Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, pp. 479-500. ISBN 9781784717391
2015
- Bisset, A. (2015) The role of truth commissions in adjudicating human rights violations. In: Green, J. A. and Waters, C. P. M. (eds.) Adjudicating International Human Rights: Essays in Honour of Sandy Ghandhi. Brill Nijhoff, Leiden, pp. 192-211. ISBN 9789004261174 doi: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004261181_011
2014
- Bisset, A., (2014) Transitional justice in Nepal: the Commission on Investigation of Disappeared Persons, Truth and Reconciliation Act 2014. Bingham Centre Working Paper. 2014/07. Working Paper. British Institute for International and Comparative Law (BIICL), London.
- Bisset, A., ed. (2014) Blackstone's international human rights law documents. 9th ed. Blackstone's Statutes series. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp504. ISBN 9780198709558
- Bisset, A., Moxham, L. and van Zyl Smit, J., (2014) The rule of law and transitional justice in Nepal: Options for co-ordinating a truth commission, criminal justice mechanisms and personnel reforms. Working Paper. BIICL, London.
2013
- Bisset, A. (2013) The relationship between truth commissions and armed forces. In: Odello, M. and Seatzu, F. (eds.) Armed Forces and International Jurisdictions. Intersentia, Cambridge, pp. 189-204. ISBN 9789400001831
2012
- Bisset, A. (2012) Confidential Truth Commission information before the ICC: extending Rule 73(4) protections. New England Journal of International and Comparative Law, 18. ISSN 1936-2803
- Bisset, A. (2012) Truth Commissions and criminal courts. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp205. ISBN 9781107008038
2010
- Bisset, A. J. R. (2010) Truth commissions: a barrier to the provision of judicial assistance? International Criminal Law Review, 10 (5). pp. 647-678. ISSN 1571-8123 doi: https://doi.org/10.1163/157181210X527055
2009
- Bisset, A. (2009) Rethinking the powers of truth commissions in light of the ICC statute. Journal of International Criminal Justice, 7 (5). pp. 963-982. ISSN 1478-1387 doi: https://doi.org/10.1093/jicj/mqp069
Reviews:
- Book Review, Freeman, M., Truth Commissions and Procedural Fairness, (2006, CUP, Cambridge) (2008) 8 Human Rights Law Review 401-404.
- Book Review, Stover, E., and Weinstein, H.M., (eds.), My Neighbor, My Enemy: Justice and Community in the Aftermath of Mass Atrocity, (2004, CUP, Cambridge), (2005) 5 Human Rights Law Review 423-426.
Conference Papers etc:
- "Declining Standards in Truth Seeking: Lessons from Nepal", University of Bath, 16 May 2019.
- "The impact of international criminal prosecutions on national post-conflict justice initiatives", The Watershed, Bristol, 29 January 2019.
- "Does and Should International Law Prohibit the Prosecution of Children for War Crimes?" A Response to Noelle Quenivet, University of the West of England, 1 March 2017.
- "Transitional Justice and the Prioritisation of Prosecution", presented at the Centre for Law and Culture, University of St Mary's, Twickenham, 1 December 2015.
- "Transitional Justice in Nepal: Falling Short of International Standards?", presented at International Law Association Spring Conference, University of Essex, 29 May 2015.
- "Commissions of Inquiry and Procedural Fairness", presented at the ESCR funded workshop, Commissions of Inquiry: Problems and Prospects, University of Liverpool, 16 January 2015.
- "Trials and Truth Commissions", presented at the Antonio Cassese Summer School on Transitional Justice, Conflict and Human Rights, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva, 9 July 2014.
- "The Development of International Criminal Justice", presented at the Brigade Legal Officers' Course for international military personnel, Land Warfare Centre, Warminster, 30 October 2013.
- "Trials within the Transitional Justice Framework" presented at the Africa Accountability Colloquium, International Institute for Humanitarian Law, San Remo, 6 June 2013.
- "The Jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court", presented at the Africa Accountability Colloquium, International Institute for Humanitarian Law, San Remo, 5 June 2013.
- "Coordinating Trials and Truth Commissions", presented at the Bingham Centre Experts' Meeting on Nepal, 28 May 2013.
- "Implementing ICC Statute Obligations", presented to legal and military personnel, Commonwealth Secretariat, Pretoria, 15 February 2013.
- "Complementarity and Cooperation under the ICC Statute", presented to legal and military personnel, Commonwealth Secretariat, Pretoria, 14 February 2013.
- "An Overview of the ICC's Jurisdiction", presented to legal and military personnel, Commonwealth Secretariat, Pretoria, 14 February 2013.
- "Truth Commissions and their Relationship with the International Criminal Court", Building Restorative International Justice, IC Events, Royal Commonwealth Society, 18 May 2012.
- "Coordinating the Operations of Truth Commissions and Domestic Criminal Courts under the Rome Statue Regime: Lessons from East Timor and Sierra Leone", Oxford Transitional Justice Research Conference, University of Oxford, 26 June 2009.
- "The Future Role for Truth Commissions Following the Introduction of the International Criminal Court", Conflict Research Society Annual Conference, Aston University, Birmingham, 6 September 2006.
- "The Interrelationship between Truth Commissions and Criminal Courts in the Prosecution of Serious Human Rights Violations", International Law Symposium, University of Edinburgh, 24 May 2006.
Biographical Details
Dr Alison Bisset joined the Law School in 2008 and was promoted to Associate Professor in International Human Rights Law in May 2015. She researches on transitional justice, with a particular focus on the work of truth commissions, and has published widely in this area. She is the author of Truth Commissions and Criminal Courts (Cambridge University Press, 2012, paperback 2014), which won the 2013 University of Reading Research Endowment Trust Fund prize for the best faculty output and was shortlisted for the SLS Birks prize for outstanding legal scholarship the same year. Alison has advised intergovernmental organisations, national armed forces and civil society bodies on issues relating to international criminal law and transitional justice. She is the editor of Blackstone's International Human Rights Law Documents, published by Oxford University Press.