Go On! Lawfare

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

Lawfare! is the title of this year's annual meeting of the American National Section of the Association internationale de droit pénal, led by our colleague, Creighton Law Professor Michael J. Kelly. The symposium and experts' meeting, cosponsored by numerous other organizations, will be held September 10-11, 2010, in the Moot Courtroom at Case Western Reserve University School of Law, 11075 East Blvd., Cleveland, Ohio.

The conference will explore "lawfare," a concept traditionally defined as “a strategy of using -- or misusing-- law as a substitute for traditional military means to achieve an operational objective,” but recently extended by some to issues of international criminal justice and human rights.

Among the many experts scheduled to take part are IntLawGrrls guests/alumnae Leila Nadya Sadat (Washington University) and Susan Tiefenbrun (Thomas Jefferson), as well as Milena Sterio (Cleveland-Marshall), Laurie Blank (Emory), Melissa Waters (Washington & Lee), Sandy Hodgkinson (Department of Defense; prior post), and American Society of International Law Executive Director Elizabeth Andersen.

Details here.

Teddy bears behind bars

Must share this exchange from a session today on international law after Iraq at the American Society of International Law's annual meeting in Washington.
Audience member Jason Dominguez, a law professor at Texas Southern University, raised with panelist and U.S. Department of Defense lawyer Sandy Hodgkinson a question comparing the U.S. drive for rapid accountability against leaders of the former Iraqi regime with the rather different approach to domestic accountability for the abuse that Iraqi detainees endured at U.S. hands in the prison in Abu Ghraib. She answered the 1st part, then stopped. Dominguez' reply -- "And as for Abu Ghraib?" -- prompted Hodgkinson to a recitation of positive changes in U.S. treatment of the tens of thousands of Iraqis now detained in Iraq. On the list was this:

We have detainees who are making Teddy bears to give to their children when they come to visit.

Indeed.


(cross-posted at Slate's Convictions blog)