I am indebted to my good friend Janine Rizetti for bringing this important book to my attention. Janine reviewed it on her blog The Resident Judge of Port Phillip and I reserved it at the library straight away. Written by the high profile international lawyer Philippe Sands, East West Street , On the Origins of Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity won the 2016 Baillie Gifford prize (which used to be the Samuel Johnson Prize) and by coincidence I read it in a week where Australia’s high profile international lawyer Geoffrey Robertson was in town spruiking his memoir about his work in human rights. In a further coincidence, in the same week I received a letter from Israel in reply to my appeal on behalf of a Palestinian dissident whose detention seems onerous and whose trial has been far too long in coming. Yes, even in complacent suburban Melbourne, attention can…
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