Our research team

Alain-Guy Sipowo

Alain-Guy Sipowo holds a Doctorate in Law from Université Laval (LL.D, 2014) where he has held various positions in teaching and research, both fundamental and clinical. His doctoral thesis on the International Criminal Court received the René Cassin Prize from the International Institute of Human Rights in 2015, the special mention of the Michel Robert Prize in International Law from the Canadian Bar Association, and the Honorary Prize from the Association des professeurs de droit du Québec. Professor Sipowo went on to serve as a SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellow at McGill University's Centre for Human Rights and Legal Pluralism and a Catalyst Fellow at Osgoode Hall Law School at York University in Toronto, continuing his research on the rights of victims of crimes committed by or with the complicity of multinational corporations abroad. Professor Sipowo joined the School of Criminology at the Université de Montréal on December 1, 2021 as an Assistant Professor of Victimology.

In addition to his academic career, Professor Sipowo is a member of the Barreau du Québec and of the Association québécoise des avocats de la défense. He previously worked at the International Criminal Court (2008) and then as a Human Rights Officer for the United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (2010-2011). Mr. Sipowo acted as Counsel for States in two cases at the International Court of Justice in The Hague (2015-2020). His research and teaching interests focus on victims' rights. He regularly acts as a volunteer, advisor or volunteer for civil society organizations working for the rights of victims of crime and human rights violations, both in Canada and internationally.

Miriam Cohen

A specialist in international law and international human rights law, Miriam Cohen is an Assistant Professor at the Université de Montréal where she conducts a research program and teaches courses in public international law and international human rights law. She is the author of Realizing Reparative Justice for International Crimes: From Theory to Practice, Cambridge University Press (2020). She is a researcher at the Centre de recherche en droit prospective (CRDP), the International Centre for Comparative Criminology (ICCC) and the Centre d'études et de recherches internationales de l'Université de Montréal (CÉRIUM). Professor Cohen holds a PhD in International Law from Leiden University (Netherlands), she also holds an LL.M. in International Human Rights Law from Harvard University, an LL.M. in International Law from the University of Cambridge, as well as an LL.M. with dissertation and an LL.B. from the Université de Montréal.

Prior to her academic career, Professor Cohen gained extensive experience in international organizations. She has worked in the Legal Department at the United Nations International Court of Justice (ICJ) and, previously, in the Appeals Chamber and the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC). As a member of the Barreau du Québec, she acted as legal counsel (expert in international law) for the Republic of Panama before the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, she practiced in a large firm in Montreal and also in pro bono cases. Recipient of several awards, fellowships and grants, including from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), the Canadian Bar Association (Tomorrow's Law Fund) and the Legal Research Foundation, she collaborates with several interdisciplinary and international research teams, and leads major interdisciplinary research projects in the field of international human rights law. Her research has been published in legal journals and books in Canada, Europe, the United States, South Korea, Indonesia and Brazil (her home country).

Amissi Manirabona

Amissi M. Manirabona is a full professor at the Faculty of Law of the Université de Montréal where he teaches courses on Canadian criminal law, international criminal law, and the law of victims of crime. His doctoral thesis in 2010 earned him the Prix Minerve and the prize for the best thesis discerned by the Association des professeurs de droit du Québec. Professor Manirabona is a regular researcher at the International Centre for Comparative Criminology (ICCC) and has written dozens of publications. He has just published a monograph entitled Introduction to the Law of Victims of Crime in Canada, (Toronto, Lexis-Nexis, 2020), which received the Walter Owen Award from the Canadian Foundation for Legal Research.

Jo-Anne Wemmers

Jo-Anne Wemmers is a full professor at the School of Criminology at the Université de Montréal where she co-created the new Justice and Victims program. An expert in victimology, her research themes include victims and victimizations at the national level as well as international crimes. Professor Wemmers is the author of about a hundred publications, including the book Victimology: A Canadian Perspective (PUQ, 2017). She is a regular researcher at the International Centre for Comparative Criminology (ICCC), where she is responsible for the research group Victims, Rights and Society. She is editor of the International Review of Victimology, and a member of the Canadian Partnership on International Justice which received the Governor General's Innovation Award (2023).