News & Events

Sunshine Week 2019: Assaults on Science in the Trump Era

This Sunshine Week event will include discussions with journalists and presentations by civil society members that explore the ongoing assaults on science and offer resources to help journalists, public interest organizations, employees, and policymakers promote accountability, protect scientific integrity, and restore public trust in government.

Join us to network with professionals committed to scientific integrity, free speech, and government transparency. Food and refreshments provided. 

Wartime Sexual Violence in El Salvador: The El Mozote Case

 The Due Process of Law Foundation (DPLF), along with Claudia Martin, Co-director for the Academy on Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law, and Susana SáCouto, director of the War Crimes Research office, presented an amicus curiae before the San Francisco Court of First Instance in Mozote, El Salvador, on Friday, August 24, where 18 military commanders were accused of having participated in the massacre of El Mozote and neighboring areas in December of 1981. The purpose of the brief was to develop arguments that could be used to effectively investigate the sexual crimes committed in the case. This conference will gather a group of panelists to further discuss the above. 

Conversation with Former Judge of the International Court of Justice: Professor Thomas Buergenthal

Thomas Buergenthal is one of the youngest survivors of the Auschwitz and Sachsenhausen concentration camps, and he is considered one of the world’s leading international law and international human rights scholars. He has had a long successful career as a human rights advocate and scholar, and served as the Dean of American University Washington College of Law from 1980-1985, and as a professor of international law at SDNY Buffalo Law School, the University of Texas, Emory University, and George Washington law schools.    

Buergenthal has served in numerous international positions including: Judge and President, Inter-American Court of Human Rights (1979-1991); Judge and President, Administrative Tribunal, Inter-American Development Bank (1989-1994); Member, United Nations Truth Commission for El Salvador (1992-1993); Member, United Nations Human Rights Committee (1995-1999); Member, Panels of Conciliators and of Arbitrators, International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, World Bank (since 1997); Arbitrator (1997-2000) and Vice-Chairman, (1999-2000), Claims Resolution Tribunal for Dormant Accounts in Switzerland; and Judge at the International Court of Justice (2000-2010). After serving at the ICJ, he was named the Lobingier Professor Emeritus of Comparative Law and Jurisprudence at George Washington College of Law.    

Buergenthal has also authored numerous books and articles international law and human rights subjects. In 2009, he published his memoir: A Lucky Child: A Memoir of Surviving Auschwitz as a Young Boy, which has been translated in more than 40 languages.

Program:

• Welcoming Remarks: Professor and Associate Dean Brenda Smith

• Introduction: Professor and Dean Emeritus Claudio Grossman

• Closing Remarks: Professor and Director of the International Legal Studies Program Padideh Ala’i

Presented by the International Law Student Association and the Jewish Law Student Association

Registration is free but required – please go to www.wcl.american.edu/secle/registration

Satellite Technology: The Role in Development and Opportunity for Lawyers

The Director General of the International Telecommunication Satellite Organization (ITSO), Mr. Patrick Masambu, will discuss the current legal challenges for satellite technology, and the opportunities these technologies provide for economic development. He will address the international legal framework for the deployment, operation and disposal of satellites, and how they are used to achieve a more just economic development that benefits all countries worldwide.

This conference is aimed at practitioners who work in the field of satellite law, as well as students that are interested in contemporary topics of international law. The program is sponsored by the Program on International Communications Regulation and Policy at American University Washington College of Law, in cooperation with ITSO.

Registration is free, but required.  To register, please go to www.wcl.american.edu/secle/registration.

Health Law Legislative and Regulatory Practice Colloquium Series: Sex-Based Discrimination under Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act: Implications for People who are Transgender

Health Law and Policy Program presents: Health Law Legislative and Regulatory Practice Colloquium Series - Spring 2019. Join us for a series of events highlighting current developments in health law and policy.

Sex-Based Discrimination under Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act: Implications for People who are Transgender

Featuring:

Elliot Kennedy, AUWCL JD 2012, HHS Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion

Luc Athayde-Rizzaro, AUWCL LLM 2017, Policy Counsel, National Center for Transgender Equality

Mara Youdelman, Managing Attorney, National Health Law Program (tentative)

Cosponsored by the Women and the Law Program, the AUWCL chapter of the National Lawyers Guild, and the AUWCL chapter of the American Constitution Society

RSVP to health@wcl.american.edu