It is IntLawGrrls' great honor to announce that one of our longtime members, Diane Orentlicher, has just started as Deputy, Office of War Crimes Issues, at the U.S. Department of State!An internationally renowned expert in international criminal law, Diane will work with Stephen J. Rapp, the former Prosecutor at the Special Court for Sierra Leone who assumed his duties as Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issues at the beginning of September. (prior post) She'll be an integral player in the work of the office, which, as stated on its website:
► "advises the Secretary of State directly and formulates U.S. policy responses to atrocities committed in areas of conflict and elsewhere throughout the world";
► "coordinates U.S. Government support for war crimes accountability in the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Cambodia, Iraq, and other regions where crimes have been committed against civilian populations on a massive scale"; and
► "works closely with other governments, international institutions, and non-government organizations, and with the courts themselves, to see that international and domestic war crimes tribunals succeed in their efforts to bring those responsible for such crimes to justice."
Diane will be leaving her position as Professor of International Law and Co-Director of the Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, Washington College of the Law, American University, Washington D.C., which has posted on her appointment here. She's also served inter alia on the boards of the Open Society Justice Initiative and (along with IntLawGrrl Beth Hillman and yours truly) of the National Institute of Military Justice. Diane served as an independent expert on combating impunity by September 2004 appointment of then-U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
We at IntLawGrrls will miss our colleague-turned-guest/alumna, whose transnational foremother, "Beatrice," was the inspiration for our Women at Nuremberg series. We look forward to all good things at State.
To all of us, Diane writes:
'It's been an honor to be a small part of an incredible project. I've learned so much from the smartest 'Grrls around -- and will remain an avid reader of IntLawGrrls' sensational posts.'
Heartfelt congratulations, Diane!
