Brigadier General Kenneth "Ken" Watkin, (born 1954) is a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

lawyer, soldier and jurist. Watkin was Judge Advocate General (JAG) of the

Canadian Forces The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF; , FAC) are the unified Military, military forces of Canada, including sea, land, and air commands referred to as the Royal Canadian Navy, Canadian Army and the Royal Canadian Air Force. Under the ''National Defenc ...

from 2006 to 2010. He is an expert on military law. He was promoted to brigadier general and appointed JAG effective April 2006, for a four-year term. In June 2010, the Israeli government appointed Watkin to be one of two international observers serving on an Israeli commission of inquiry looking into the events surrounding an Israeli raid on the ''

Mavi Marmara MV ''Mavi Marmara'' is a Comoros-flagged passenger ship, which was formerly owned and operated by İDO Istanbul Fast Ferries Co. Inc. on the line Sarayburnu, Istanbul-Marmara Island-Avşa Island in the Sea of Marmara. Built at the Golden Gat ...

''.

Early life and education

Watkin was born in

Kingston, Ontario Kingston is a city in Ontario, Canada, on the northeastern end of Lake Ontario. It is at the beginning of the St. Lawrence River and at the mouth of the Cataraqui River, the south end of the Rideau Canal. Kingston is near the Thousand Islands, ...

, a non-identical triplet, along with a brother (Kerry) and sister (Kathy); he also has an older brother (Robert). He and his siblings attended Loyalist Collegiate. Watkin is a graduate of the

Royal Military College of Canada The Royal Military College of Canada (), abbreviated in English as RMC and in French as CMR, is a Military academy#Canada, military academy and, since 1959, a List of universities in Canada#Ontario, degree-granting university of the Canadian ...

(B.A., 1976) and Queen's University Law School in

, where he received

Bachelor of Laws A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...

and

Master of Laws A Master of Laws (M.L. or LL.M.; Latin: ' or ') is a postgraduate academic degree, pursued by those either holding an undergraduate academic law degree, a professional law degree, or an undergraduate degree in another subject. In many jurisdi ...

degrees. From 2002 to 2003, Watkin was a visiting fellow at the Human Rights Program of

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School is the oldest law school in continuous operation in the United ...

Career

Pre-JAG

Ken Watkin started his career as an infantry officer in the Royal Canadian Regiment. His first tour of duty after graduating from The Royal Military College was with the Royal Canadian Regiment battalion in Gagetown New Brunswick. Watkin served as a Canadian Forces legal officer, starting in 1982, for 24 years prior to his appointment to JAG. He was trial counsel at

courts-martial A court-martial (plural ''courts-martial'' or ''courts martial'', as "martial" is a postpositive adjective) is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of members of the arme ...

and appellate counsel before the Canadian Court Martial Appeal Court. He worked as legal counsel on several investigations into the 1994

Rwandan genocide The Rwandan genocide, also known as the genocide against the Tutsi, occurred from 7 April to 19 July 1994 during the Rwandan Civil War. Over a span of around 100 days, members of the Tutsi ethnic group, as well as some moderate Hutu and Gre ...

, and counselled Canadian naval commanders in

Bosnia Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...

and during a fisheries dispute with Spain. He has written papers on the topics of

human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...

international humanitarian law International humanitarian law (IHL), also referred to as the laws of armed conflict or the laws of war, is the law that regulates the conduct of war (''wikt:jus in bello, jus in bello''). It is a branch of international law that seeks to limit ...

, and military operational law.

Somalia shooting inquiry

In the summer of 1994 when he was a Lieutenant-Colonel he wrote a legal review in which he questioned the conclusions of an investigation by

Canadian Airborne Regiment The Canadian Airborne Regiment () was a Canadian Forces formation created on April 8, 1968. It was not an administrative regiment in the commonly accepted British Commonwealth sense, but rather a tactical formation manned from other regiments and ...

Battle Group Col. Serge Labbe of an incident later known as the

Somalia Affair The Somalia affair was a 1993 Canadian military scandal, prompted by the beating to death of Shidane Arone, a Somali teenager, at the hands of two Canadian peacekeepers participating in humanitarian efforts in Somalia. The act was documented by ...

, where two Somalis were shot while fleeing from the Canadian compound in Belet Huen on March 4, 1993. One of the men died. He also questioned Labbe's "openness in reporting to higher headquarters." Watkin's paper, which concluded that the Canadian military had attempted a cover-up, was considered during the inquiry into the events of that day. Watkin testified that he was disturbed by comments made by Lt.-Col. Carol Mathieu, who was charged with negligent performance of duty for allegedly ordering soldiers to fire on looters. Watkin had been asked to brief the soldiers on the

rules of war The law of war is a component of international law that regulates the conditions for initiating war (''jus ad bellum'') and the conduct of hostilities (''jus in bello''). Laws of war define sovereignty and nationhood, states and territories, ...

. He testified that Mathieu said, "All that doesn't matter, you just throw down some loose rounds".

Afghan detainee issue

In the Canadian Afghan detainee issue, Watkin as Judge Advocate General wrote a May 2007 memo to Chief of Defence Staff Gen.

Rick Hillier Rick J. Hillier (born June 30, 1955) is a retired Canadian Armed Forces, Canadian Forces General (Canada), general, who served as the Chief of the Defence Staff (Canada), chief of the Defence Staff (CDS) from 4 February 2005 to 1 July 2008. He pr ...

and Lt.-Gen.

Michel Gauthier Michel Gauthier (; February 18, 1950 – May 30, 2020) was a Canadian politician, who served as leader of the Bloc Québécois from 1996 to 1997. As the party was the Official Opposition in the Parliament of Canada, Gauthier was also the L ...

telling them that it would be a crime to fail to investigate allegations of prisoner abuse. He advised the Canadian Forces command that they could be "criminally negligent" if they were to transfer detainees to a risk of torture in Afghan hands. Watkin declined to answer questions on the basis of solicitor-client privilege when called to testify in Canada's House of Commons, saying that the privilege owed to the Government of Canada prevented him answering a number of the House's questions. Craig Scott, an

Osgoode Hall Law School Osgoode Hall Law School, commonly shortened to Osgoode, is the law school of York University in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is home to the Law Commission of Ontario, the ''Journal of Law and Social Policy'', and the ''Osgoode Hall Law Journal ...

professor of international

law, said: "If there's this paper trail of good legal advice going against what the government is doing, it's even more likely (the federal government violated its obligations under international law)."

Turkel Commission of Inquiry

On June 14, 2010, he was appointed as an observer to the Israeli special independent public Turkel Commission of Inquiry into the

Gaza flotilla raid Ships of Gaza flotilla raid, Six civilian ships of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla were raided by Israel on 31 May 2010 in international waters in the Mediterranean Sea. Nine of the flotilla passengers were killed during the raid, with thirty woun ...

. The Commission investigated whether Israel's actions in preventing the arrival of ships in Gaza were in accordance with

international law International law, also known as public international law and the law of nations, is the set of Rule of law, rules, norms, Customary law, legal customs and standards that State (polity), states and other actors feel an obligation to, and generall ...

. Its focus was, among other things, on the security considerations for imposing a

naval blockade A navy, naval force, military maritime fleet, war navy, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations ...

on the Gaza Strip and the conformity of the naval blockade with the rules of international law; the conformity of the actions during the raid to principles of international law; and the actions taken by those who organized and participated in the flotilla, and their identities. On the Commission were former

Israeli Supreme Court The Supreme Court of Israel (, Hebrew acronym Bagatz; ) is the Supreme court, highest court in Israel. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all other courts, and in some cases original jurisdiction. The Supreme Court consists of 15 jud ...

Justice, Jacob Turkel, and former Technion University President,

Amos Horev Amos Horev (; ''né'' Sochaczewer; born 30 June 1924) is an Israeli military official and expert. He served as a commander in the Palmach the elite force of the Haganah before the founding of the state, and was later an Israel Defense Forces (IDF ...

, as well as two other members added in July 2010. (

Shabtai Rosenne Shabtai Rosenne (; 24 November 1917 – 21 September 2010) was a Professor of International Law and an Israeli diplomat. Rosenne was awarded the 1960 Israel Prize for Jurisprudence, the 1999 Manley O. Hudson Medal for International Law and Jur ...

Bar Ilan University Bar-Ilan University (BIU, , ''Universitat Bar-Ilan'') is a public research university in the Tel Aviv District city of Ramat Gan, Israel. Established in 1955, Bar Ilan is Israel's second-largest academic university institution. It has 20,000 ...

Professor of International Law, also served on the Commission from its establishment until his death on 21 September 2010.) In addition, the Commission had two foreign observers, Watkin and former

First Minister A first minister is any of a variety of leaders of government cabinets. The term literally has the same meaning as "prime minister" but is typically chosen to distinguish the office-holder from a superior prime minister. Currently the title of ' ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

David Trimble William David Trimble, Baron Trimble, (15 October 1944 – 25 July 2022) was a Northern Irish politician who was the inaugural First Minister of Northern Ireland from 1998 to 2002 and leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) from 1995 to 20 ...

, who took part in hearings and discussions, but did not vote on the final conclusions.

Awards

*Appointed to the Order of Military Merit (2002) *Appointed

Queen's Counsel A King's Counsel (Post-nominal letters, post-nominal initials KC) is a senior lawyer appointed by the monarch (or their Viceroy, viceregal representative) of some Commonwealth realms as a "Counsel learned in the law". When the reigning monarc ...

(Q.C.) (2006) *Maritime Commander's Commendation *2017 Francis Lieber Prize, American Society of International Law, Best Book on Law and Armed Conflict, Fighting at the Legal Boundaries: The Use of Force in Contemporary Conflict *2008 Lieber Society Military Prize, American Society of International Law, for the article "Assessing Proportionality: Moral Complexity and Legal Rules"

Select works

Books

The Law in War: A Concise Overview, Routledge, 2018,

Fighting at the Legal Boundaries: Controlling the Use of Force in Contemporary Conflict, Oxford University Press, 2016,
"Stability Operations: A Guiding Framework for 'Small Wars' and other Conflicts of the 21st Century?"
Chapter in ''The war in Afghanistan: a legal analysis'', Michael N. Schmitt, Government Printing Office, 2009,
"21st Century Conflict and International Humanitarian Law: Status Quo or Change?"
Chapter in ''International law and armed conflict: exploring the faultlines'', Michael N. Schmitt, Jelena Pejic, Yôrām Dinšṭein, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 2007,
''Warriors without rights?: combatants, unprivileged belligerents, and the struggle over legitimacy''
Kenneth Watkin, Harvard School of Public Health, Program on Humanitarian Policy and Conflict Research, 2005

Articles

"Opportunity Lost: Organized Armed Groups and the ICRC 'Direct Participation in Hostilities' Interpretive Guidance"
Kenneth Watkin, 42 ''NYU Journal of International Law and Politics'' 641, 2010
"Assessing Proportionality: Moral Complexity and Legal Rules"
8 ''Yearbook of International Humanitarian Law'' 3, 2007
"Tergeting: Pragmatism and the Real World"
Ken Watkin, 8.2 '' The Canadian Army Journal'' 66, Summer 2005
"Canada/United States Military Interoperability and Humanitarian Law Issues: Land Mines, Terrorism, Military Objectives and Targeted Killing"
Kenneth Watkin, 15 Duke Journal of Comparative & International Law 281, 2004–05
"Controlling the Use of Force: A Role for Human Rights Norms in Contemporary Armed Conflict"
Kenneth Watkin, ''

The American Journal of International Law ''The American Journal of International Law'' is an English-language scholarly journal focusing on international law International law, also known as public international law and the law of nations, is the set of Rule of law, rules, norms, Cu ...

'', 2004
"Guerriers, obéissance et primauté du droit"
Kenneth Watkin, 3 ''Le Bulletin de Doctrine et d'Instruction de l'Armee de Terre'' 24, Winter 2000/Spring 2001

References

External links

Canadian Forces – Biography of JAG Ken Watkin

Department of National Defence press release
{{DEFAULTSORT:Watkin, Ken Canadian generals Lawyers in Ontario Canadian military personnel from Ontario Royal Canadian Regiment officers People from Kingston, Ontario Queen's University at Kingston alumni Living people Royal Military College of Canada alumni Harvard Law School alumni International law scholars 1954 births Canadian King's Counsel Charles H. Stockton Professors of International Law