Abstract
A transcript of an interview with Howard Morrison by Linda Carter and Leigh Swigart. The interview took place on May 21, 2015 in The Hague, Netherlands, and the transcript, which is represented here, has been reviewed and edited from the original audio version. During the interview, Morrison reminisces on his application for becoming ICTY defense counsel; first interaction with a client and first indictment; collegiality and differences in national courtroom practices; initial sense of hostility toward defense counsel and lack of resources; changes in Arusha from influx of ICTR resources; Rwandan cooperation and concern with ICTR investigations; mental state of defendants brought before the tribunals; transition from judging national to international cases; experiences as magistrate in Fiji, and childhood travels and the desire to take challenging positions. Morrison also discusses cultural obstacles between defense counsel and defendants; the decision to use the adversarial system for the tribunals; the role of defense counsel as human rights issue for defendants accused of terrible crimes; the role of guilty pleas in international and domestic courts; the importance of Nuremburg and Tokyo in the development of the ad hoc tribunals and the ICC; predictions of the future of international tribunals; institutional differences between the ICC and the ICTY and ICTR; the cultural difficulties involved in applying international standards to diverse populations; the best approach to achieve justice on a limited budget, and the nature of the ICC and the role of the ad hoc tribunals' jurisprudence in the ICC.