AUWCL established the Center for Human Rights & Humanitarian Law as part of its long-standing commitment to international human rights and the rule of law. For over 25 years, the Center has worked with students, faculty and the international legal community to provide support for human rights initiatives in the U.S. and around the world through teaching, scholarship and service. The Center engages in exciting innovations in human rights education and advocacy by way of training, complementary education, outreach, workshops and conferences, and research and publications. All Center programming promotes the value of service, thereby grounding the Center as a core resource to the NGO community and a bridge between academia and civil society.
Macarena Sáez, Faculty Director
On Sunday, Colombia elected a new president, Iván Duque Márquez, a 2004 graduate of American University Washington College of Law’s (AUWCL) LL.M. Program in International Legal Studies (ILSP). Duque’s wife, and now Colombian First Lady, Maria Juliana Ruiz, is also a graduate of the ILSP with a concentration in international business law in 2006.
The 41-year old Duque will take office in August and will be Colombia’s youngest president in over a century. Before running for office, Duque spent several years in Washington, D.C., including studying at AUWCL from 2003-2004. After graduating, Duque worked for the Washington-based Inter-American Development Bank, the United Nations, and has served as a senator for Colombia’s Democratic Center Party.
As a graduate of the International Legal Studies Program (ILSP) at WCL, which is committed to social justice and human rights, we wish President Duque the best and hope and trust that he will follow through on his pledge to support and consolidate the peace process, to guarantee truth, justice, and reparations to all victims, and to uphold and respect the human rights of all Colombians.