The Orientalist on Trial: Enrico Cerulli and the United Nations War Crimes Commission

This article examines the United Nations War Crimes Commission’s ruling against Enrico Cerulli, the distinguished Italian scholar and senior colonial administrator. It reconstructs the UNWCC debate concerning jurisdiction over Italian crimes in Ethiopia, set against the backdrop of postwar decolonization, and then outlines the specific case against Cerulli, the committee and extra-committee deliberations, and the inconclusive aftermath of these events. The conclusion critiques Cerulli’s conception of colonial guilt and briefly considers the implications of Ethiopia’s experience at the Commission for current debates about the International Criminal Court.