Professor Schabas is chair in human rights law and director of the Irish Centre for Human Rights at the National University of Ireland, Galway. He has authored dozens of books, monographs, and articles, including Genocide in International Law, Introduction to the International Criminal Court, and The Abolition of the Death Penalty in International Law. In 2002, the President of Sierra Leone appointed Professor Schabas to the country's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, upon the recommendation of Mary Robinson, the former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. He served as one of three international commissioners from 2002 to 2004.