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Established | 2000 |
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Director | Leila Nadya Sadat |
Location | St. Louis , Missouri |
Website | Official website |
The Whitney R. Harris World Law Institute at Washington University School of Law, established in 2000 as the Institute for Global Legal Studies, serves as a center for instruction and research in international and comparative law.
The Harris Institute was established in November 2000 as the "Institute for Global Legal Studies" [1] and was later renamed as the "Whitney R. Harris Institute for Global Legal Studies" [2] in honor and recognition of Whitney R. Harris' lifelong achievements in the field of international justice. Whitney R. Harris served as a trial counsel prosecuting the major German war criminals before the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg in 1945 and he kept the Nuremberg dream alive through his writings and his advocacy, and later through his philanthropic generosity and support of legal education and research. In 2008, he and Anna Harris endowed the Institute’s "World Peace Through Law Award" [3] at a ceremony during which the Harris Institute’s name was changed to the "Whitney R. Harris World Law Institute," the name it bears today.
The Harris Institute has sponsored more than 125 speakers and held or co-sponsored more than 70 conferences, workshops, and experts’ meetings and more than 120 lectures since it opened. Its work has also led to the publication of at least 6 books and 15 law review volumes. Primary projects led by the Harris Institute include the Crimes Against Humanity Initiative, the Gun Violence and Human Rights Project, the annual Arbitration and Dispute Resolution Symposium, as well as numerous opportunities for students to get experience in the field of international law. It also houses an "Ambassador-in-Residence" program and hosts debates and scholarship roundtables on pressing issues in international law and policy. By drawing on a vast pool of international and national expertise, the Harris Institute fosters collaboration, continuous dialogue and exchange among scholars and practitioners engaged in international or comparative work.
In 2008, the Whitney R. Harris World Law Institute launched Crimes Against Humanity Initiative [4] to study the need for a comprehensive international convention on the prevention and punishment of crimes against humanity, analyze the necessary elements of such a convention, and draft a proposed treaty. The Initiative helped inspire the United Nations International Law Commission to pick up this topic, with a view towards drafting a UN treaty on Crimes Against Humanity. [5] As of 2020, a set of Draft Articles on the Prevention and Punishment of Crimes against Humanity is being considered by the United Nations General Assembly Sixth Committee. [6] [ circular reference ]
In Fall 2017, the Institute launched a new initiative on gun violence examining U.S. government responses to gun violence in light of U.S. obligations under international human rights law. [7] As part of this project, Washington University Law students and the Harris Institute Fellow conduct in-depth research articulating mechanisms to rectify the crisis and suggesting international fora that can examine the issue. [8] The project argues that the failure of the U.S. government to exercise due diligence with respect to preventing and reducing gun-related violence may violate the government’s obligations under several international human rights instruments. [9]
An article by Harris Institute Director Professor Leila Sadat and Madaline George argues that U.S. gun violence violates ten specific human rights: the Right to Life; the Right to Security of Person; the Right to Health; the Right to be Free from Ill-Treatment; the Right to be Free from Racial Discrimination; the Right to Gender Equality; the Right to Freedom of Religion, Expression, Opinion, and Belief; the Right to Peaceful Assembly and Association; the Right to Special Protection for Children and the Right to Education; and the Right to Participate in the Cultural Life of the Community. [10]
Along with Washington University’s Institute for Public Health, the Harris Institute hosted the conference and experts' meeting A New Approach to the Gun Violence Crisis in America [11] on November 2–3, 2018, with speakers including Jonathan Hafetz of the American Civil Liberties Union, Mike McLively of the Urban Gun Violence Initiative at Brady United, Barbara Frey [12] of the Human Rights Program at the University of Minnesota, and Philip Alpers from the University of Sydney School of Public Health. [13] This conference resulted in the symposium edition of the Washington University Journal of Law and Policy. [14] Language used from this project has been utilized by Amnesty International in their Gun Violence Report [15] and echoed by then-candidate for the Democratic Presidential Nomination Elizabeth Warren during the New Hampshire 2020 Debate. [16]
The Harris Institute submitted “The U.S. Gun Violence Crisis as a Violation of U.S. Obligations Under the ICCPR,” [17] in January 2019 as part of the U.N. Human Rights Committee’s 2019 periodic review of the United States. When the Committee began its review in March 2019, it requested information from the U.S. government based upon issued highlighted by the Institute’s submission. [18]
The Harris Institute and Washington University’s Institute for Public Health co-submitted a stakeholder report to the U.N. Human Rights Council, for the Third Universal Periodic Review of the U.S. government’s interactions with human rights.
In connection to this new project, the Institute was one of four members of civil society invited to present testimony before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights during a hearing on “The Regulation of Gun Sales and Social Violence in the United States” in Bogotá, Colombia on February 27, 2018. [19] The hearing highlighted that there are proven and effective measures that the U.S. government can implement to reduce the number of lives lost due to gun violence. An appropriate government response that takes a public health and human rights approach to this problem would reduce homicide and suicide rates in the United States, and reduce illegal gun trafficking that is rampant in the Americas. [20]
In November 2019, Harris Institute Fellow Madaline George presented to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights at a hearing dedicated to the impact of gun violence upon the United States. [21] The Harris Institute spoke at that hearing as part of a coalition of civil society representatives and victims of gun violence.
The World Peace Through Law Award is bestowed upon an individual who, by his or her work and writings, has considerably advanced the rule of law and thereby contributed to world peace. Established in 2006, the Award recognizes individuals who have achieved great distinction in the field of international law and international relations. To date, this award has been bestowed upon the following distinguished individuals:
This annual program aims to establish a forum in which top practitioners, academics, attorneys, and students gather on an annual basis to explore sophisticated topics in international arbitration and dispute resolution; advance the development of international arbitration and dispute resolution; educate the next generation of lawyers; and provide networking opportunities. [26]
The program seeks to advance conversations on international arbitration and dispute resolution by bringing together private practitioners, in-house and government counsel, academics, arbitration and mediation institutions, and engaging users of international arbitration and dispute resolution, particularly those from the Midwest. [27] CLE credit is offered to lawyers who attend this symposium. Course credit may be awarded to students of Washington University School of Law, in conjunction with courses in international arbitration and international business transactions.
The Harris Institute recruits research assistants to support Institute Director Leila Sadat in her work as the Special Advisor on Crimes Against Humanity to the International Criminal Court Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda. [37] As part of the CAH Research Project, students assist the Office of the Prosecutor with researching and analyzing active cases on crimes against humanity issues.
In September 2009, the Harris Institute concluded a Co-Operation Agreement with the International Criminal Court which began the ICC Legal Tools Project. [38] Under the Co-Operation Agreement, the Institute is responsible for collecting and uploading documents for the "National Jurisdictions" and "National Cases Involving Core International Crimes" folders in the ICC Legal Tools database. The Harris Institute has been researching, collecting, and analyzing relevant domestic legislation and case law concerning genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes for the following States: Albania, Azerbaijan, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Comoros, Georgia, Ghana, Kiribati, Kyrgyzstan, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Mauritius, Namibia, Niger, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Swaziland, Tajikistan, Tonga, Tuvalu, Tanzania, Uzbekistan and Zambia. [39]
Founded in 2007, the Harris Institute Ambassadors Program brings foreign service professionals to the law school to share their experiences and knowledge with the law school and university community. The Ambassadors Program draws current and retired professionals from the international diplomatic corps to provide students with a first-hand description of international law and policy in action.
Former Ambassadors-in-Residence include: Ambassador David Scheffer (2014), the first US Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issues; Ambassador Stephen J. Rapp (2009), Ambassador Louis Susman (2012, 2015), Ambassador-at-Large for Global Criminal Justice; Ambassador Charles Stith (2009), former United States Ambassador to Tanzania; Ambassador Feisal Amin Rasoul al-Istrabadi (2009), the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Deputy Permanent Representative of Iraq to the United Nations; Carla A. Hills (2008), former United States Trade Representative; and Thomas A. Schweich (2008), former State Department coordinator for counternarcotics and Justice Reform in Afghanistan.
In 2001, Margaret Dagen–an early pioneer of the civil rights movement in St. Louis–endowed the Dagen-Legomsky Student Fellowship Program for Washington University law students to work in the field of international human rights and to study at prestigious international law summer programs during the summer recess. Research fellows have gone to the Hague Academy of International Law, The Hague, The Netherlands; [40] Xiamen Academy of International Law, Xiamen, China; [41] The Netherlands School of Human Rights, Utrecht University, The Netherlands; and the UN International Law Commission, Geneva, Switzerland.
With the financial support of this program, Dagen-Legomsky International Public Interest fellows partake in summer externships at the U.S. Department of Justice; the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, Arusha, Tanzania; the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, Defense Section; [42] the European Council on Refugees and Exiles, Brussels, Belgium; the Mekong Region Law Center, Bangkok, Thailand; the Korean Commercial Arbitration Board, Seoul, Republic of Korea; [43] Centro de Estudios de las Americas, Santiago, Chile; Black Sash, Cape Town, South Africa; and many more. [44] [45]
The Harris Institute International Humanitarian Law (IHL) program provided a unique opportunity to Washington University law students interested in international law field advocacy. In spring 2012, the IHL program entered into a partnership with the Enough! Project. The Washington, D.C. based NGO works with concerned citizens, advocates, and policymakers to prevent, mitigate, and resolve crises of genocide and crimes against humanity. Law students had a unique opportunity to aid in Enough’s Raise Hope for Congo campaign through the Conflict-Free Campus Initiative (CFCI). [46] This Initiative aimed to alleviate atrocities committed over conflict minerals in Congo by pressuring electronics companies to use conflict-free minerals in their products.
Dispute resolution or dispute settlement is the process of resolving disputes between parties. The term dispute resolution is sometimes used interchangeably with conflict resolution.
The University for Peace (UPEACE) is an international graduate-only university and intergovernmental organization. The university was established as a treaty organisation by the United Nations General Assembly in 1980.
Crimes against humanity are widespread or systemic criminal acts which are committed by or on behalf of a de facto authority, usually by or on behalf of a state, that grossly violate human rights. Unlike war crimes, crimes against humanity can be committed during both peace and war. They are not isolated or sporadic events because they are part of a government policy or they are part of a widespread practice of atrocities which is tolerated or condoned by a government or a de facto authority. They do not need to be part of an official policy, but they only need to be tolerated by authorities.
Hans Axel Valdemar Corell is a Swedish lawyer and diplomat. Between March 1994 and March 2004 he was Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs and the Legal Counsel of the United Nations. In this capacity, he was head of the Office of Legal Affairs in the United Nations Secretariat.
The American University Washington College of Law is the law school of American University, a private research university in Washington, D.C. It is located on the western side of Tenley Circle in the Tenleytown section of northwest Washington, D.C. The school is accredited by the American Bar Association and a member of the AALS.
Paul R. Williams holds the Rebecca Grazier Professorship in Law and International Relations at American University, where he teaches in the School of International Service and the Washington College of Law. He is the president and co-founder of the Public International Law & Policy Group (PILPG), a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) which provides pro bono assistance to countries and governments involved in peace negotiations, drafting post-conflict constitutions, and prosecuting war criminals, and was consultant at the London based Bosnian Institute for years.
Juan E. Méndez is an Argentine lawyer, former United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, and human rights activist known for his work on behalf of political prisoners.
The Washington University School of Law (WashULaw) is the law school of Washington University in St. Louis, a private research university in St. Louis, Missouri. Founded in 1867, the law school was originally located in downtown St. Louis, and relocated in 1904 to the Danforth Campus of Washington University in St. Louis.
Francis Mading Deng is a politician and diplomat from South Sudan who served as the newly independent country's first ambassador to the United Nations from 2012 to July 2016.
Fatoumata Dembélé Diarra is a Malian lawyer and judge. She has been a judge for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and has been a judge of the International Criminal Court since 2003.
Fatou Bom Bensouda is a Gambian lawyer and former Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), who has served as the Gambian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom since 3 August 2022.
Diane Marie Amann is Regents' Professor of International Law and holds the Emily & Ernest Woodruff Chair in International Law at the University of Georgia School of Law. She has served since mid-2017 as a faculty co-director of the law school's Dean Rusk International Law Center, a position she took up after completing a two-and-a-half-year term as Associate Dean for International Programs & Strategic Initiatives. Additionally, she serves as Professor of International Affairs at the University of Georgia School of Public and International Affairs and as an Affiliated Faculty Member at the University of Georgia African Studies Institute.
John L. Washburn is the Convener for the American Non-Governmental Organizations Coalition for the International Criminal Court (AMICC) and Co-Chair of the Washington Working Group on the International Criminal Court (WICC). In addition, Washburn is an Adjunct Research Scholar for the International Criminal Court Program at the Columbia University Institute for the Study of Human Rights.
Whitney Robson Harris was an American attorney, and one of the last surviving prosecutors from the Nuremberg Trials.
Silvia Alejandra Fernández de Gurmendi is an Argentine lawyer, diplomat and judge. She has been a judge at the International Criminal Court (ICC) since 20 January 2010 and was the first woman President of the ICC from March 2015 to March 2018. She was elected to the presidency for a three-year term and served until March 2018. In 2020 she was elected to serve as President of the Assembly of States Parties to Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court for the twentieth to twenty-second sessions (2021-2023).
Kuniko Ozaki, is a Japanese lawyer who served as judge of the International Criminal Court and the Presiding Judge of Trial Chamber V, constituted to try the cases against four Kenyan nationals. Specially-appointed professor of International Human Right Law at Chuo University Faculty of Law (2021-).
Leila Nadya Sadat is the James Carr Professor of International Criminal Law at Washington University School of Law and the former Director of the Whitney R. Harris World Law Institute. She has served as Special Advisor on Crimes Against Humanity to Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda of the International Criminal Court since December 12, 2012. Sadat is the Director of The Crimes Against Humanity Initiative, a multi-year project to study the problem of crimes against humanity and draft a comprehensive convention addressing their punishment and prevention. She has spearheaded the international effort to establish this new global convention. In 2012 Sadat was elected to membership in the U.S. Council on Foreign Relations, and in 2018 was elected as the President of the American Branch of the International Law Association for a two-year term in October 2018.
The Crimes Against Humanity Initiative is a rule of law research and advocacy project of the Whitney R. Harris World Law Institute. Started in 2008 by Professor Leila Nadya Sadat, the Initiative has as its goals the study of the need for a comprehensive international convention on the prevention and punishment of crimes against humanity, the analysis of the necessary elements of such a convention, and the drafting of a proposed treaty. To date, the Initiative has held several experts' meetings and conferences, published a Proposed Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Crimes Against Humanity, and resulted in the publication of an edited volume, Forging a Convention for Crimes Against Humanity, by Cambridge University Press. The draft treaty is now available in seven languages. The UN International Law Commission produced its own, similar, set of Draft Articles on the Prevention and Punishment of Crimes against Humanity, and a proposed treaty is now being debated by governments around the world.
Mark Steven Ellis is an international criminal law expert and the executive director of the International Bar Association. He is the current chair of the UN-created Advisory Panel on Matters Relating to Defence Counsel of the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals. He also serves as Chair of the Management Board of the Central and Eastern European Law Initiative (CEELI) Institute.
Jennifer Trahan is an American legal scholar and academic. She is a Clinical Professor at New York University's Center for Global Affairs and directs their Concentration in International Law and Human Rights.