- Defense Institute of International Legal Studies
- U.S. GLOBAL CRIMINAL JUSTICE HEAD SPEAKS TO DII...
U.S. GLOBAL CRIMINAL JUSTICE HEAD SPEAKS TO DIILS LCHR COURSE
NEWPORT - Stephen J. Rapp, Ambassador-at-Large for the U.S. Department of State Office of Global Criminal Justice, addressed 25 military and civilian participants from 19 countries on the occasion of their graduation from 9 th Law of Armed Conflict and Human Rights (LCHR) course offered by the Defense Institute of International Legal Studies.
Ambassador Rapp discussed many of the human rights challenges facing the world today and the efforts being made by the United States and other nations to address them in a constructive fashion. He related lessons learned from his experience as the Chief of Prosecutions for the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and as the former Chief Prosecutor of the Special Court for Sierra Leone. He explained the
jurisdiction and procedural challenges faced by the court in bringing to justice the former president of Liberia, Charles Taylor, for atrocities committed during the civil war in Sierra Leone.
The three-week DIILS Law of Armed Conflict and Human Rights (MASL P176019) course prepares commanders, staff officers and legal advisors to conduct operations, including multinational operations, in accordance with the law of armed conflict and human rights law.
Participants analyze the application of international humanitarian law (law of armed conflict) and human rights law to a variety of domestic and international operations, (e.g., NATO stability operations, UN peacekeeping, humanitarian assistance/disaster relief, border security, internal security, and counter-terrorism). Topics include targeting, refugees, gender violence child-soldiers, detention, transparency in military justice, non-governmental organizations and the role of the International Committee of the Red Cross. The course also addressed the proper role of legal advisors, establishing an effective commander/legal advisor relationship and how legal advisors can best assist their commanders in accomplishing the mission.
"The LCHR course showed that non adherence to law by a single soldier could affect the whole operation"
"The strength of the course is the method of delivering presentations in combination with audio/video and training materials"