Dennis Byron
Encyclopedia
Charles Michael Dennis Byron (born July 1943) is the President of the Caribbean Court of Justice
. He also serves as President of the Commonwealth Judicial Education Institute, and is former President of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda
(ICTR), and former Chief Justice of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court
. He was born in Basseterre
, Saint Kitts and Nevis
.
for 1964. He graduated with an M.A and LL.B. in 1966. In 1965, he was called to the Bar of England and Wales by the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple.
Sir Dennis distinguished himself in private practice as a Barrister-at-Law and Solicitor
throughout the Leeward Islands
, with Chambers in Saint Kitts
, Nevis
and Anguilla
from 1966 to 1982.
, on secondment from the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court
, he presided over the famous murder trial involving the assassination of Prime Minister
Maurice Bishop
– the longest criminal trial in Caribbean history.
In 1995, over a five month period, in tandem with Operation Uphold Democracy, Sir Dennis, with two other international Judges, and a full supporting team, organized judicial education programmes for the Haitian Judiciary. This was an initiative of the National Center for State Courts of the United States in the wake of the restoration of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide
in Haiti
.
In 1999, Judge Byron was appointed Chief Justice
of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court, having acted in that position for two years. As Acting Chief Justice, Judge Byron made the establishment of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court Judicial Reform Programme a matter of high priority. In 1997, he launched the Judicial Education Institute as a Committee of the Chief Justice’s Office. The Committee produced a Code of Ethics for Judges, and organized a series of seminars and training programmes providing orientation for Judges, lawyers and trial Court Registrars.
This Programme was a prelude to the modernisation of practice and procedure in litigation, which was brought to fruition when Chief Justice Byron introduced the new Civil Procedure Rules 2000, which came into operation as of 31 December 2000. These new Rules, tailored to the norms of the Eastern Caribbean, are in keeping with the ethos of judicial case management which informs the Woolf Reforms instituted in England
in 1998. Sir Dennis was the first Chief Justice to implement the English-modelled Civil Procedure Rules in the Caribbean
region.
With these reforms, Sir Dennis set a three-fold objective, namely, the enhancement of public access to the Court by simplifying procedures, the reduction of the delay of litigation from start to finish, and the inculcation of a higher standard of professionalism at the Bar.
Judge Byron chaired the Rules Reform Committee, and hosted workshops for lawyers in different Caribbean islands, to which he invited a Judge, a Master and a leading practitioner from Canada to share their experiences and advice with regard to their own shift to case management by the Court.
Sir Dennis has been President of the Commonwealth Judicial Education Institute in Halifax, Canada since the year 2000.
In 2000, Judge Byron was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II and he was appointed a member of Her Majesty’s Most Honourable Privy Council
in 2004, making him only the second national of St. Kitts and Nevis to be appointed, following the appointment of the country's first Prime Minister Dr. Kennedy Simmonds
in 1984. Also in 2004, Sir Dennis was appointed as an Honorary Bencher of the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple.
In March 2001, then Chief Justice Byron was a member of an international delegation of jurists who travelled to Zimbabwe
on a Fact-Finding Mission on behalf of the Human Rights Institute of the International Bar Association
, inquiring into reports of abuses against the Rule of Law
by the Robert Mugabe
Government. The 7-member Mission was headed by Lord Goldsmith, QC
, who was soon to become Attorney General of the United Kingdom
. The IBA is the world’s leading organization of Bar Associations, Law Societies and legal practitioners, drawn from 183 countries and representing 2.5 million lawyers.
At the invitation of then-Secretary General of the United Nations Kofi Annan
, Judge Byron, while serving as Chief Justice of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court, from which position he retired, became a permanent Judge of the United Nations
International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda
(ICTR) in 2004. The ICTR was established by the United Nations Security Council to try war crimes committed during the Rwandan genocide
of nearly 1 million people in 1994. Sir Dennis was elected President of the Tribunal in May 2007 and re-elected for a second term in May 2009. There are 23 other Judges over whom Sir Dennis presides as President of the ICTR. They are, in order of precedence, from Pakistan
, Jamaica
, United Republic of Tanzania, Turkey
, Italy
, China
, Senegal
, United States of America, Malta
, Madagascar
, Sri Lanka
, Russia
, Uganda
, Kenya
, Cameroon
, Ghana
, Jordan
, Republic of Korea, Burkina Faso
, Denmark
, Madagascar, Turkey
and Czech Republic
. Sir Dennis was elected and re-elected President by his fellow Judges, in testimony to their confidence in his competence to lead the Tribunal.
As President of the ICTR which is located in Arusha
, Tanzania, Sir Dennis is also an Under-Secretary General of the United Nations. He is responsible for the overall management of that International Tribunal and for liaising with Member States as well as the Security Council. He oversees the implementation of ICTR strategic policies and the management of its external relations. He provides the dedicated leadership and commitment for the realization of the Tribunal’s overall Completion Strategy without sacrificing any of the vital safeguards of due process
and fair trial
rights.
At the same time, he continues to maintain the excellent level of cooperation with stakeholders that is indispensable to buttress the work of the Tribunal in the development of international criminal justice. He has regularly addressed the Security Council of the United Nations in New York City
to deliver six-monthly Reports on behalf of the Tribunal in his capacity as President on the progress of the Security Council’s Completion Strategy.
President Byron has sat on 7 trial benches and served on a number of pre-trial benches while at the Tribunal. He currently presides over the multi-accused Karemera, et al. trial, also known as Government I, involving Édouard Karemera
, former Minister of the Interior of Rwanda
, and Matthieu Ngirumpatse, former President of the MRND.
Sir Dennis has written many publications and has been a keynote speaker and guest lecturer at renowned events and conferences across several continents. On 16th March 2011, he delivered the 9th Annual Ruth Steinkraus-Cohen International Law Lecture of the United Nations Association
of London
hosted by the School of Oriental and African Studies
of the University of London
. He also holds the first Yogis & Keddy Chair in Human Rights Law at Dalhousie University
.
In 2010, Sir Dennis was made an Honorary Fellow
by his Alma Mater, Fitzwilliam College of Cambridge University.
In a recent interview with Radio Netherlands Worldwide, Sir Dennis highlighted two judgments of the ICTR as trend-setting in international law
. Akayesu, which was the first case at the international level to interpret genocide in the light of the Genocide Convention and is also recognized as the seminal authority in International Criminal Law
on sexual violence
in conflict situations. As a result of this precedent, rape is now a crime of genocide. Secondly, President Byron highlighted the Media case which has identified the principles governing media responsibility
in International Criminal Law.
In mid-March of 2011, it was announced that Sir Dennis was appointed as the new President of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) during the recent Caribbean Community
(CARICOM) Heads of Government Inter-Sessional Summit in Grenada. This appointment followed the unanimous recommendation of Sir Dennis for President by the Regional and Judicial Legal Services Commission.
Sir Dennis ended his tenure of four years as President of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in May of 2011 and was sworn in as President of the CCJ in his home country of St. Kitts and Nevis on 1st September, 2011.
Sir Dennis is the son of the late Mr. Vincent Byron, Sr., M.B.E., former senior civil servant who served as Warden
of Anguilla
and who on occasion acted as Governor-General's Deputy to former Governor-General
Sir Clement Arrindell, Q.C., Sir Dennis's uncle-in-law. Mr. Vincent Byron, Sr., and his wife, distinguished business proprietor Mrs. Pearl Byron, both died in mid-1998. His only sister, Helen Marcella Byron-Baker, is a senior Property Manager at Durst Fetner, one of the largest property developers in New York.
Sir Dennis previously practised law with his uncle, the late former Magistrate
Cecil Byron. He is the older brother of former St. Kitts and Nevis Ambassador
to the Republic of China on Taiwan
and South Korea
, Terence Byron, C.M.G., and of current Opposition Senator in the Federal Parliament
the Honourable Vincent Byron, Jr., who are Partners in the local law firm
of Byron & Byron.
Caribbean Court of Justice
The Caribbean Court of Justice is the judicial institution of the Caribbean Community . Established in 2001, it is based in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago....
. He also serves as President of the Commonwealth Judicial Education Institute, and is former President of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda
International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda
The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda is an international court established in November 1994 by the United Nations Security Council in Resolution 955 in order to judge people responsible for the Rwandan Genocide and other serious violations of international law in Rwanda, or by Rwandan...
(ICTR), and former Chief Justice of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court
Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court
The Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court is a superior Court of record for the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States , including six independent states: Antigua and Barbuda, the Commonwealth of Dominica, Grenada, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and three British...
. He was born in Basseterre
Basseterre
Basseterre , estimated population 15,500 in 2000, is the capital of the Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis in the West Indies. Geographically, the Basseterre port is located at , on the south western coast of Saint Kitts Island, and it is one of the chief commercial depots of the Leeward Islands...
, Saint Kitts and Nevis
Saint Kitts and Nevis
The Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis , located in the Leeward Islands, is a federal two-island nation in the West Indies. It is the smallest sovereign state in the Americas, in both area and population....
.
Early life and career
Dennis, as he is affectionately called, won the Leeward Islands Scholarship in 1960 and went on to read law at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge University. At Fitzwilliam, he won his oar as a member of the College’s top rowing team in the May BumpsMay Bumps
The May Bumps are a set of rowing races, held annually on the River Cam in Cambridge. They began in 1887 after separating from the Lent Bumps, the equivalent bumping races held at the end of February or start of March. Prior to the separation there had been a single set of annual bumps dating from...
for 1964. He graduated with an M.A and LL.B. in 1966. In 1965, he was called to the Bar of England and Wales by the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple.
Sir Dennis distinguished himself in private practice as a Barrister-at-Law and Solicitor
Solicitor
Solicitors are lawyers who traditionally deal with any legal matter including conducting proceedings in courts. In the United Kingdom, a few Australian states and the Republic of Ireland, the legal profession is split between solicitors and barristers , and a lawyer will usually only hold one title...
throughout the Leeward Islands
Leeward Islands
The Leeward Islands are a group of islands in the West Indies. They are the northern islands of the Lesser Antilles chain. As a group they start east of Puerto Rico and reach southward to Dominica. They are situated where the northeastern Caribbean Sea meets the western Atlantic Ocean...
, with Chambers in Saint Kitts
Saint Kitts
Saint Kitts Saint Kitts Saint Kitts (also known more formally as Saint Christopher Island (Saint-Christophe in French) is an island in the West Indies. The west side of the island borders the Caribbean Sea, and the eastern coast faces the Atlantic Ocean...
, Nevis
Nevis
Nevis is an island in the Caribbean Sea, located near the northern end of the Lesser Antilles archipelago, about 350 km east-southeast of Puerto Rico and 80 km west of Antigua. The 93 km² island is part of the inner arc of the Leeward Islands chain of the West Indies...
and Anguilla
Anguilla
Anguilla is a British overseas territory and overseas territory of the European Union in the Caribbean. It is one of the most northerly of the Leeward Islands in the Lesser Antilles, lying east of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands and directly north of Saint Martin...
from 1966 to 1982.
Judicial career
His judicial career began in 1982 at the age of 38 when he was appointed as a High Court Judge of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court, a federal Court serving six independent countries together with three Crown Colonies of Great Britain. He was soon frequently sitting as a Court of Appeal Judge in an acting capacity before being appointed a substantive member of the Court of Appeal in 1990. In 1986, as Acting Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of GrenadaGrenada
Grenada is an island country and Commonwealth Realm consisting of the island of Grenada and six smaller islands at the southern end of the Grenadines in the southeastern Caribbean Sea...
, on secondment from the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court
Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court
The Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court is a superior Court of record for the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States , including six independent states: Antigua and Barbuda, the Commonwealth of Dominica, Grenada, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and three British...
, he presided over the famous murder trial involving the assassination of Prime Minister
Prime minister
A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...
Maurice Bishop
Maurice Bishop
Maurice Rupert Bishop was a Grenadian politician and revolutionary who seized power in a coup in 1979 from Eric Gairy and served as Prime Minister of the People's Revolutionary Government of Grenada until 1983, when he was overthrown in another coup by Bernard Coard, a member of his own...
– the longest criminal trial in Caribbean history.
In 1995, over a five month period, in tandem with Operation Uphold Democracy, Sir Dennis, with two other international Judges, and a full supporting team, organized judicial education programmes for the Haitian Judiciary. This was an initiative of the National Center for State Courts of the United States in the wake of the restoration of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide
Jean-Bertrand Aristide
Jean-Bertrand Aristide is a Haitian former Catholic priest and politician who served as Haiti's first democratically elected president. A proponent of liberation theology, Aristide was appointed to a parish in Port-au-Prince in 1982 after completing his studies...
in Haiti
Haiti
Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...
.
In 1999, Judge Byron was appointed Chief Justice
Chief Justice
The Chief Justice in many countries is the name for the presiding member of a Supreme Court in Commonwealth or other countries with an Anglo-Saxon justice system based on English common law, such as the Supreme Court of Canada, the Constitutional Court of South Africa, the Court of Final Appeal of...
of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court, having acted in that position for two years. As Acting Chief Justice, Judge Byron made the establishment of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court Judicial Reform Programme a matter of high priority. In 1997, he launched the Judicial Education Institute as a Committee of the Chief Justice’s Office. The Committee produced a Code of Ethics for Judges, and organized a series of seminars and training programmes providing orientation for Judges, lawyers and trial Court Registrars.
This Programme was a prelude to the modernisation of practice and procedure in litigation, which was brought to fruition when Chief Justice Byron introduced the new Civil Procedure Rules 2000, which came into operation as of 31 December 2000. These new Rules, tailored to the norms of the Eastern Caribbean, are in keeping with the ethos of judicial case management which informs the Woolf Reforms instituted in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
in 1998. Sir Dennis was the first Chief Justice to implement the English-modelled Civil Procedure Rules in the Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
region.
With these reforms, Sir Dennis set a three-fold objective, namely, the enhancement of public access to the Court by simplifying procedures, the reduction of the delay of litigation from start to finish, and the inculcation of a higher standard of professionalism at the Bar.
Judge Byron chaired the Rules Reform Committee, and hosted workshops for lawyers in different Caribbean islands, to which he invited a Judge, a Master and a leading practitioner from Canada to share their experiences and advice with regard to their own shift to case management by the Court.
Sir Dennis has been President of the Commonwealth Judicial Education Institute in Halifax, Canada since the year 2000.
In 2000, Judge Byron was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II and he was appointed a member of Her Majesty’s Most Honourable Privy Council
Privy council
A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a nation, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the monarch's closest advisors to give confidential advice on...
in 2004, making him only the second national of St. Kitts and Nevis to be appointed, following the appointment of the country's first Prime Minister Dr. Kennedy Simmonds
Kennedy Simmonds
Dr. the Right Honourable Sir Kennedy Alphonse Simmonds was a founding member of the People's Action Movement party. He was Premier of Saint Kitts and Nevis from 21 February 1980, until the twin-island state gained independence from the United Kingdom on 19 September 1983. Upon Independence, he...
in 1984. Also in 2004, Sir Dennis was appointed as an Honorary Bencher of the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple.
In March 2001, then Chief Justice Byron was a member of an international delegation of jurists who travelled to Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the African continent, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia and a tip of Namibia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east. Zimbabwe has three...
on a Fact-Finding Mission on behalf of the Human Rights Institute of the International Bar Association
International Bar Association
The International Bar Association is an international association of lawyers and lawyers' associations. The IBA's stated purpose is to promote an exchange of information between legal associations worldwide, support the independence of the judiciary and the right of lawyers to practice their...
, inquiring into reports of abuses against the Rule of Law
Rule of law
The rule of law, sometimes called supremacy of law, is a legal maxim that says that governmental decisions should be made by applying known principles or laws with minimal discretion in their application...
by the Robert Mugabe
Robert Mugabe
Robert Gabriel Mugabe is the President of Zimbabwe. As one of the leaders of the liberation movement against white-minority rule, he was elected into power in 1980...
Government. The 7-member Mission was headed by Lord Goldsmith, QC
QC
In Commonwealth countries, QC refers to Queen's Counsel, a distinguished and experienced legal practitioner.QC may also refer to:* Quebec Canada Post provincial abbreviation...
, who was soon to become Attorney General of the United Kingdom
Attorney General of the United Kingdom
There is no position of Attorney General of the United Kingdom, as England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have different legal systems.The term Attorney General when used in the United Kingdom may refer to:...
. The IBA is the world’s leading organization of Bar Associations, Law Societies and legal practitioners, drawn from 183 countries and representing 2.5 million lawyers.
At the invitation of then-Secretary General of the United Nations Kofi Annan
Kofi Annan
Kofi Atta Annan is a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh Secretary-General of the UN from 1 January 1997 to 31 December 2006...
, Judge Byron, while serving as Chief Justice of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court, from which position he retired, became a permanent Judge of the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda
International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda
The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda is an international court established in November 1994 by the United Nations Security Council in Resolution 955 in order to judge people responsible for the Rwandan Genocide and other serious violations of international law in Rwanda, or by Rwandan...
(ICTR) in 2004. The ICTR was established by the United Nations Security Council to try war crimes committed during the Rwandan genocide
Rwandan Genocide
The Rwandan Genocide was the 1994 mass murder of an estimated 800,000 people in the small East African nation of Rwanda. Over the course of approximately 100 days through mid-July, over 500,000 people were killed, according to a Human Rights Watch estimate...
of nearly 1 million people in 1994. Sir Dennis was elected President of the Tribunal in May 2007 and re-elected for a second term in May 2009. There are 23 other Judges over whom Sir Dennis presides as President of the ICTR. They are, in order of precedence, from Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
, Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
, United Republic of Tanzania, Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, Senegal
Senegal
Senegal , officially the Republic of Senegal , is a country in western Africa. It owes its name to the Sénégal River that borders it to the east and north...
, United States of America, Malta
Malta
Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...
, Madagascar
Madagascar
The Republic of Madagascar is an island country located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa...
, Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, Uganda
Uganda
Uganda , officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. Uganda is also known as the "Pearl of Africa". It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by South Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by...
, Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
, Cameroon
Cameroon
Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon , is a country in west Central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west; Chad to the northeast; the Central African Republic to the east; and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the Republic of the Congo to the south. Cameroon's coastline lies on the...
, Ghana
Ghana
Ghana , officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south...
, Jordan
Jordan
Jordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan , Al-Mamlaka al-Urduniyya al-Hashemiyya) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing...
, Republic of Korea, Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso – also known by its short-form name Burkina – is a landlocked country in west Africa. It is surrounded by six countries: Mali to the north, Niger to the east, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the south, and Côte d'Ivoire to the southwest.Its size is with an estimated...
, Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
, Madagascar, Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
and Czech Republic
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
. Sir Dennis was elected and re-elected President by his fellow Judges, in testimony to their confidence in his competence to lead the Tribunal.
As President of the ICTR which is located in Arusha
Arusha
Arusha is a city in northern Tanzania. It is the capital of the Arusha Region, which claims a population of 1,288,088, including 281,608 for the Arusha District . Arusha is surrounded by some of Africa's most famous landscapes and national parks...
, Tanzania, Sir Dennis is also an Under-Secretary General of the United Nations. He is responsible for the overall management of that International Tribunal and for liaising with Member States as well as the Security Council. He oversees the implementation of ICTR strategic policies and the management of its external relations. He provides the dedicated leadership and commitment for the realization of the Tribunal’s overall Completion Strategy without sacrificing any of the vital safeguards of due process
Due process
Due process is the legal code that the state must venerate all of the legal rights that are owed to a person under the principle. Due process balances the power of the state law of the land and thus protects individual persons from it...
and fair trial
Fair Trial
Fair Trial was a British Thoroughbred racehorse and Champion sire. He was bred and raced by John Arthur Dewar who also bred and raced Tudor Minstrel....
rights.
At the same time, he continues to maintain the excellent level of cooperation with stakeholders that is indispensable to buttress the work of the Tribunal in the development of international criminal justice. He has regularly addressed the Security Council of the United Nations in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
to deliver six-monthly Reports on behalf of the Tribunal in his capacity as President on the progress of the Security Council’s Completion Strategy.
President Byron has sat on 7 trial benches and served on a number of pre-trial benches while at the Tribunal. He currently presides over the multi-accused Karemera, et al. trial, also known as Government I, involving Édouard Karemera
Edouard Karemera
Édouard Karemera is a former Rwandan politician. He is chiefly known for his alleged role in the Rwandan Genocide.Born in Mabanza commune, Kibuya préfecture, Rwanda, of Hutu ethnicity, Karemana held the position of Minister of Institutional Relations in the government of Juvénal Habyarimana of...
, former Minister of the Interior of Rwanda
Rwanda
Rwanda or , officially the Republic of Rwanda , is a country in central and eastern Africa with a population of approximately 11.4 million . Rwanda is located a few degrees south of the Equator, and is bordered by Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo...
, and Matthieu Ngirumpatse, former President of the MRND.
Sir Dennis has written many publications and has been a keynote speaker and guest lecturer at renowned events and conferences across several continents. On 16th March 2011, he delivered the 9th Annual Ruth Steinkraus-Cohen International Law Lecture of the United Nations Association
United Nations Association
The United Nations Associations are non-governmental organizations that exist in various countries to enhance the relationship between the people of a member state and the United Nations, raise public awareness of the UN and its work, promote the general goals of the UN and act as an advisory body...
of London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
hosted by the School of Oriental and African Studies
School of Oriental and African Studies
The School of Oriental and African Studies is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and a constituent college of the University of London...
of the University of London
University of London
-20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...
. He also holds the first Yogis & Keddy Chair in Human Rights Law at Dalhousie University
Dalhousie University
Dalhousie University is a public research university located in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The university comprises eleven faculties including Schulich School of Law and Dalhousie University Faculty of Medicine. It also includes the faculties of architecture, planning and engineering located at...
.
In 2010, Sir Dennis was made an Honorary Fellow
Fellow
A fellow in the broadest sense is someone who is an equal or a comrade. The term fellow is also used to describe a person, particularly by those in the upper social classes. It is most often used in an academic context: a fellow is often part of an elite group of learned people who are awarded...
by his Alma Mater, Fitzwilliam College of Cambridge University.
In a recent interview with Radio Netherlands Worldwide, Sir Dennis highlighted two judgments of the ICTR as trend-setting in international law
International law
Public international law concerns the structure and conduct of sovereign states; analogous entities, such as the Holy See; and intergovernmental organizations. To a lesser degree, international law also may affect multinational corporations and individuals, an impact increasingly evolving beyond...
. Akayesu, which was the first case at the international level to interpret genocide in the light of the Genocide Convention and is also recognized as the seminal authority in International Criminal Law
International criminal law
International criminal law is a body of international law designed to prohibit certain categories of conduct commonly viewed as serious atrocities and to make perpetrators of such conduct criminally accountable for their perpetration. Principally, it deals with genocide, war crimes, crimes against...
on sexual violence
Sexual violence
Sexual violence occurs throughout the world, although in most countries there has been little research conducted on the problem. Due to the private nature of sexual violence, estimating the extent of the problem is difficult...
in conflict situations. As a result of this precedent, rape is now a crime of genocide. Secondly, President Byron highlighted the Media case which has identified the principles governing media responsibility
Media responsibility
Media responsibility is a term for the belief that mass media have a basic responsibility to help strengthen and support democratic processes....
in International Criminal Law.
In mid-March of 2011, it was announced that Sir Dennis was appointed as the new President of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) during the recent Caribbean Community
Caribbean Community
The Caribbean Community is an organisation of 15 Caribbean nations and dependencies. CARICOM's main purposes are to promote economic integration and cooperation among its members, to ensure that the benefits of integration are equitably shared, and to coordinate foreign policy...
(CARICOM) Heads of Government Inter-Sessional Summit in Grenada. This appointment followed the unanimous recommendation of Sir Dennis for President by the Regional and Judicial Legal Services Commission.
Sir Dennis ended his tenure of four years as President of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in May of 2011 and was sworn in as President of the CCJ in his home country of St. Kitts and Nevis on 1st September, 2011.
Personal life
Sir Dennis is married to Lady Norma Byron, and is the father of four children.Sir Dennis is the son of the late Mr. Vincent Byron, Sr., M.B.E., former senior civil servant who served as Warden
Warden
Warden may refer to:Officers: having care or custody of some institution; the word is related to guardian.* Warden , head of some University colleges and academic institutions...
of Anguilla
Anguilla
Anguilla is a British overseas territory and overseas territory of the European Union in the Caribbean. It is one of the most northerly of the Leeward Islands in the Lesser Antilles, lying east of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands and directly north of Saint Martin...
and who on occasion acted as Governor-General's Deputy to former Governor-General
Governor-General
A Governor-General, is a vice-regal person of a monarch in an independent realm or a major colonial circonscription. Depending on the political arrangement of the territory, a Governor General can be a governor of high rank, or a principal governor ranking above "ordinary" governors.- Current uses...
Sir Clement Arrindell, Q.C., Sir Dennis's uncle-in-law. Mr. Vincent Byron, Sr., and his wife, distinguished business proprietor Mrs. Pearl Byron, both died in mid-1998. His only sister, Helen Marcella Byron-Baker, is a senior Property Manager at Durst Fetner, one of the largest property developers in New York.
Sir Dennis previously practised law with his uncle, the late former Magistrate
Magistrate
A magistrate is an officer of the state; in modern usage the term usually refers to a judge or prosecutor. This was not always the case; in ancient Rome, a magistratus was one of the highest government officers and possessed both judicial and executive powers. Today, in common law systems, a...
Cecil Byron. He is the older brother of former St. Kitts and Nevis Ambassador
Ambassador
An ambassador is the highest ranking diplomat who represents a nation and is usually accredited to a foreign sovereign or government, or to an international organization....
to the Republic of China on Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
and South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
, Terence Byron, C.M.G., and of current Opposition Senator in the Federal Parliament
National Assembly of Saint Kitts and Nevis
The National Assembly is the parliament of Saint Kitts and Nevis. The Assembly has 14 or 15 members , 11 of whom are elected for a five year term in single-seat constituencies and are known as Representatives. The remaining four are called Senators; three are appointed by the governor-general and...
the Honourable Vincent Byron, Jr., who are Partners in the local law firm
Law firm
A law firm is a business entity formed by one or more lawyers to engage in the practice of law. The primary service rendered by a law firm is to advise clients about their legal rights and responsibilities, and to represent clients in civil or criminal cases, business transactions, and other...
of Byron & Byron.