By Mila Gagnon, student of the clinical teaching course in visual legal advocacy offered by the Civil Law Section of the Faculty of Law at the University of Ottawa.
Curious about the practice of international criminal law but unsure where to start?
As a student of civil law and international development, I realized how uncertain I was about the field of international law, particularly concerning the various professional opportunities and the difficulty of meeting experts in this field. Many students have expressed these feelings to me as well.
For these reasons, as part of my clinical teaching, I chose to demystify the practice of international criminal law by meeting Nadia Zed, a lawyer working at the heart of global justice with an impressive and inspiring background.
In this video, Nadia Zed explains her current work as Deputy Director of the Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Section at the Department of Justice Canada. In addition, she discusses her many previous professional experiences, including at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, the Kosovo Specialist Prosecutor’s Office based in The Hague, and the Independent Investigation Mechanism for Myanmar based in Geneva. She shares her expertise in pleading before international criminal law tribunals and mechanisms, addressing related tasks and the working environment. She demonstrates how this practice, essential to humanity, has a concrete impact on the lives of victims and on non-governmental and international organizations.
Nadia suggests that students who aspire to a career in international criminal law must actively demonstrate their interest in the field in their academic, professional and extracurricular circles, which will also give them a better understanding of how it works. She reveals the many paths to practicing in this field, including in international tribunals, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), military tribunals, and more.
Addressing my uncertainties, the exchange with Nadia Zed on her experience and guidance inspired me to pursue a similar profession and strengthened my determination to engage in this practice of paramount importance to humanity.
Stay determined and build your international career by blazing your own trail and seizing every opportunity that comes your way.
About Nadia Zed
Nadia Zed is Deputy Director and Senior Counsel in the Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Section of the Department of Justice Canada. After graduating from Osgoode Hall Law School in 2001, she articled and worked at the Downtown Toronto Crown Attorney’s Office. In 2005, she also obtained her LL.M from the Irish Centre for Human Rights in Galway, which launched her career in international criminal law. She worked in defense at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, then in Sarajevo in the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina on the Srebrenica cases. Nadia was a Prosecutor with the European Union Special Investigation Force, which was later transitioned into the Kosovo Specialist Prosecutor’s Office. She was a legal advisor to the Geneva-based United Nations Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar, and subsequently worked as a legal officer and team leader for the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar before returning to Canada.