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WCL hosts human rights academy
BY SALLY ACHARYA
Lisa Laplante and Juan Pablo Perez-Leon Acevedo met on the D.C.-bound plane from Lima, Peru. Both are involved in human rights in Peru. And both had won scholarships to the Academy on Human Rights and Humanitarian Law at the Washington College of Law.
The intensive three-week academy includes courses, lectures by leading legal figures, and moot court competitions designed in part to train law students in the use of international law and strengthen the links between organizations, practitioners, and educators.
“One of the most outstanding points of this academy is that we can access the most recent development in the Inter-American system,” said Acevedo, a Peruvian professor and advisor to Amnesty International.
Acevedo won a scholarship to the academy for a scholarly article on human rights issues written in Spanish. Laplante won for an article in English.
Some of the students in the summer academy speak Spanish or Portuguese; others speak English. All of them speak the language of law and human rights. In May and June, students from around the world—mainly the Americas, but also Africa and elsewhere—came to the Washington College of Law for a summer program that brings together law students, practitioners, scholars, and activists. Much of the focus is on the Inter-American human rights legal system.
Mark Jette chose the academy to finish his final course work for the University of Montana Law School. “I’m particularly interested in indigenous issues,” said Jette, an advisor on American Indian issues for Sen. Jon Tester (D-Montana), “and want to see how the international community deals with the issues we’re dealing with.”
First-year WCL student Erica Morgan also earned credit at the academy as she pursues her goal of a law degree, which she’ll add to her two years of experience with the National Organization of Women to enhance her ability to work for women’s rights.
The program is cosponsored by WCL, the Netherlands Institute for Human Rights at Utrecht University, and the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law (Sweden).
Courses include United Nations Human Rights System, International Justice for Human Rights Violations, and Women and International Human Rights Law. Courses are offered in Spanish, English, or both.
The academy also sponsors Human Rights Month, which features a series of panels with distinguished practitioners and legal scholars.
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