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February 28, 2013
Tomorrow: Perspectives on International Criminal Justice
Event Notice
March 1, 2013
“Perspectives on International Criminal Justice”
A Discussion with Serge Brammertz, Prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia
12- 1:30 pm
WCC 3036
Serge Brammertz is the Chief Prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). Before his appointment as Prosecutor, Mr. Brammertz served as Commissioner of the United Nations International Independent Investigation Commission, established in April 2005 to investigate the assassination of Rafik Hariri, the former Prime Minster of Lebanon.
Previously, he served as Deputy Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, heading the Investigations Division of the Office of the Prosecutor. There, he investigated crimes committed in Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Darfur. Before his election as Deputy Prosecutor, he served as head of the Federal Prosecution of the Kingdom of Belgium, where he supervised numerous investigations and trials related to cases of organized crime, terrorism and violations of international humanitarian law.
February 25, 2013
Event Today: Transitional Justice and the Khmer Rouge Tribunal
Event Notice
February 26, 2013
Khmer Rouge Tribunal and its Contribution to Transitional Justice
A Discussion with Andrew Cayley
UN Chief International Co-Prosecutor of the ECCC
4-6pm
Hauser 102
Please join the Human Rights Program and the Humanitarian Academy at Harvard for a lecture and roundtable discussion with Andrew Cayley, the United Nations Chief International Co-Prosecutor of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, the Khmer Rouge Tribunal based in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Cayley is a Queen’s Counsel and leading international criminal lawyer, who has prosecuted and defended at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, International Criminal Court, Special Court for Sierra Leone and the ECCC.
February 25, 2013
View from the Inside: Solitary Confinement as a Human Rights Issue
Posted by Katie McCarthy, JD '15
The dramatic expansion of solitary confinement over the past two decades is a human rights issue we can no longer afford to ignore; the United States now holds more prisoners in solitary confinement than any other democratic nation in the world. Often used as a punishment for minor, nonviolent offenses or as a solution to overcrowding, solitary confinement is a draconian, expensive, and inhumane practice that too often goes unmonitored and unopposed.
For this reason, the Prison Legal Assistance Project has organized a panel discussion tonight between experts and activists who have experienced solitary confinement and can speak personally about its effects. The event runs from 5-7 p.m. in Austin West and includes dinner.
Panelists include: Dr. Stuart Grassian, a psychiatrist who has extensively researched the psychological impact of solitary confinement; Bobby Dellelo, an activist who has experienced the effects of solitary confinement; Professor Jules Lobel, the President of the Center for Constitutional Rights; and Mika’il DeVeaux, Executive Director of Citizens Against Recidivism. The event will be moderated by Matthew Segal, Legal Director of the ACLU Foundation of Massachusetts.
Two of the panelists will discuss their own experiences in solitary, highlighting the inhumanity of this practice and the coping mechanisms they’ve developed, as well as the activism they are currently involved with. Dr. Grassian will speak to the long-term psychological effects of solitary and how it can heighten anti-social behaviors. The panel will also discuss the role of impact litigation in challenging solitary confinement as a deprivation of due process under the Fourteenth Amendment and as cruel and unusual punishment.
In addition to your questions, we will have questions from prisoners, thanks to Between the Bars, an MIT organization that runs online blogs for prisoners. We put out a call for those who had experienced solitary to come up with questions for the panelists or just to write about their own experiences, which you can read about through their various blogs. Outside the panel, photographs from Richard Ross’s “Juvenile In-Justice” collection will be displayed.
We hope to see you tomorrow at this important event.
February 21, 2013
The Long-Awaited Apology: Some Justice for the Women of Ireland’s Magdalene Laundries
Posted by Cara Solomon
In the wake of the Irish government’s formal apology to the women of the Magdalene Laundries, we bring you some thoughts from Maeve O’Rourke, 2010 HRP Global Human Rights Fellow and advisory board member for Justice for Magdalenes. For the past two years, Maeve has been working with the all-volunteer advocacy group to secure a formal apology and reparations for the more than 10,000 women forced to work in residential laundries from 1922 until 1996.
“Brilliant news on Tuesday in Dublin – a full state apology for the Magdalene Laundries abuse and the appointment of former High Court judge and head of the Irish Law Reform Commission, Mr. Justice John Quirke, to provide a mechanism for compensation and reparation.
We are exhausted and delighted for the women and their families. As I said in the Irish Independent last Saturday, they have lived with this truth for too long – that the state could have intervened to protect them and ensure respect for their human rights, but chose not to.
This is an historic moment for Ireland, as we awaken to and acknowledge the discrimination against women that went to the very core of our state and society for so long. We have also been reminded of the state’s obligations to ensure respect for the human rights of individuals behind closed doors. The last Magdalene Laundry only closed in Dublin in 1996, and we still have many problems to address today, regarding conditions of detention and state care of children and other vulnerable groups, for example. This is a moment of learning that we cannot afford to let pass.
Continue Reading…February 19, 2013
Talk Tomorrow: Reasserting the Unity of International Law
Event Notice
February 20, 2013
“Reasserting the Unity of International Law: The ICJ as a Human Rights Court, and Other Departures from Old Doctrines”
A Talk by Mads Andenas, Professor of Law, University of Oslo
12- 1 pm
Hauser 104
Mads Andenas, Professor of Law at the University of Oslo, will assess recent developments in international adjudication that attempt to overcome the fragmentation of the field, including the effort of the International Court of Justice to reassert its centrality by taking on the role of a human rights court.
Professor Andenas is a Fellow of Institute of European and Comparative Law, University of Oxford; Fellow of the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, University of London; and Editor of the European Business Law Review. He also serves as one of the five members of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention.
February 11, 2013
Tomorrow: Human Rights and Palestinian Statehood After the ‘Arab Spring’
Event Notice
February 12, 2013
“Human Rights and Palestinian Statehood after the ‘Arab Spring’”
A Discussion with Ahmed Fathalla, Permanent Observer for the League of Arab States at the United Nations
12- 1 pm
WCC 3016
Please join us for a discussion with the Permanent Observer for the League of Arab States at the United Nations, Mr. Ahmed Fathalla, will discuss recent developments with regard to human rights in North Africa and the Middle East in the wake of the “Arab Spring,” and progress in the United Nations with regard to the issue of Palestinian statehood. Mr. Fathalla is lawyer and diplomat from Egypt, and serves in his individual capacity as a human rights expert on the Human Rights Committee, the treaty body that oversees compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
February 7, 2013
Irish Government Acknowledges Role in Magdalene Laundries; Offers No Apology or Reparations
Posted by Cara Solomon
For a while now, this blog has followed Maeve O’Rourke, LLM ’10, a former Global Human Rights Fellow, as she works with other advocates to secure reparations for thousands of women and girls who labored in Ireland’s so-called Magdalene Laundries. Tuesday marked a milestone for the group, Justice for Magdalenes: After years of ignoring the issue, the Irish government released a 1000-page report into the laundries, which were run by various orders of nuns from 1922 to 1996.
For the first time, the government acknowledged its own “significant” role in the forced labor: more than a quarter of the women and girls in the laundries were referred there by the government. Some came from the criminal justice system, prosecuted for nothing more than petty theft; others came from residential institutions; still others from homes for unwed mothers.
After decades of speculation, the government also confirmed a number: more than 10,000 women and girls worked in the laundries. The youngest was 9. The oldest was 89. The average age was 23.
For all the report’s revelations, the government’s formal response to it on Tuesday fell stunningly short. In comments before the Irish Parliament, Prime Minister Enda Kenny expressed mostly sorrow. There was no apology for the government’s role. There was no talk of reparations.
Continue Reading…February 6, 2013
Conference this Friday: “When Will Women Have the Floor?”
Posted by Elizabeth Hague, JD '14, Harvard Women's Law Association
Given the record-breaking number of women elected to public office, 2012 was undeniably a historic year for women in politics in the U.S. Still, women constitute only 19% of Congress. In light of that substantial gender gap, Friday’s Harvard Women’s Law Association Conference, 19%: When Will Women Have the Floor?, will explore what equality looks like, and how best to achieve gender parity in politics and public life.
The day-long conference in Milstein East features four exciting panels, including one moderated by HRP’s own Mindy Roseman. “Models from Abroad: International Pathways to Women’s Political Participation,” from 9:15-10:30 am, features four extraordinary women:
- Fawzia Koofi, Afghan parliamentarian and 2014 Presidential candidate
- Susan Markham, Director of Women’s Political Participation at the National Democratic Institute
- Cathy Allen, President of the Connections Group, an international political consultant and trainer
- And Dr. Mona Lena Krook, Associate Professor of Political Science at Rutgers University, an expert on women’s political participation internationally, particularly electoral quotas for women and minorities
The panelists will explore the political participation of women in the U.S. and around the globe, with a focus on how various electoral systems and laws influence representation. By exploring and critically examining international models that aim to increase women’s political participation, such as legislative quotas, we hope to gain a better understanding of the role of women in government internationally, and to learn lessons that may help advance women’s political participation in the U.S.
For more information or to register, please visit our conference website. We hope to see all of you there!
February 1, 2013
The Clean Whiteboard (or, Welcome to Spring Semester)
Posted by Cara Solomon
As we round the corner on the first week of Spring semester, here’s an iconic image: our clinicians writing down their commitments for the next few months.
Yes, they were writing those commitments on the wall of a Harvard Law School facility. But it’s a very special wall. It’s a whiteboard wall!
It’s new, and we’re pretty excited about it.
Happy Friday!!!
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