Academy on Human Rights and Humanitarian Law Highlights Successful Academic Year, Prepares for New LL.M. and Intensive Summer Programs

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

WASHINGTON, Nov. 10, 2014 – As the Academy on Human Rights and Humanitarian Law prepares for the upcoming academic year, it reflects on a very successful 2013-14 year. The Academy celebrated the 15th anniversary of its Program of Advanced Studies on Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, and welcomed 150 students and 43 world-renowned human rights activists and scholars from over 25 different countries for an intensive three-week program that offers a broad spectrum of classes in both Spanish and English.

The Academy also celebrated the 19th anniversary of the Inter-American Human Rights Moot Court Competition, the only tri-lingual Moot Court Competition based on the Inter-American System. The Competition hosted 94 teams from 26 different countries, involving more than 320 students, professors, and human rights professionals. The Competition worked with 280 attorneys who served as judges in the written and oral portions of the Competition, over 200 of whom came to campus to judge the oral rounds.

Another major accomplishment was the creation and ABA-approval of a new LL.M. in International Human Rights and Humanitarian Law. As the first U.S.-based, semi-residential LL.M. in human rights, integrating online learning and the Academy’s existing three-week summer Program, the LL.M. attracts legal professionals, not only in the U.S. but also from abroad, seeking to advance their career in human rights and humanitarian law. The Program is designed and coordinated by Professors Claudia Martin and Diego Rodríguez-Pinzón, co-directors of the Academy on Human Rights and Humanitarian Law and professorial lecturers-in-residence, and implemented under the academic direction of Robert K. Goldman, Louis C. James Scholar and professor of law. The Program is currently accepting applications and is set to begin in Spring 2015 with its first online course.

Looking ahead, the Academy will begin accepting applications for the 2015 Program of Advanced Studies on December 1, 2014. The program dates are set for May 27–June 12, 2015. The 20th anniversary of the Inter-American Human Rights Moot Court Competition will take place May 17-22, 2015. The topic for the Competition is Transitional Justice, International Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, and the hypothetical case was written by Rodrigo Uprimny Yepes, the director of the Research Center for Law, Justice, and Society (DEJUSTICIA), and professor of Constitutional Law, Human Rights and Theory of the States at the National University of Bogota.

Additional highlights for the Academy include:

  • In May, The Academy announced the topic for the 2015 Human Rights Essay Award: Transitional Justice, International Human Rights and Humanitarian Law. The deadline for submission is February 1, 2015. Two prizes will be awarded for the best English and best Spanish articles. The prize covers a full scholarship to attend the 2015 Program of Advanced Studies.
  • As part of a grant from UNICEF, the Academy hosted an expert meeting on the Situation of the Human Rights of Girls and Adolescent Girls in Latin America and the Caribbean. The resulting report details the challenges facing girls and adolescent girls in the region as they attempt to realize their human rights under international, regional, and national law. The report can be found at tinyurl.com/situationreport.
  • Academy Co-Directors Claudia Martin and Diego Rodríguez-Pinzón were co-authors of a new publication, El Debido Proceso Legal: Análisis desde el Sistema Interamericano y Universal de Derechos Humanos Tomo I y Tomo II. This publication was made possible through the support of the Attorney General’s Office of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires; Inter-American Commission on Human Rights; the Inter-American Court of Human Rights; the Academy on Human Rights and Humanitarian Law; American University Washington College of Law; the Institute of Human Rights; and the Faculty of Judicial and Social Sciences, Universidad Nacional de La Plata. These books are available online at the following links:
  • The American University International Law Review (volume 29 number 4), published in May, featured  top essays from our 2013 Human Rights Award Competition. The topic for that year was “The Rights of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgendered Peoples and International Human Rights Law”: tinyurl.com/Vol29No4.
  • Concurrently with the Program of Advanced Studies in Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, the Academy coordinated eight panels on issues relevant to the field today, three of which were co-sponsored by the American Society of International Law (ASIL). All events were webcast and are available at: tinyurl.com/HRMWebcasts.

###

In 1896, American University Washington College of Law became the first law school in the country founded by women. More than 100 years since its founding, this law school community is grounded in the values of equality, diversity, and intellectual rigor. The law school's nationally and internationally recognized programs (in clinical legal education, international law, and intellectual property to name a few) and dedicated faculty provide its 1500 JD, LL.M., and SJD students with the critical skills and values to have an immediate impact as students and as graduates, in Washington, DC and around the world. For more information, visit wcl.american.edu.