https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmEOUWQ-MZU

International Human Rights Lawyer Dr. Curtis F. J. Doebbler discusses the destruction of the Middle East by outside forces and how international law must be applied to resolve the precarious situation.

Show Notes

Why the United States’ Use of Force Against Syria Violates International Law

American Hypocrisy on International Law

Court asked to rule Saddam detention unconstitutional

Websites

http://doebbler.net

https://twitter.com/cdoebbler

Books

http://cdpublishing.org

About Dr. Curtis F. J. Doebbler

Curtis F.J. Doebbler is an international human rights lawyer who since 1988 has been representing individuals before international human rights bodies in Africa, Europe, the Americas and before United Nations bodies. He is also an American lawyer authorized to practice before the courts of the District of Columbia in Washington, DC and several federal courts in the United States, including the Supreme Court of the United States.

Doebbler was born in 1961 in Buffalo, New York, and has American, Palestinian, and Dutch nationality.

He is known for his outspoken opposition to human rights violations by the U.S. government and his support of individuals in countries that have been subject to armed attacks by the United States. He has worked almost two decades in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East teaching international human rights law and representing individuals in human rights cases.

In the case of the former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, Doebbler argued before the Iraqi Special Tribunal that the court was illegal and did not respect human rights.

He has made representations before the UN Human Rights Council and at numerous side-events of the Council calling for an impartial, fair and equal application of international human rights law and an end the selective punishment of human rights violators, especially by taking steps to end the impunity of powerful countries.

He has advised governments, including the Palestinian National Authority and the Hamas government.

He is currently Research Professor of Law at the University of Makeni, Department of Law in Sierra Leone and a visiting professor at Webster University in Geneva.

Interview Transcript

G & E Podcast:   Dr. Curtis Doebbler is an international human rights lawyer who has represented governments, heads of state, and millions of refugees or displaced persons. He is also a professor who researches and teaches at a number of universities. He's constantly traveling between the US, Europe, Africa and the Middle East. We've currently caught up to him at the UN in New York. It's great to have you on the podcast Dr. Doebbler.

Dr. Doebbler:     Nice to speak with you.

G & E Podcast:   The Middle East has been in crisis since time and memorial, but there seems to be a renewal of tensions given the Syrian war of intervention, the Israeli/Palestine crisis, and the latest temple mount incident, the Saudi sponsored war in Yemen, and now fallout between GCC countries and Qatar due to what some say is Qatar's pursuit of more independent policies and desire to work with Iran. For the first part of this interview, I wanted you, somebody with great authority on this subject and who has skin in the game so to speak, who's on the ground, to give an overview of what you consider to be the main sources of chaos in the Middle East, who's destroying the Middle East? Is it US/EU intervention, Russian meddling, Israel, Saudi Arabia, the struggle between  Wahhabism Sunni-Islam? What do you consider are the main driving forces behind the chaos and the human rights violations?

Dr. Doebbler:     I think it's probably all of those that you've mentioned and maybe a few more. The Middle East, as many parts of the world, but particularly perhaps the Middle East because of it's geopolitical status over the last at least 100 years, perhaps the most complex geopolitical status of anywhere on the globe. It's been subject to a lot of forces and I would say mai...