Go On! IHL emerging issues

(Go On! is an occasional item on symposia and other events of interest)

"International Humanitarian Law: Emerging Issues in the Law of Armed Conflict" is the theme of a conference to be held from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 23, at American University Washington College of the Law in Washington, D.C. It's cosponsored by the law school's Center for Human Rights & Humanitarian Law and the American Society of International Law. The date coincides with the 1st day of ASIL's annual meeting, about which we've posted here and here.
The event's organized as part of an inaugural student writing competition in the area of international humanitarian law. Winning law students are:
► Elizabeth Holland, Suffolk University Law School in Boston, for "Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project and Its Crippling Impact on Humanitarian Assistance in Armed Conflict"; and
► Robert Clarke, University of Western Australia in Perth, for "The Klub-K Anti-Ship Missile System -- A Hypothetical Case Study in Perfidy and Its Repression".
They'll present papers to panels comprising IntLawGrrl Susana SáCouto (American) and IntLawGrrls' guest/alumna Laurie Blank (Emory), as well as Lucy Brown (American Red Cross), Morris Davis (Crimes of War Project), Hadar Harris (American), Dick Jackson (Lieber Society), Kate Jastram (California-Berkeley), Gary Solis (Georgetown; aside: kudos to Gary, who'll receive an ASIL Certificate of Merit for Contribution to a Specialized Field of International Law for his book The Law of Armed Conflict), Jon Tracy (National Institute of Military Justice), Jamie Williamson (International Committee of the Red Cross), and Rick Wilson (American). Our colleague David M. Crane (Syracuse), formerly the Chief Prosecutor for the Special Court for Sierra Leone, will deliver a keynote address. (image=detail from conference flyer)

Details here.

Intensive IHL Workshop

Students from several dozen U.S. and foreign law schools will descend on Santa Clara University School of Law this week for an intensive workshop in International Humanitarian Law (IHL) we are co-hosting with the International Committee of the Red Cross. This is the fifth annual such workshop.

This workshop, about which we've blogged before here and here, combines lectures and hands-on exercises. The workshop is led by legal professionals from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), lawyers for the U.S. Armed Forces and U.S. government, and law professors who specialize in IHL. It will culminate in a simulation exercise on draft legislation providing the United States with prospective legal authority to engage in law of war detention of enemy combatants. This exercise will occur in the shadow of the impending release of President Obama's Executive Order allowing for indefinite detention of some of the
Guantanamo detainees.

Topics of lectures and simulations include:
•Introduction to International Humanitarian Law
•When Does IHL Apply?
•Human Rights and IHL
•Protected Persons
•Internment/Detention
•Armed Conflicts of a Non-International Character
•The IHL/Terrorism Interface
•Implementation and Enforcement of IHL

The faculty are:
•Colonel (Ret.) William K. Lietzau, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Detainee Policy, former White House Deputy Legal Advisor to the National Security Council, former Judge Advocate, member of several U.S. delegations to multilateral treaty drafting negotiations including the International Criminal Court and the Terrorist Bombing Convention (above right).

• Professor Kate Jastram, Berkeley Law (who also hosts a Teaching IHL Workshop with the ICRC for law professors) (below right).

•Major Rob Barnsby, International and Operational Law Department, JAG Legal Center.

•Lt. Col. (Ret.) and Dr. Gary Solis, Adjunct Professor of Law, Georgetown Law; faculty, International Institute of Humanitarian Law (San Remo, Italy); former head of the law of war program at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point (above left).

•Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Jenks, U.S. Army Chief of the International Law Branch of the Office of the Judge Advocate General.

•Beth Van Schaack (yours truly), Associate Professor of Law, Santa Clara University School of Law (left)

•Ramin Mahnad, Deputy Legal Advisor, ICRC.

•Mariano Banos, Attorney Advisor, Office of the Legal Advisor, United States Department of State.

Work On! Teaching International Humanitarian Law West

We've blogged before on workshops offered by the International Committee of the Red Cross to professors (of law and otherwise) interested in integrating international humanitarian law into their curricula. This April 9-10, Berkeley under the leadership of Professor Kate Jastram (below left) will host another such workshop. Here are the details:

On April 9-10, 2010 the University of California, Berkeley Law School and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) will convene the first West Coast Teaching International Humanitarian Law (IHL) Workshop at the University of California, Berkeley. The Workshop is targeted at law professors 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.


Topics covered will include:

• Defining the scope and content of an IHL class;
• Exploring the intersection between international human rights law, international humanitarian law, international criminal law, and public international law (and the jus ad bellum);
• Incorporating IHL modules into the teaching of classes such as public international law, national security law, immigration law; constitutional law; administrative law and more;
• dentifying strategies for developing curricula, responding to current events, and gaining support from school administrations for the teaching of IHL.

The Berkeley Law Teaching IHL Workshop is an outcome of the 2007 ICRC/American University Washington College of law study, Teaching International Humanitarian Law in US Law Schools, which concluded that student demand for IHL courses is high but faculty needs better resources, materials and support to expand the teaching of IHL in law schools in the US. This Workshop is an attempt to address those needs.

Confirmed participants and topics include:

Larry Johnson & Gabor Rona (Columbia) (right and below right) on Intersections with Human Rights and International Criminal Law.

IntLawGrrl Beth Van Schaack (Santa Clara) (left) and Trevor Rush (U.S. Army JAG Legal Center and School) (Jus in Bello and Jus ad Bellum)

Geoff Corn (South Texas College of Law) (left) and Eric Jensen (Fordham) (Integration of IHL into Different Subject Areas)

Gary Solis (Georgetown) on Hot Topics in IHL.



To register or for more information on the Teaching IHL Workshop, please visit here or contact teachingihl@berkeley.edu