This article was first published in the Spring 2014 issue of .
Just months shy of his 50th birthday, William Fenrick (LLB鈥�73) spent a few hours in the custody of Croatian Serb militia officers in the former Yugoslavia.
It was 1993, and Fenrick was in the crumbling nation investigating war crimes as a member of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 780 Commission of Experts. In this active war zone, Fenrick was witness to some of the most horrific acts imaginable, including mass killings. He was also at risk of injury, even death, during the intense ethnic conflict. Military commanders who didn鈥檛 want Fenrick and his colleagues to uncover the full extent of the atrocities they had committed also posed a real threat to the team鈥檚 safety, which is how he found himself in custody.
As hard as it is to fathom, Fenrick says he wasn鈥檛 worried for the most part. 鈥淲e were going on sheer adrenaline. I don鈥檛 think many of us on the commission were afraid. Even so, the potential for something to happen was constantly on my mind.鈥�
The former naval officer from Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., and the only investigator on the five-member commission with military experience, Fenrick was trying to determine if criminal cases could be developed against Bosnian Serb military commanders based on the atrocities the investigators uncovered鈥攁trocities committed against Bosnian Muslims and Bosnian Croats. He not only wrote reports that paved the way for charges and convictions; he also helped prosecute those cases as senior legal advisor with the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague.
Fenrick also shaped how nations like Canada conduct war. He worked with his mentor, Leslie Green, a professor of law at the University of Alberta, to develop a manual on the law of armed conflict for Canada鈥檚 military. He negotiated treaties, drafted policies and served as the principal legal adviser to the National Defence Headquarters Crisis Team during the Gulf Conflict of 1990-91, ensuring Canadian troops conducted themselves in a humane way. And he helped take the unprecedented step of sending lawyers overseas with the troops. 鈥淚 wanted to ensure our soldiers were fully instructed on the law related to combat.鈥�
By the time Fenrick retired from the International Criminal Tribunal in 2004, he had not only helped to create the international humanitarian laws that govern combat, his efforts had helped make armed conflicts a little more humane. 鈥淟ike many people, I probably would have joked that there could be no law in war,鈥� says his son Michael (LLB鈥�08). 鈥淏ut it has to do with maintaining the rule of law in the most dire, challenging and often hellish circumstances imaginable. My father鈥檚 work has gone some way toward making life better for people in the worst circumstances.鈥�
Finding inspiration
The Ontario-born Fenrick had no real interest in law until he enrolled at AV俱乐部鈥檚 Law School in 1970. The Royal Military College graduate, who served as a Royal Canadian Navy officer from 1967 to 1970, made the decision upon realizing his first academic love, history, was an overcrowded field. Law, he reasoned, was a more viable way to support his family. Yet it wasn鈥檛 until the October Crisis of that fall that Fenrick truly became passionate about law, specifically how states conduct themselves during emergencies. 鈥淲hen a state is under threat, what can it do legitimately? What controls can it impose? Can it bend the laws to stay together? That intrigued me.鈥�
Equally intriguing was his work with the newly launched AV俱乐部 Legal Aid Service, as a member of the board of directors. 鈥淥ur focus was on how you protect those who are most vulnerable, so it went hand in hand with my interest in law in crisis situations. Through my studies and involvement in Legal Aid, I was becoming more aware of social issues and the legal approaches to address them.鈥�
Upon graduating, Fenrick joined the military鈥檚 Office of the Judge Advocate General (JAG), serving as a court martial prosecutor and defender for four years before moving to the Directorate of International Law at JAG鈥檚 Ottawa office. His work there鈥攄rafting the armed conflict manual and serving as principal legal adviser during the Gulf Conflict鈥攎ade him the obvious choice for Canada鈥檚 nomination to the Commission of Experts investigating Yugoslavian war crimes. Though resources were limited and access to sites was often denied, Fenrick and his colleagues persisted, writing reports that led to charges and, later, convictions. 鈥淚 thought I had the best job in the forces and one of the best jobs ever. And when they established the tribunal, I applied and spent the next 10 years helping to prosecute the cases I built.鈥�
Clarifying boundaries
It is his work as senior legal adviser to the tribunal that Fenrick believes is his most important undertaking, mainly for demonstrating that military commanders could successfully be tried for combat offences.
鈥淏efore the tribunal, there was general agreement that attacks causing disproportionate civilian casualties, or attacks directed against civilians, were illegal by today鈥檚 standards. Yet no one knew how you could prosecute for such incidents. It was a lot of effort, but I think we developed some strong cases, achieved important decisions and produced some good laws.鈥�
He elaborates further: 鈥淚f you practice in a court in Halifax, you have a pretty good idea of the laws and your boundaries. International law is fuzzier. It鈥檚 hard to figure out the boundaries, but they do exist and you have to be clear on them so you don鈥檛 run wild. That鈥檚 my legacy: I helped clarify those boundaries and developed international humanitarian law by determining a realistic, workable approach to the legal issues we faced in prosecuting cases.鈥�
Fenrick retired to Halifax in 2004 and spent a few years teaching seminars at AV俱乐部 on international humanitarian and criminal law. He continues to write and lecture on the topics, and is optimistic that there is now a foundation for a strong, sustainable international legal system. Still Fenrick cautions there is more work to be done.
鈥淚t took hundreds of years to develop Canada鈥檚 court system. We鈥檙e only at the early stages in international humanitarian law. There are those who see the glass being half empty. But I see it as half full. It will take time, but I believe we will make great strides. I鈥檓 glad I had the opportunity to contribute to it.鈥�