Walking Down Memory Lane on the 50th Anniversary of YJIL

Policy Advocate

Human Rights Missions

In 1987, Professor W. Michael Reisman was a member of an Independent Counsel on the International Human Rights mission in Afghanistan, which investigated allegations of genocide against the Afghani population during the Soviet-Afghan War. The findings of the Independent Counsel were submitted to the United Nations Secretary-General in November 1987, as a Report of the Independent Counsel on International Human Rights on the Human Rights Situation in Afghanistan (A/C.3/42/8) concluding that "[i]n the view of the Independent Counsel on International Human Rights, there is considerable evidence that genocide has been committed against the Afghan people by the combined forces of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan and the Soviet Union." (para. 87).

Professor Reisman and Charles H. Norchi further wrote, Genocide and The Soviet Occupation in Afghanistan, ISG Newsletter (archived by Internet Archive on Oct. 26, 2016), reporting the same conclusion. 

Here Reisman is photographed in one of the Afghan Mujahideen encampments during that mission. This was the first of several human rights missions he participated in over the next decade, including missions in Pakistan (1987), Hungry (1990), Taiwan (1991), Haiti (1990 and 1994), Peru (1990, 1992, and 1994), Colombia (1991 and 1993), Guatemala (1994), Bahamas (1994), Ecuador (1994), Jamaica (1995), and Fiji (1997).

Presidency of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (OAS)

Article 106 in Chapter XV of the Charter of the Organization of American States provides: "[t]here shall be an Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, whose principal function shall be to promote the observance and protection of human rights and to serve as a consultative organ of the Organization in these matters. ..."

One of Reisman's honors in his life was his service in the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Organization of American States between 1990-1995. After becoming a member in 1990, he served as the Second Vice-President (1992-93), the First Vice-President (1993-94), and eventually as the President of the Commission (1994-95). 

The picture shows Reisman reporting as President of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Organization of American States, at the Annual Meeting held in Brazil (1994-1995). 

International Commission of Jurists

In the 1970s, Professor Reisman attended a meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, of the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), a non-governmental organization of leading judges and lawyers from all legal traditions, working to build a world based on human rights standards and the rule of law. 

Reisman here sits alongside Erika Daes and Rosalyn Higgins (l to r). Higgins would later author a review of Reisman's and McDougal's textbook International Law in Contemporary Perspective, in which she recognized it not only as a textbook but as an example of the New Haven School's approach to legal pedagogy.

Service in the American Society of International Law (ASIL)

Professor Reisman's service within the American Society of International Law (ASIL) spans several decades. He served on the Board of Review and Development, ASIL (1972-1975), the Executive Council, ASIL, (1972-1974, 1983-1984, 1996-), the Committee for Student and Professional Development, ASIL (1971-1974), and the Panel of Humanitarian Law, ASIL (1971-1974). In addition, he served in a leadership role as the Vice-President of the American Society of International Law (1984-86), as the Honorary Vice-President, ASIL (1996), and as the Honorary President (2018-2020). Reisman has also been a member of the ASIL Advisory Committee for ICJ Nominations and Other International Appointments (2005-). His work for ASIL earned him a membership in the Advisory Board of the Latin American Society of International Law (LASIL), (2007-). 

ASIL has endowed two lectures to Professor Reisman. The first in 2015 at its 109th Annual Meeting titled Third Annual Charles N. Brower Lecture on International Dispute Resolution: "Canute Confronts the Tide: States vs. Tribunals and the Evolution of the Minimum Standard in Customary International Law", and the second in 2019 titled Eighth Shabtai Rosanne Memorial Lecture: "On the Multiplicity of Parallel Procedures in International Law". 

Reisman's scholarly contribution to ASIL, often published in the ASIL Proceedings, is vast. He began in the 1960s and 1970s covering topics such as the enforcement of international judgment and foreign affairs. In the 1980s, Reisman wrote about international lawmaking, the use of force and the UN Charter, jurisdiction in human rights cases, humanitarian law and the problem of armed conflict, McDougal's jurisprudence, chemical weapons and warfare, cultural symbols, application of humanitarian law in non-international armed conflict, non-compliance with international law. In the 1990s, his contributions included lawfulness of non-military enforcement, amending the UN Charter, designing dispute resolution mechanisms, humanitarian intervention and protection of minorities, all topics still relevant today. 

He continued to write for ASIL through the 2000s on topics including the New Haven School and sanctions, defining aggression and the ICC, self-defense in the age of terrorism, preemptive self-defense, and international standards and sovereignty. 

In 2004, Professor Reisman received the Manley O. Hudson Medal, ASIL's highest honor for scholarship and achievement in international law, and delivered a lecture titled Why Regime Change is (Almost Always) a Bad Idea. This recognition honored his decades-long commitment and contribution to the American Society of International Law, the development of International Law and the global community generally. It was also the first time the recipient of this award gave a lecture on the occasion of receiving it.

The front page of the 98th Annual Meeting program and the Manley O. Hudson Medal announcement are included. The middle picture shows Reisman at the ASIL Annual Meeting, in NY. Left to Right: Oscar Schachter, W. Michael Reisman, Myres S. McDougal, and Richard Falk (Year Unknown), all scholars of the New Haven School of International Law.