The Teaching International Humanitarian Law (IHL) Initiative is a multi-pronged project to expand and support the teaching and study of IHL among both students and professors. In 2007, the Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law published a study with the International Committee of the Red Cross on Teaching International Humanitarian Law in US Law Schools (available at www.wcl.american.edu/humright/center/ihl_report.cfm). The study identified a growing need for resources to support and expand the teaching of IHL among law faculty, but also a desire to support the interest of students in learning about IHL. As a result, the Center, in partnership with the ICRC and with the support of the American Society of International Law, has been holding an annual workshop on the teaching of IHL for US law professors. The IHL workshops are targeted for law professors who are interested in teaching an IHL course for the first time, integrating IHL modules into their current courses and/or rethinking their current teaching of this important subject. In 2010, the Center and the American Society of International Law’s Lieber Society on the Law of Armed Conflict launched the IHL Student Writing Competition that takes the Initiative to the next level by promoting and supporting student interest and deepening scholarship in this important field of international law. For detailed information on these projects, click the links above.
