Neil Kritz
Associate Vice President, Rule of Law Center of
Innovation
International Law | Rule of Law | Transitional Justice
Phone: (202) 429-3888
E-mail: nkritz@usip.org
Neil J. Kritz directs USIP’s Rule of Law Center of Innovation, which focuses on advancing peace
through the development of democratic legal and governmental systems. Kritz conducts ongoing
research, writing and consultation on the question of how societies deal with a legacy of past
abuses. He has provided advice and organized conferences on questions of war crimes and mass abuses
in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cambodia, Guatemala, Indonesia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone and South Africa.
From 1990 to 1991, at the request of the Russian Constitutional Commission, Kritz
coordinated two expert reviews of the draft Russian constitution. He directs Institute working
groups on humanitarian law, constitution-making and the administration of justice during
peacekeeping operations. Since 1999, he has chaired a Palestinian-Israeli legal dialogue. At the
request of the U.S. Department of Defense, Kritz prepared a curriculum on international law and the
promotion of democracy for use in training U.S. and foreign military officials. He has studied and
written on the advancement of the rule of law through regional organizations such as the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
Before coming to the Institute, Kritz
served as special assistant to the chairman at the Administrative Conference of the United States.
He holds a J.D. from American University’s Washington College of Law.
Publications:
- Constitutional
Reform in Iraq: Improving Prospects, Political Decisions Needed
USIPeace Briefing
(September 2007)
- Iraq's Constitutional Process: Shaping A Vision for
the Country's Future
Special Report 132 (January 2005)
- "A Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Bosnia and Herzegovina: An Idea Whose Time has Come,"
International Law Forum (Vol. 3, 2001).
- "Progress and Humility: The Ongoing Search for Postconflict Justice," Post-Conflict
Justice, edited by M. Cherif Bassiouni (Transnational Publishers, 2002).
- "Where We Are and How We Got Here: An Overview of Developments in the Search for Justice and
Reconciliation," in The Legacy of Abuse: Confronting the Past, Facing the Future, edited by
Alice H. Henkin (The Aspen Institute, 2002).
- "Peace-building and State-building in Post-Conflict Situations: Promoting the Rule of Law,"
Peacemaking into the 21st Century, edited by Chester Crocker and Fen Osler Hampson (USIP
Press 1996).
- Transitional Justice: How Emerging
Democracies Reckon with Former Regimes, editor, Vol. I General Considerations Vol. II
Country Studies Vol. III Laws, Ruling, and Reports (USIP Press 1995).
- "The CSCE in the New
Era," Journal of Democracy (Vol. 4, No. 3, July, 1993).
- Comments and
Recommendations on the Draft Constitution of the Russian Federation (USIP Press 1991).
- Ratification of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide
, co-authored with Charles D. Smith (Conflict Analysis Center, 1984).
Other:
