Dr. Fidelma Donlon is Registrar of the Kosovo Specialist Chambers. As an experienced senior court administrator, she was appointed as Registrar in April 2016. Prior to this Dr. Donlon was Head of the Specialist Chambers and Registry Court Planning Team where she managed the strategic and organizational establishment of the Kosovo Specialist Chambers during 2015-16.
As part of her longstanding career in international criminal justice, Dr. Donlon has extensive experience as a senior manager at various criminal tribunals as well as significant experience in justice sector reform and judicial capacity building projects. From 2010 to 2013, she served as Deputy Registrar of the Special Court for Sierra Leone, overseeing Registry functions for the successful completion of the Charles Taylor trial and several contempt trials. Dr. Donlon was also an advisor to the Special Court of Sierra Leone in 2008, offering expert advice on residual issues including the Court’s ongoing legal obligations after the completion of trials and appeals. She authored the expert Report on, and designed, the Residual Special Court for Sierra Leone. In 2004, she was appointed Deputy Registrar of the War Crimes, Organized Crime, Economic Crime and Corruption Chambers of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), where she managed the set-up of the Chambers and the successful transfer of cases from the ICTY and the start of trials at the new court. From 2002 to 2004, Dr. Donlon was the Head of the Criminal Institutions and Prosecutorial Reform Unit within the Office of the High Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where she managed the establishment of the War Crimes and Organized Crimes Chambers of the BiH State Court and developed the national strategy for the reform of the BiH Prosecutorial System.
Dr. Donlon is a graduate of University College of Dublin and the Law Society of Ireland. She obtained her Doctorate in Law at the Irish Centre for Human Rights at the National University of Ireland with the thesis The Completion Strategies of the International Criminal Tribunals for the Former Yugoslavia and Rwanda and the Special Court for Sierra Leone- Lessons for Complementarity and the Prosecution of Crimes by National Courts (2012). She has lectured in International Criminal Law and published widely on the topics of tribunals and international justice and human rights.
Select Publications
- Donlon, Fidelma, “The Transition of Residual Functions from the Special Court to the Residual Special Court for Sierra Leone, Challenges and Lessons Learned for other Tribunals”, Journal of International Criminal Justice 11, 4 (2013):857-874.
- Donlon, Fidelma, “Armed Conflict, Peacekeeping, Transitional Justice Law as a Solution: The effectiveness of the human rights component in the EU peace operations in Bosnia”, in Faria Medjouba, “Building Peace in PostConflict Situations”, British Institute of International and Comparative Law (2012).
- Donlon, Fidelma, “Complementarity in Practice: ICTY Rule 11bis and the Use of the Tribunal’s evidence in the Srebrenica Trials before the Bosnian War Crimes Chamber”, in Carsten Stahn, “The International Criminal Court and Complementarity: From Theory to Practice”, Cambridge University Press (2011).
- Donlon, Fidelma, “The Completion Strategies and Rule 11bis of the ICTY, ICTR and Special Court for Sierra Leone” in “Judges as Lawmakers? The ad hoc Tribunals for Rwanda and Yugoslavia and the Special Court for Sierra Leone and the development of International Criminal law”, Oxford University Press (2010).
- Donlon, Fidelma, “The Contribution of Hybrid Courts to the Prosecution of International Crimes” in William A. Schabas, “The Routledge Handbook on International Criminal Law”, Routledge Publishers (2010).
- Donlon, Fidelma, “Combating Serious Crimes in Post Conflict Societies – A handbook for Policymakers and Practitioners”, in Rausch, Colette, United States Institute of Peace Press (2006).
- Donlon, Fidelma, “Justice: From the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia to the War Crimes Chamber of Bosnia”, in Dina Haynes, “Deconstructing the Reconstruction of Bosnia”, Ashgate Publishing (2008).
