Attack by Design: Australia’s Offshore Detention System and the Literature of Atrocity

32(1) European Journal of International Law (2021)

22 Pages Posted: 24 Mar 2021 Last revised: 2 Aug 2021

See all articles by Itamar Mann

Itamar Mann

University of Haifa - Faculty of Law

Date Written: February 17, 2021

Abstract

A great work of literature does more for international criminal justice than providing evidence. By couching the evidence in conceptual categories, literature can offer insights on how law should be interpreted. This essay seeks to demonstrate this argument about legal interpretation through a reading of Behrouz Boochani’s much-acclaimed No Friends but the Mountain. In doing so, it offers a reflection on the significance of literary evidence authored by those subjected to atrocity. Boochani is far from being the first author whose work is valuable both as literature and as testimony (an overlap that has been widely studied in the humanities and social sciences). Yet the relationship between the two is still seldom appreciated by lawyers, and for its value to legal theory. The essay aims to contribute to the latter discussion, specifically as it pertains to contemporary abuses against asylum seekers.

Suggested Citation

Mann, Itamar, Attack by Design: Australia’s Offshore Detention System and the Literature of Atrocity (February 17, 2021). 32(1) European Journal of International Law (2021) , Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3787661

Itamar Mann (Contact Author)

University of Haifa - Faculty of Law ( email )

Mount Carmel
Haifa, 31905
Israel

Do you have a job opening that you would like to promote on SSRN?

Paper statistics

Downloads
141
Abstract Views
871
Rank
423,547
PlumX Metrics