American University Washington College of Law
Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law
RADICAL IDEAS ON HUMAN RIGHTS REFORM:
Blood Money or Justice? Compensating War Victims
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
6:00pm - 8:00pm
&
Wednesday, March 7, 2007
6:00pm – 8:00pm
Center for Human Rights & Humanitarian Law,
Large Conference Room, 4910 Massachusetts Ave., Suite 16
The Center hosted a discussion where WCL students got the opportunity to learn about reforms in human rights by experienced LLM (Master of Laws) students in the International Legal Studies Program (ILSP) at American University Washington College of Law as they teach mini-courses on current issues in human rights law. Using the extraordinary experiences of our ILSP students, we as a community can learn from each other. The courses will be 2 hour, not-for-credit seminars. Dinner will be served at both events. For more information, please write us at humlaw@wcl.american.edu.
Jon Tracy, former JAG officer who adjudicated Iraqi claims made against U.S. forces, inaugurated our new LLM Mini-Courses on Radical Human Rights Reform. On Wednesday, February 28, he discussed: "Blood Money or Justice? Compensating War Victims." The most tragic aspect of armed conflict is the toll taken on civilian populations. Since the start of the 20th Century the proportion of civilians killed compared to members of an armed forcehas grown exponentially. The question is, 'Do victims have a right to fair compensation?'
Jean Degli bookended the mini-series by speaking to his experience as the former defense counsel at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). He discussed: "The Equality of Arms: Genocide Trials Before the ICTR." The principle of the equality of arms is classified as a sub-principle of fairness, whereby the accuser and the accused must be treated equally before the law. What then is true equality of arms?
