Francis A. Boyle is professor of law at the University of Illinois College of Law and also professor in the Unit for Criticism and Interpretive Theory in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign. He was the Parhad Lecturer at the Faculty of Medicine for the University of Calgary in Canada in 2001. He was the Bertrand Russell Peace Lecturer at McMaster University in Canada in 2007. He drafted the U.S. domestic implementing legislation for the Biological Weapons Convention of 1972, known as the Biological Weapons Anti-Terrorism Act of 1989, which was passed unanimously by both Houses of the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President George Bush Senior. He served on the Board of Directors of Amnesty International USA from 1988 to 1992. He served as legal adviser to Chairman Yasser Arafat and the Palestine Liberation Organization on the Palestinian Declaration of Independence of November 15, 1988, and its creation of the State of Palestine that is now a United Nations Observer State. From 1991 to 1993 he served as legal adviser to the Palestinian Delegation to the Middle East Peace Negotiations and its Chair Dr. Haidar Abdul Shaffi, who instructed him to draft the Palestinian counteroffer to the now defunct Oslo Agreement.
In 1993 he represented the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina before the International Court of Justice, where he won two World Court Orders overwhelmingly in favor of Bosnia against Yugoslavia to cease and desist from committing all acts of genocide in violation of the 1948 Genocide Convention. He also represented the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina at the Owen-Stoltenberg Negotiations in Geneva in 1993, where he prevented Bosnia’s destruction as a State, saved Bosnia’s membership in the United Nations Organization, and stopped the ethnic cleansing of 1.5 to 2 million more Bosnians. He was Attorney of Record for the Mothers of Srebrenica and Podrina before the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and secured the indictment of Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic for almost every crime in the ICTY Statute, including two counts of genocide: one for Srebrenica and the second for Bosnia in general. He started the Divestment/Disinvestment Campaign against Israel in 2000 and at the request of Palestinian Civil Society joined with them in 2005 to form the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) Campaign. He is D in the Palestinian BDS Campaign.
His book Palestine Palestinians and International Law 2003 was our book of the month for November 2005. Further reading and readers comments as well as Professor Boyle's response at the time may be found on the book's page. Arab World Books also helped bring about the Arabic edition of the book.
His book World Politics, Human Rights, and International Law our book of the month February 2024
Publications:
Books
World Politics and International Law (Duke University Press: 1985; 2d prtg. 1987; 3d prtg. 1995). Designated “An Outstanding Academic Book of 1985-86” in the field of Political Science by Choice Magazine, Association of College and Research Libraries, American Library Association.
Defending Civil Resistance Under International Law (Transnational Publishers: 1987). The Center for Energy Research published a special paperback edition in 1988.
The Future of International Law and American Foreign Policy (Transnational Publishers: 1989). The Islamic World Studies Center in Malta published an Arabic language edition in 1993.
The Bosnian People Charge Genocide (Aletheia Press: 1996). The Bosnian State Institute for Research of Crimes against Humanity and International Law, which is affiliated with the University of Sarajevo, published a Bosnian language edition in 2000.
Foundations of World Order: The Legalist Approach to International Relations (1898-1922) (Duke University Press: 1999). Pakyounsa published a Korean translation of this book in 2004.
The Criminality of Nuclear Deterrence (Clarity Press: 2002) (Crescent News, Malaysia: 2007). Verlag Zeit-Fragen in Zurich, Switzerland published a German language edition in 2009.
Palestine, Palestinians, and International Law (Clarity Press: 2003;2d prtg.2005) (Crescent News, Malaysia: 2007). Shorouk International in Egypt published an Arabic translation of this book in 2004.
Destroying World Order: U.S. Imperialism in the Middle East Before and After September 11th (Clarity Press: 2004) (Crescent News, Malaysia: 2007). The Supreme Council of Culture in Egypt published an Arabic translation of this book in 2005.
Biowarfare and Terrorism (Clarity Press:2005) (Crescent News, Malaysia: 2007). Éditions DemiLune in Paris published a French translation of this book in 2007.
Protesting Power: War, Resistance, and Law (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.: 2008).
Breaking All The Rules: Palestine, Iraq, Iran, and the Case for Impeachment (Clarity Press: 2008).
Tackling America’s Toughest Questions (Clarity Press: 2009).
The Tamil Genocide by Sri Lanka (Clarity Press: 2010).
The Palestinian Right of Return Under International Law (Clarity Press: 2011).
United Ireland, Human Rights, and International Law (Clarity Press: 2012).
Destroying Libya and World Order (Clarity Press: 2013).
Restoring the Kingdom of Hawaii: The Kanaka Maoli Route to Independence (Clarity Press: 2014).
Free Puerto Rico! Puerto Rico and the Puerto Ricans under International Law (Editorial Borikén, P.R.: 2016).
World Politics, Human Rights, and International Law - Lexington Books 2021
