William Anthony Schabas,[2] OC (born 19 November 1950[3]) is a Canadian academic specialising in international criminal and human rights law.

The appointment was criticized by Canada's Foreign Minister, John Baird, and the Geneva-based advocacy NGO UN Watch, on the basis of allegations that Schabas was anti-Israel, a charge he denied.

Schabas had been hired as a consultant to provide a legal analysis regarding the Palestinian bid for non-member observer status at the United Nations.

[13] In late 2019, Schabas defended the nation of Myanmar at the International Court of Justice in The Hague against charges of genocide towards its Rohingya population, brought by the republic of Gambia.

[15] His mother, Ann (née Fairley), was born in Canada and served as dean of the Faculty of Library and Information Sciences at the University of Toronto.

[20] He is an Officer of the Order of Canada and a Member of the Royal Irish Academy, as well as holding a position on the board of directors of the International Institute for Criminal Investigation[21] and René Cassin, a non-government organisation that presents a Jewish voice on human rights.

[citation needed] In 2011, Schabas attended a conference in Iran with the Tehran-based Non-Aligned Movement Center for Human Rights and Cultural Diversity where he was a keynote speaker.

Led by justice minister Abubacarr Tambadou and with the support of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation,[28] the former international criminal lawyer alleged that a genocide against the Rohingya people took place in Myanmar between 2016 and 2017.

William Schabas, who in 2010 had collaborated on a report detailing systematic attacks against the Rohingya and concluding that they met the international threshold of crimes against humanity, stood in defense of the Asian nation, leading to criticism.

[14] An interview with Schabas in the journal Intellectum[29] offers a concise overview of his opinions on Israeli operations in Gaza, the Goldstone Report, racism in Europe, the death penalty, genocide, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Sierra Leone, the International Criminal Court and its arrest warrant for President Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir of Sudan, and international criminal law in general.

Reviewing the evolving legal debate, Schabas notes a tendency to merge the notion of genocide with the related concept of crimes against humanity.

In his own view, these should be kept distinct, with the former restricted to the definition originally framed in the Geneva Conventions, while the latter is sufficiently broad to prosecute all other cases of mass murder in ethnic and religious conflicts.

[36] From 10 to 12 December 2019, Schabas acted for the Myanmar government who were accused of committing genocide against the Rohingya Muslim minority at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) hearing in The Hague.

Phil Robertson, Deputy Asia Director at Human Rights Watch, stated: "William Schabas is basically selling out the Rohingya for some Myanmar gov’t $$$.

[37] Stephen J Rapp, a former United States war crimes ambassador who works at the Holocaust museum, who contended saying it as, "We have heard this morning from my friend Bill Schabas, I was just with him 10 days ago.

"[37] In 2011, the same year Schabas attended the Center for Human Rights and Cultural Diversity conference in Iran in Tehran, he said in a speech that he believes Israeli prime minister Benyamin Netanyahu should be "in the dock of an international court."

[38] Regarding Hamas, Schabas said "If we look at the poor people of Gaza ... all they want is a state – and they get punished for insisting upon this, and for supporting a political party in their own determination and their own assessment that seems to be representing that aspiration.

[38] The United Nations Human Rights Council adopted a resolution on 23 July 2014 calling on establishment of a commission of inquiry to investigate all alleged violations of international humanitarian laws carried out by Israel during the 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict.

In reply to UN Watch's demand he recuse himself on the grounds that he had once criticized Benjamin Netanyahu, Schabas countered:'"Like everybody inside and outside Israel, I disagree with people.

"[45] In February 2015 Schabas resigned after an Israeli complaint[9] that he had billed the Palestine Liberation Organization for $US1,300 in 2012 for legal advice he gave them at their request, a precedent which might constitute evidence of a conflict of interest with his position as head of the investigative committee.

"[13] In reply, Schabas said the Prime Minister was entitled to spin the matter any way he liked, and that both he and Avigdor Liberman were "masters of extravagant and ridiculous statements.