AALS human rights section news

(My thanks to IntLawGrrls for the opportunity to contribute this guest post)

As the new Chair of the Section on International Human Rights of the Association of American Law Schools, I want to welcome everyone to the section and invite you to become active members.
We had a terrific session earlier this month at the AALS annual meeting, on which IntLawGrrls posted here and here.
Featured at our section's session were 8 “new voices” in human rights.
► In the first part, presenters spoke on specific current issues in international human rights law. Jena Martin Amerson (West Virginia) (left) examined the role of transnational corporations as bystanders under international law in order to move towards a better working theory of corporate accountability. Angela B. Cornell (Cornell) (left) approached the human rights responsibilities of corporations from a different angle, suggesting that private international agreements might provide opportunities to encourage corporate entities to take more responsibility toward the individuals and communities in which they operate. Benedetta Faedi Duramy (Golden Gate) (left) spoke about the ways in which women are victims of violence can become perpetrators of violence, exploring the reasons why women commit violence, based on her research in Haiti; and Jonathan Todres (Georgia State) emphasized the importance of listening to and working directly with children who are the victims of human rights abuses so that we can better understand the challenges they face.
► In the second part of the session, we focused on implementation issues. David Baluarte (American) spoke about state implementation of regional human rights bodies, with particular emphasis on the Inter-American system. IntLawGrrls alumna Alexandra Huneeus (Wisconsin) (near right) followed David's presentation up by looking more closely at which institutions within the domestic government are responsible for implementing orders from the Inter-American Court; Alexandra further made recommendations to encourage greater enforcement of regional court orders. Austen Parrish (Southwestern) argued that globalization and territorial governance can be consistent in the field of human rights. And IntLawGrrls alumna Caroline Bettinger-López (above, far right) described a collaborative effort among several human rights clinical faculty using lessons of critical theory to offer a proposed shift in human rights lawyering and advocacy; that is, a shift from identifying the immediate circumstances of human rights violations to articulating the structural realities that serve as the framework for those violations, and incorporating victims’/clients’ voices and goals into the advocacy.
The Executive Committee of the Section comprises William V. Dunlap (Quinnipiac), Michèle Alexandre (Mississippi) (near left), Stuart Ford (John Marshall), immediate past Chair Sarah Paoletti (Penn) (far left) and me. Right now we are working on:
► Setting the communications platform which we hope to develop as a list-serv for faculty members interested in human rights law; and
► Establishing a mentoring project to help new faculty members who are just starting to teach in this area.
Watch for announcements about these projects, as well as plans for the 2012 annual meeting, to be held in January in Washington, D.C.
Most of all, we welcome suggestions, comments or any other expressions of interest. So please contact one of us to share your thoughts.

Go On! Trafficking in Sex & Labor

(Go On! is an occasional item on symposia and other events of interest) IntLawGrrls will be well represented at the University of Pennsylvania Law Review symposium to be held November 13 and 14 at the Philadelphia-based law school.
"Trafficking in Sex and Labor: Domestic and International Responses" is the title of the conference, which features a keynote address by Catharine MacKinnon, Michigan Law Professor and Special Gender Advisor to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, about whom we've posted. Here're the panels:
Labor Trafficking:

IntLawGrrl Dina Francesca Haynes, New England School of Law; James Gray Pope, Rutgers-Newark; Dr. Joel Quirk, University of Hull, England; Ms. founder Gloria Steinem; and Martina Vandenberg, Jenner & Block. Penn's Tobias Barrington Wolff will moderate.

Trafficking and Immigration Policy:

Jennifer Chacón, University of California, Irvine; Jennifer "J.J." Rosenbaum, Southern Poverty Law Center; and Jayashri Srikantiah, Stanford. Penn's Sarah Paoletti will moderate.

International Responses to Trafficking:

IntLawGrrls Diane Marie Amann (yours truly), University of California, Davis, and Janie Chuang, American University, as well as Norma Ramos, Coalition Against Trafficking of Women. Penn's William Burke-White will moderate.

Sex Trafficking:

Dr. Denise Brennan, Georgetown; Michelle Madden Dempsey, Villanova; Dr. Melissa Farley, of the San Francisco nonprofit Prostitution Research and Education; Illinois attorney Kaethe Morris Hoffer; Ann Jordan, American University; and author/activist Christine Stark. Pamela Shifman, UNICEF, will moderate.

Details and registration here. (photo credit)

A Hybrid Truth Commission?

In response to criticism of international ad hoc tribunals (too expensive, too distant from the societies they aim to serve) and domestic trials (too biased, insufficient infrastructure) in addressing crimes of mass violence, we've seen the rise of hybrid tribunals that combine elements of international and national structures (think the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, the Special Court for Sierra Leone). Now we may be seeing a new breed of truth commission. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Liberia, created to examine the causes of the conflict in Liberia from 1979 to 2003, is working with Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights to take statements of Liberians living here in the United States for use before the commission. Indeed, some of this statement-taking will be happening right here in Philadelphia, under the direction of Sarah Paoletti, who runs the new Transnational Clinic at Penn Law. This creative approach enables the cash-strapped Liberian TRC to marshall the resources of American NGOs and law school clinics and to reach populations that fled the country, many because they were targeted by the Doe or Taylor regimes. Liberian refugees as far away as Sweden have expressed interest in being involved in the TRC in this way, and the same organizations that take statements here in the U.S. will also travel to Ghana to assist in statement-taking there. While this approach might be culturally appropriate only for a country with such strong historical ties to the United States, it seems a promising way forward for Liberia, and the engagement of the diaspora may provide useful lessons for future truth commissions around the world. (Photo credit to Richard Franco.)