Newport, RI -- October 30 was Graduation Day for 25 international participants who attended the DIILS Law of Armed Conflict and Human Rights (LCHR) course.  The three-week seminar at Naval Station Newport enables participants to 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 the military, government, academia, and international organizations.  The participants, from 18 countries, also learned about American culture and history through field studies programs during the course.
During this Expanded International Military Education and Training (E-IMET) seminar, the participants, including civilians and officers ranging in rank from Lieutenant to Colonel, compared 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 of war, human rights in domestic operations, terrorism and human rights, child soldiers, torture, command responsibility, transitional justice, 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 and video clips illustrated the often paradoxical nature of operational challenges, while group exercises and discussion groups guided the participants toward developing culturally appropriate best practices for the application of international human rights standards.  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 operational effectiveness and ensure compliance with LOAC.  A practical exercise on Rules of Engagement and lawful targeting, using a firearms simulation system, gave participants the chance to apply and evaluate their knowledge in a more realistic setting.
DIILS conducted a number of field studies programs (FSP) 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.  While in New York City, they toured Manhattan and experienced the cultural diversity of a large American metropolis.  One participant stated, “The Field Study Programs provides a good insight into the American culture… it gave us an opportunity to understand the way Americans live, the multi-ethnicity, democracy and economic conditions.”  Another participant noted that the FSP trip to NYC was “an eye opener,” and yet another offered, “I was grateful for the opportunity to see America from different perspectives; it was an experience that I will remember forever.”
During the academic portion of the visit to New York, they met with experts from the United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations, Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and a representative from Argentina’s Mission to the UN, who addressed human rights from the perspective of a participant in a military operation.  An expert on child soldiers from an international NGO also addressed the class.  One of the highlights of the New York visit was a meeting with Peggy Kuo, a lawyer and former prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia (ICTY), which successfully tried and convicted three officers of rape and sexual slavery atrocities in the Bosnian town of Foca 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 also 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.  They valued “the effective teaching of the Law of Armed Conflict and the compelling and rational argument as to why the military should play by the rules, despite the viciousness and uncertainty of war.”  They appreciated the “free and frank discussion” and gained “a better understanding of the role of the military as a catalyst for positive changes in most countries.”
At the LCHR graduation ceremony, Colonel Mark “Max” Maxwell, USA, Strategic Initiatives Officer for the Judge Advocate General of the U.S. Army, related his experience on the singular importance of the relationship between unit commanders and their legal advisors when it comes to planning and executing operations that not only meet the requirements of the law but also achieve the military mission.