Preceded by Pierre-Richard Prosper Succeeded by Stephen Rapp | Name John Williamson | |
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President George W. Bush and Barack Obama Alma mater Louisiana Tech University
Tulane University Law School Education Louisiana Tech University, Tulane University, Tulane University Law School | ||
TEDx Seton Hall Talk 2: Ambassador Williamson
John Clint Williamson is a U.S. diplomat and prosecutor who has served in a variety of senior-level roles with the United States Government, the United Nations, and the European Union.
Contents
Early life and education
Ambassador Williamson was born in Ruston, Louisiana. He holds a bachelor's degree from Louisiana Tech University and a law degree from Tulane University Law School.
Career
In October 2011, he was appointed to serve as the European Union's Special Prosecutor, examining allegations of war crimes committed by Kosovo Albanians during and in the aftermath of the 1999 war in Kosovo. The most prominent charges involved allegations that individuals associated with the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) murdered Serb prisoners for the purpose of harvesting and trafficking their bodily organs. As Special Prosecutor, he headed the multi-national EU Special Investigative Task Force (SITF) which has responsibility for conducting this investigation and bringing any prosecutions that are warranted.
On 29 July 2014, in Brussels, he announced SITF's investigative findings. In this statement, he indicated that "certain senior officials of the former KLA bear responsibility for a campaign of persecution that was directed at the ethnic Serb, Roma, and other minority populations of Kosovo and toward fellow Kosovo Albanians whom they labeled as political opponents." He went on to say that these acts of persecution effectively resulted in the ethnic cleansing of large portions of the Serb and Roma populations from Kosovo and that these crimes were not the acts of rogue individuals acting on their own accord, but rather that they were conducted in an organized fashion and were sanctioned by the KLA leadership. He added that the widespread or systematic nature of these crimes justifies a prosecution for crimes against humanity. As to the organ trafficking allegations, he said that "there are compelling indications that this practice did occur on a very limited scale and that a small number of individuals were killed for the purpose of extracting and trafficking their organs." He stated that SITF's findings were largely consistent with those in the Marty Report, but that the investigation had not yet secured a level of evidence sufficient to charge those crimes. He concluded by saying that this aspect of the investigation is still ongoing, however, and that SITF will continue to vigorously pursue these allegations.
At the conclusion of his term as Special Prosecutor, Ambassador Williamson joined the faculty of the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law at Arizona State University, where he is a Distinguished Professor of Practice. He serves concurrently as Senior Director for Law and National Security at the university's McCain Institute for International Leadership, based in Washington, DC.
Immediately prior to his appointment with the EU, from June 2010 to September 2011, Ambassador Williamson served as a Special Expert to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, focused primarily on the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia.
From his confirmation by the U.S. Senate in June 2006 until September 2009, he served as the United States Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issues, with the rank of an Assistant Secretary of State. In this capacity, he coordinated U.S. Government efforts to further accountability for serious violations of international humanitarian law throughout the world. He was the third person to hold this title.
Immediately prior to his appointment in the U.S. Department of State, Ambassador Williamson served as the Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Relief, Stabilization, and Development at the National Security Council (NSC). From 2003 to early-2006, he served as the Director for Stability Operations on the NSC staff. During his tenure at the White House, he was instrumental in developing the proposal for creation of a standing U.S. Government post-conflict response capability, which was realized with the establishment of the Office of the Coordinator for Reconstruction and Stabilization (now the Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations) in the State Department in mid-2004.
While with the NSC, Ambassador Williamson served a rotation in Baghdad, Iraq in 2003 as the first Senior Adviser to the Iraqi Ministry of Justice. In this capacity, he was responsible for re-instituting judicial operations and ministry functions in the aftermath of the U.S. invasion. From late-2001 through 2002, he served in the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations as the Director of the Department of Justice in the United Nations Mission in Kosovo, overseeing the justice and prison systems.
From 1994 to 2001, he worked as a Trial Attorney at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague, Netherlands. While at the ICTY, he supervised investigations and field operations in the Balkans, compiled indictments, and prosecuted cases at trial. Among the cases handled by Ambassador Williamson were those against Slobodan Milosevic and the notorious paramilitary leader Zeljko Raznatovic, aka “Arkan,” as well as cases arising from the Yugoslav Army attacks on Vukovar and Dubrovnik, Croatia.
Prior to joining the ICTY, Ambassador Williamson served as a Trial Attorney in the U.S. Department of Justice Organized Crime Section and as an Assistant District Attorney in New Orleans, Louisiana.