In Memory of Bernie Hamilton

We are greatly saddened that in the early morning hours of 24^th December, our dear friend and colleague Bernie Hamilton, 60, lost his battle with a highly aggressive cancer.  He spent his last weeks peacefully at St. John’s Hospice in London, where his wife Mirilee Pearl, his children Alex and Chloe, and loving friends kept vigil with him. Bernie is also survived by his mother Edith Dorothy.

As you may know, Bernie was an internationally respected human rights scholar and activist who worked tirelessly for many human rights causes.  Since 1995 Bernie served as President of the Leo Kuper Foundation, dedicated to eradicating genocide through research and education. He was co-chair of the Human Rights Interest Group of the American Society for International Law and Adviser to Doctors for Human Rights (DHR).  Bernie taught regularly at Birkbeck College, London and elsewhere, including the University of Oxford, American University in Washington DC and the University of Maryland. From 1990 to 1995 he was Director of the Washington DC office of Minority Rights Group International (MRG). From 1999 to 2005, he was Chair of the Board of Directors of The International Campaign to End Genocide.  Bernie contributed frequently to human rights publications, and edited Cases and Materials on Genocide (Cavendish, forthcoming).

Bernie approached human rights with the idea that the scholarship and instruments were practical tools to make human rights work for people. Using clear, careful reasoning based on deep knowledge and compelling delivery as a writer and teacher, his leadership empowered professionals as well as his students and demonstrated the drive with which he pursued human rights activism. Bernie schemed, organised, networked, collaborated, oiled, cemented, cajoled, criticised, but above all stood for one thing - the essential importance of human rights.

Two achievements stand out that typify his approach:  his back room work in Washington DC during the mid 1990s building a strong coalition of human rights NGOs to support the creation by the UN of the International Criminal Court; and latterly his work as the medium that started the process of the development of UN General Comment 14 on the right to the highest attainable standard of health. 

Bernie’s last weeks were brightened by the unanimous opinion in A and others for which he co-authored an amicus brief, by the warm messages he received from members of the human rights community, and by the recent engagement of his daughter Chloe to Chris Edwards.

The family hopes to honour Bernie’s memory at a human rights gathering, details of which will be forthcoming as they emerge.   In the meantime, you can reach Mirilee at mirilee@dsl.pipex.com or at Suite 212, 20 Harewood Avenue, London NW1 6JX.  Anyone wishing to make a donation in Bernie’s name may wish to consider DHR or MRG.