| Students report on their work with Committee Against Torture BY MIKE UNGER 
Photos by Bill Petros
WCL dean Claudio Grossman, center, and the participants in the United Nations Committee Against Torture Project How many law school students can say that they played an active role in battling torture around the globe while earning their JD? At least six in the Washington College of Law. Those six, participants in the United Nations Committee Against Torture (UNCAT) Project, shared their experiences Jan. 30 with dozens of their classmates interested in landing one of the prestigious spots next year. “It was a wonderful opportunity for all of us to see the U.N. process unfold firsthand,” said Erin Melissa Scheick. “The project helped us familiarize ourselves with human rights law and presented a complement to a lot of the legal training we get here.” Dean Claudio Grossman is vice chair of the UNCAT, and he began tapping students in 2003 to assist him before and during the committee’s annual meeting in Geneva, Switzerland. “We created a project to provide experiential learning to our students,” he said. “From my point of view, it offers me, as a member of the committee, [an opportunity] to learn from the participants. In the past, the students have been highly motivated and invaluable to me. I am the one who benefits the most.” Many of them would beg to differ. Students who are selected for the program take a course for credit in the fall co-taught by Grossman and Jennifer de Laurentiis, the project coordinator, designed to enhance their understanding of human rights law. They perform extensive research on one of the seven countries scheduled to go before the committee that year, compiling data and questions for Grossman to ask the nations’ representatives. In November, the students accompany Grossman to Geneva for a week, and sit in as the countries before the body present a report assessing their compliance with the convention. “In Geneva we meet with alumni and members of the human rights community,” de Laurentiis said. “It’s a great networking opportunity.” Australia, Portugal, Uzbekistan, Norway, Estonia, and Latvia are among the countries scheduled to appear before the committee in 2007. During last week’s event, students recounted their experiences working on this year’s project, in which they analyzed reports from Russia, Tajikistan, Mexico, Burundi, Guyana, and Hungary. “It’s a good way to see how the international community is coming to consensus on specific articles of the CAT,” Scheick said. “You also see how the role of politics impacts the development of international law.” The application process for the project is open most of this month, and selections are made in
April. For more information,
e-mail Jennifer de Laurentiis at jdelaurentiis@wcl.american.edu. 
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