Ken Watkin

Brigadier General Kenneth "Ken" Watkin, OMM, CD, QC (born 1954) was Judge Advocate General (JAG) of the Canadian Forces 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 that position he was the top legal advisor to Canada's Governor General, Defence Minister, and the Canadian Forces.

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.

Early life and education
Watkin was born in Kingston, Ontario, 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 (B.A., 1976) and Queen's University Law School in Kingston, Ontario, where he received Bachelor of Laws and Master of Laws degrees. From 2002 to 2003, Watkin was a Visiting Fellow at the Human Rights Program of Harvard Law School.

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 and appellate counsel before the Canadian Court Martial Appeal Court. From 1993 on, he specialized in the field of operational law. He was counsel for a number of national and international investigations arising from the 1994 Rwandan Genocide, and gave legal advice to Canadian commanders in Bosnia and to the Canadian Navy during a turbot dispute with Spain. He has published widely on operational law, the law of armed conflict, discipline, and human rights.

Somalia shooting inquiry
In the summer of 1994 when he was a Lieutenant-Colonel he wrote a legal review in which he said there was reason to question the investigation by Canadian Airborne Regiment Battle Group Col. Serge Labbe of a March 4, 1993, shooting by his men of two Somalis who were shot in the back as they ran away from the Canadian compound in Belet Huen, in what became known as the Somalia Affair. He also questioned Labbe's "openness in reporting to higher headquarters." One Somali died, and the other was injured. memo was later used in an inquiry regarding allegations that Labbe and others in the chain of command tried to obscure or downplay the shooting. Watkin also testified that Lt.-Col. Carol Mathieu, who was charged with negligent performance of duty for allegedly ordering soldiers to fire on looters, that he was disturbed by comments Mathieu made to him. Watkin had been asked to brief the soldiers on the rules of war, and testified that Mathieu said, "All that doesn't matter, you just throw down some loose rounds".

As Judge Advocate General
The Judge Advocate General is the principal legal advisor to the Governor General, the Minister of National Defence, the Canadian Forces, and the Department of National Defence on military law matters. The JAG also his responsible for the administration of military justice. The JAG also has command over all Canadian legal officers who provide legal services, other than military judges.

Afghan detainee issue
In the Canadian Afghan detainee issue, Watkin as Judge Advocate General wrote a May 2007 memo to Canadian military brass (then-chief of defence staff Gen. Rick Hillier and Lt.-Gen. Michel Gauthier) telling them that it would be a crime to ignore allegations of prisoner abuse and not investigate them. 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 professor of international human rights 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.

The Commission will investigate whether Israel's actions in preventing the arrival of ships in Gaza were in accordance with international law. It will focus among other things on the security considerations for imposing a naval blockade 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 are former Israeli Supreme Court Justice, Jacob Turkel, and former Technion University President, Amos Horev, as well as two other members added in July 2010. (Shabtai Rosenne, Bar Ilan University Professor of International Law, also served on the Commission from its establishment until his death on 21 September 2010. ) In addition, the Commission has two foreign observers, Watkin and former First Minister of Northern Ireland, David Trimble, who will take part in hearings and discussions, but not vote on the final conclusions.

Awards

 * Maritime Commander's Commendation
 * Appointed to the Order of Military Merit (2002)
 * Appointed Queen's Counsel (Q.C.) (2006)

Books

 * "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, ISBN 1-884733-64-6
 * "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, ISBN 90-04-15428-0
 * 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, 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