As part of our commitment to legal scholarship, the Center promotes and facilitates the research and publication of students, faculty and others in the human rights and humanitarian law field. Center publications are distributed around the world.
Human Rights Brief
The Human Rights Brief is a highly regarded student-run publication of the Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law. For over 10 years, the Brief has served the international human rights community by providing concise analyses of developments in human rights law and their impact on global society. The Brief has published pieces by Supreme Court Justices, noted practitioners, academics and students from around the world and provides continuing updates on developments throughout the regional human rights systems. The Brief is currently circulated to over 5000 people in more than 90 countries.
The Newsletter
Distributed at the beginning of each semester, the Newsletter contains contributions solicited from all other human rights organizations at WCL. The Newsletter lists all courses in human rights and humanitarian law, provides a coordinated calendar of events and highlights ways for students to be involved with human rights and humanitarian law activities at WCL.
Publications by the Center's Co-Directors
The co-directors of the Center for Human Rights & Humanitarian Law have authored books and been published extensively in reports, scholarly papers, and small monographs on the subject of human rights. The topics range from human rights violations in Latin America to soviet prison systems to the death penalty.
The Rwanda Commemoration Project: Genocide in Our Time Resource Booklet
April 7, 2004 marked a decade since the beginning of the Rwandan genocide, when nearly a million people were killed in ninety days. The United Nations has now declared April 7th as the "International Day of Reflection on the 1994 Genocide in Rwanda." This booklet was developed to encourage law schools, universities, NGOs, community groups and others to hold events to commemorate the anniversary of this modern-day genocide, and to use it as a lesson, reminder and warning about genocide in our time. The resource booklet includes programming ideas, substantive issues of discussion, and a resource list and can be used as the starting point for creating your own day of commemoration.
Teaching International Humanitarian Law at U.S. Law Schools
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Regional Delegation to the United States and Canada and the American University Washington College of Law Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law have produced a study to assess the extent to which international humanitarian law (IHL) is taught at law schools in the United States. How is IHL being taught? How could it be covered more thoroughly? What are some of the impediments to its broader coverage? Are students, faculty and administrators interested in IHL? What can be done to improve the teaching of IHL in U.S. law schools? The report findings will be used as a basis for developing programs, materials and communication vehicles for law schools which are interested in introducing more of the subject into their curricula.
Webcasts, Podcasts, and the Center's Photo Gallery
In order to make Center events accessible to a wide audience, the Center often creates video and audio recordings of its events that are available for download from the Center's website. To access a recording of a past event or a sample of Center photos, please click here.