May 1 was Graduation Day for 16 international participants who attended the DIILS Law of Armed Conflict and Human Rights (LCHR) course.  The participants, who hailed from 9 countries, also learned about American culture and history through field studies programs during the course.  The three-week LCHR seminar at Naval Station Newport is designed to help participants ascertain how they, and their respective countries, can enhance the lawful conduct of military operations within and beyond national boundaries.  In order to present a range of perspectives, the LCHR instructor team includes U.S. and international legal experts from government, the military, academia, and international organizations.

Over the course of this Expanded International Military Education and Training (E-IMET) seminar, the LCHR participants, including two civilians and 14 officers ranging in rank from Lieutenant to Colonel, examined various legal frameworks and engaged in practical exercises to illustrate the challenges of applying the Law of Armed Conflict (LOAC) and International Human Rights law in a variety of operational settings.  They analyzed the full spectrum of LOAC and human rights issues facing military forces today, including gender violence as a tactic and a weapon of war, human rights in domestic operations, terrorism and human rights, child soldiers, torture, command responsibility, transitional justice, international human rights laws against gender violence, transparency in military justice, impunity, NATO gender mainstreaming and the Law of Armed Conflict, UN mechanisms for protecting human rights, detention operations, NGO relations and refugee issues.

Topical films illustrated the often paradoxical nature of these challenges, while group exercises and discussion groups guided the participants toward developing culturally appropriate best practices to apply international human rights standards in military operations.  This LCHR seminar featured a scenario-based exercise on the human rights aspects of peace operations.  It also emphasized the importance of a positive professional working relationship between operational lawyers and commanders, in order to enhance operations and ensure compliance with the law.  A practical exercise on Rules of Engagement and lawful targeting, using a firearm simulation tool, gave participants the chance to apply and evaluate their knowledge in a more realistic setting.  As is customary in the LCHR course, several participants gave presentations about relevant current or past legal issues in their countries.

DIILS conducted a number of field studies designed to introduce LCHR participants to American culture and provide some historical context for the democratic ideals reflected in the U.S. Constitution and laws.  They visited the Mashantucket Pequot Native American Museum in Connecticut, where they discovered Native American culture and perspective on human rights issues in the U.S.  They toured historic Newport, Rhode Island where they learned about New England history.  And during the New York City trip, they took a tour of Manhattan, visited the United Nations building, and experienced the cultural diversity of a large American metropolis.

In New York City, they met with experts from the United Nations, to include the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and a representative from the Embassy of Argentina, who addressed human rights from the perspective of a mission participant.  A representative from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and an NGO expert on child soldiers also addressed the class.  One of the highlights of the New York visit was a meeting with Peggy Kuo, an internationally renowned lawyer and a chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia (ICTY), which successfully tried and convicted three of the war criminals who committed sexual violence atrocities in Yugoslavia’s Foca region during the 1990s.  The ICTY Foca trials have had a profound and lasting impact on efforts to combat sexual violence in times of war.  Ms Kuo appeared in the critically acclaimed documentary “Women, War and Peace: I Came to Testify” that examined the Foca war crimes and the subsequent ICTY trials. Participants described their meeting with her as “inspiring,” “impressive,” and a “highlight of the course.”

Participants were uniformly positive in their appraisal of the LCHR course as a valuable learning experience with practical applications for their professional development.   An African participant said, “Before coming here, I didn’t have any experience in the human rights field…I have learned a lot.  The gender violence problems particularly retained my attention – we must do something to stop this grief.”   One participant declared, "This was an excellent course – very useful for my job.  I want to thank the USA government for giving me the opportunity to come here and learn.” 

Another participant noted: “It’s a great occasion for meeting and understanding colleagues from different countries.  It was really interesting to hear how they are thinking about specific topics and how they think about the solutions of some issues.”