10/5-10/6/06

Transatlantic Symposium Spotlights Human Rights Abuses in Darfur and the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Academics, governmental and corporate representatives, and human rights advocates from the United States and Europe will gather for a high-profile conference in Chicago to address human rights abuses against civilians in Darfur, Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The fifth annual Transatlantic Dialogue, entitled “Symposium on the Humanitarian Crises in Darfur and the Democratic Republic of the Congo,” will take place at the Chicago campus of Northwestern University on Oct. 5 and 6.

Northwestern Law professors David Scheffer and Stephen Sawyer organized the conference, which is co-presented by the Bluhm Legal Clinic's Center on International Human Rights with the Northwestern University Journal of International Human Rights and the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium. The event is being offered in partnership with Columbia University 's Human Rights Institute, the University of Notre Dame's Center for Civil and Human Rights, and The Chicago Council on Global Affairs and enjoys the support of major U.S. based law firms with an international practice.

Participants will address the gross human rights abuses against civilians over a period of years in Darfur (Sudan) and the Democratic Republic of the Congo and will evaluate the response of the international community to those crises. Panel topics will focus on recommendations along three tracks: humanitarian, security, and judicial. Conference panelists will focus attention on the human rights abuses and call for concrete action to redress the wrongs, analyzing in the process the roles of the United Nations, the African Union, the private sector, non-governmental organizations, humanitarian organizations, governments, national courts, and the International Criminal Court.

His Royal Highness Prince Zeid Ra'ad Zeid Al-Hussein, permanent representative of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan to the United Nations and former president of the Assembly of States Parties for the International Criminal Court, will deliver a keynote address at a dinner at Northwestern University School of Law, 357 E. Chicago Ave., on Thursday, Oct. 5. Attendance at this event is by invitation only.

Christoph Harnisch, Delegate General for Africa for the International Committee of the Red Cross, will deliver a luncheon address on Friday, Oct. 6, at Northwestern University, Wieboldt Hall, 340 East Superior. Attendance at this event is by invitation only.

All October 6 panel events, including an Opening Address by Mark Bowden, Chief of Policy, United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, are free and open to the public and will take place in Wieboldt Hall from 8:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. and from 1:45 to 5:45 p.m.

Established in 1998, Northwestern Law's Center for International Human Rights is dedicated to fostering the use and study of international law as a means to defend human rights, democracy, and the rule of law. Likewise, the Northwestern University Journal of International Human Rights is dedicated to providing a dynamic forum for the vigorous discussion of human rights issues among scholars of all disciplines and perspectives.

This symposium is part of the Northwestern Law's continued focus on international human rights and the globalization of business as it prepares both domestic and international students for a legal practice in a changing world. The symposium is also a Centennial Regional Meeting of the American Society of International Law.