Center Faculty/Staff News
by Katherine Atkinson
John Cerone, executive director of the War Crimes Research Office and adjunct professor of law at American University's Washington College of Law (WCL) traveled to Dili, Timor-Leste (East Timor) in September, 2003 with his Deputy, Susana SaCouto, to conduct seminars on international criminal law for the national and international judges on the Special Panels for Serious Crimes established by the United Nations (UN) to provide criminal accountability for the gross human rights violations perpetrated there. Professor Cerone published a chapter called "Recent Developments in the Law of Genocide" in Ethnic Cleansing in 20th-Century Europe. He gave a lecture entitled, "Beyond a Criminal Justice Response to Trafficking in Persons" at the United Nations Association in Washington, DC. Professor Cerone also gave lectures entitled, "An Introduction to the International Criminal Court," "State Cooperation, Article 98 Agreements, and the Status of Immunities under the Rome Statute," at WCL and at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland.
Robert K. Goldman, professor of law and co-director of the Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law (Center) attended the Expert Meeting on Remedies for Victims of Violations of International Humanitarian Law (Meeting). The Meeting was held in Amsterdam in May, and was organized by the Netherlands Institute of Human Rights, Utrecht University and the Amsterdam Center of International Law. In July, he attended a regional Expert Consultation on Fostering Compliance with Humanitarian Law in Mexico City, organized by the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Mexican Foreign Ministry. Throughout the summer, Professor Goldman traveled to Colombia four times in his capacity as the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights' (Commission) Rapporteur for Colombia. In Colombia, Professor Goldman met with government officials, including President Uribe, as well as with non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and victims of human rights abuses to discuss cases before the Commission and precautionary measures issued by the Commission.
Claudio Grossman, dean and co-director of the Center, presented a petition with four WCL students to the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights against Cuba on the executions of Lorenzo Enrique Copello Castillo, Barbaro Leodan Sevilla Garcia, and Jorge Luis Martinez Isaac on April 11, 2003. Over the summer, Dean Grossman was a panel speaker on "New Challenges for International Law in the 21st Century" at the Southeastern Association of Law Schools Annual Meeting. He also participated in the meeting of the General Assembly of the Organization of American States as a representative of the Inter-American Institute on Human Rights. Dean Grossman organized and participated in a roundtable discussion held by the American Bar Association with law school deans and practitioners on developing a curriculum to educate and train transnational lawyers, and was the keynote speaker at the May 2003 Spring Meeting of the Section of International Law and Practice of the American Bar Association on "Human Rights: The Business of All Lawyers." In September, 2003, Dean Grossman presented on the "Protection of Human Rights of Vulnerable Groups in the Inter-American System", at Pontificia Universidade Catolica De Sao Paulo and went to Argentina in his capacity as the Organization of American States' observer in the AMIA bombing trial in Buenos Aires.
Hadar Harris, executive director of the Center, traveled to New Delhi, India in June to help facilitate the first-ever Working Group on mainstreaming gender in legal education. The Group discussed the role law schools and legal education can play in furthering women's rights within Indian society. In July, she lectured as part of the Frankel Lecture Series at the Lawyer's Committee for Human Rights, and presented "Using International Treaties as an Organizing Tool to Protect and Promote Human Rights." She conducted trainings for outgoing liaisons for the American Bar Association/Central European and Eurasian Law Initiative in June and September. In October, she spoke at a conference on the impact of the war on terror on international human rights norms that was sponsored by Canadian Lawyers for International Human Rights.
Claudia Martin, visiting associate professor and co-director of the Academy on Human Rights and Humanitarian Law (Academy), published with Professor Diego Rodriguez Pinzon, a law review article entitled, "The International Status of the Rights of Elderly Persons" during Spring 2003. The article is the first comprehensive approach to elderly rights from a human rights perspective, which stressing the point that the elderly are one of few vulnerable groups who do not benefit from a comprehensive human rights instrument.
Diane Orentlicher, professor of law and co-director of the Center, was appointed by the United Nations as an expert in August 2003, pursuant to a resolution adopted by the UN Commission on Human Rights. She will prepare an independent study on combating impunity and will present the study at the Commission on Human Rights in 2004. In June 2003, Professor Orentlicher presented remarks on "Lessons Learned from Other Countries" at an Experts Consultation in Baghdad, Iraq. She further co-edited a supplement to Human Rights, published a working paper entitled, "Universal Jurisdiction after Pinochet: Prospects and Perils," with the Center for Global Peace & Conflict Studies, and presented a paper entitled, "Justice for Whom? Assessing the International Criminal Court," at a symposium at the University of Wisconsin Law School. Over the last several months, Professor Orentlicher has additionally provided commentary on issues relating to transitional justice in Iraq to the New York Times, The News Hour with Jim Lehrer, National Public Radio, CNN, the Washington Post, BBC World News Television, and other media.
Diego Rodriguez Pinzón is currently a visiting associate professor, co-director of the Academy and director of the Human Rights Legal Education-Partnership Projects in Ecuador and Colombia. He recently lectured on the Individual Petition System of the Inter-American System in the Curso de Estudos sobre Direitos Humanos (Course on Studies of Human Rights) in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Professor Rodriguez also lectured in the XIII Seminario Eduardo Garcá Máynez 2003 on "Current Issues in the Inter-American Human Rights System" in October 2003. Additionally, he taught a course on the Inter-American Human Rights System at the International Human Rights Academy in Gent, Belgium, during July 2003. Professor Rodriguez cohosted the Academy on Human Rights and Humanitarian Law in May and June 2003.
Herman Schwartz is a professor of law and co-director of the Center. Professor Schwartz recently traveled to Europe for a conference on economic and social rights, where he presented and chaired several discussions. Over the past several months, he has continued working on his book concerning judicial appointees, which is forthcoming.
Richard Wilson, professor of law, codirector of the Center, director of the International Human Rights Law Clinic, and director of the WCL Clinical Program, was an expert witness in Commonwealth v. Malvo in September 2003. Professor Wilson testified for the defense in Circuit Court in Fairfax County, Virginia, regarding the prohibition in international law against the execution of minors who committed their alleged crime while under the age of 18. Professor Wilson also published an article in the Hofstra Law Review, entitled "International Law Issues in Death Penalty Defense (Comments on the Guidelines for the Performance of Defense Counsel in Death Penalty Cases, Revised Edition)." He wrote a chapter on "The Influence of International Law and Practice on the Death Penalty in the United States" in America's Experiment with Capital. In July, Professor Wilson taught at the Oxford University Summer Human Rights Program. In September, he spoke on "States of Emergency and the Application of International Humanitarian Law in the Inter-American Human Rights System" at the Catholic University of Sao Paulo in Sao Paulo, Brazil. HRB
Katherine Atkinson is a J.D. Candidate at the Washington College of Law and a staff writer for the Human Rights Brief.
The proper citation for this article in the Human Rights Brief Volume 11, Issue 1, beginning at page 39 is: 11 No. 1 Hum. Rts. Brief 39 (2003).
