- Defense Institute of International Legal Studies
- DIILS INTERNATIONAL PARTICIPANT: “WE ALL HAVE T...
DIILS INTERNATIONAL PARTICIPANT: “WE ALL HAVE THE SAME CAUSE”
Graduation Day - DIILS Planner & Strategist, Jeff Stefani,
LCHR Participant and guest speaker, LtCol Pagel.
The Officer’s Club on the Narragansett Bay in Newport, Rhode Island was the setting for the 28 October graduation of 21 participants enrolled in our Law of Armed Conflict and Human Rights seminar. COL Bruce Pagel, US Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps, the acting Staff Judge Advocate for CENTCOM, was the featured graduation speaker who discussed public international law and, of particular interest to our audience, the work he did in helping to build a new justice system for Iraq and Afghanistan, including his efforts in improving detention operations in that country.
The graduates, who hailed from 19 countries including Pakistan, Afghanistan, South Sudan, Burkina Faso, The Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Bulgaria, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Turkey, Kyrgyzstan, Lithuania, Papua New Guinea, Yemen, Namibia, Moldova, Bulgaria, Georgia and Tanzania, studied together for 3 weeks to enhance their understanding of the various international legal instruments that control the use of force and treatment of persons in the context of all types of military operations, especially those that involve international cooperation. Topics studied during this course include legal aspects of UN peacekeeping, the law of armed conflict, human rights law (including new DIILS curricula on fighting gender violence), border security, humanitarian relief, internal security and counter-terrorism operations. Many case studies related to this theme were analyzed and discussed by the participants.
DIILS instructor teaching gender violence curriculum.
Various cultural familiarization activities for participants were scheduled in Newport, Boston and New York City. One participant from an African country remarked “before coming to this course, I had some negative perceptions of the USA, but the classes from John Phelps, DIILS, and Amnesty International’s Tom Parker on human rights law changed my opinion. It seems everyone is trying to be proficient and do the right thing, but we all have own country problems and issues. We need to talk and find a way to work things out. I know that this can be done. ”
Another member of the class commented that “learning how to work with the military on the ground doing peace-keeping work was really great for me.” His class colleague, whose job involves the daily teaching of human rights matters to soldiers and Commanders in his own country, offered “before coming here to DIILS, I was under the impression that the Americans only care about themselves and their issues, but after taking LCHR I now understand that we all have the same cause.”
DIILS Director CAPT Sanders and participant discussing an issue.
John Phelps, a DIILS instructor for this course and DIILS Regional Program Director for EUCOM and CENTCOM, summarized the course by quoting from Gettysburg Civil War hero, Union COL Joshua L. Chamberlain, “What we're fighting for, in the end... we're fighting for each other.” He reminded the participants that “we are all working toward a common goal, making the world a better place through the rule of law.”
Coffee & Convivial Conversation.