IMPUNITY WATCH’S 3RD ANNUAL SYMPOSIUM

On Saturday, April 14, 2012 at 1:00PM in Maxwell Auditorium, Syracuse University College of Law’s Impunity Watch law journal will present its third annual symposium on human rights, “Sexual Violence as a Weapon of War and Crime against Humanity.” Former International Criminal Court attorney Christine Chung will present the keynote address. Following a brief snack break there will be a panel discussion featuring Syracuse University professor Beverly Allen, the Erie County Sheriff’s Human Trafficking Task Force Deputy Elizabeth Fildes, and Christine Chung, to be moderated by the founding Chief Prosecutor for the Special Court for Sierra Leone, Syracuse University College of Law Professor David Crane, L’80. The program will conclude with a 4PM reception with appetizers and refreshments. The symposium is free and open to the general public.

 

Parking is available in the Irving Parking Garage located on Stadium Place.

 

“In this age of ‘dirty little wars,’ civilians, particularly women, bear the brunt of the horror that one finds in largely non‐international armed conflict,” says Crane. “This was no more apparent than during my time as Chief Prosecutor of the Special Court for Sierra Leone. The cornerstone of my indictments were gender crimes. I was going to make them account for what the indictees had done to women and girls.

This important and cutting‐edge symposium will explore the ramifications of sexual violence during times of conflict in place worn down by war.”

 

Christine Chung will present the symposium’s keynote address. From 2004 to 2007,

Chung was the first senior trial attorney at the International Criminal Court (ICC), prosecuting perpetrators of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. She directed the investigation that led to the issuance of the first ICC arrest warrants in Uganda and led the investigation in the Congo that resulted in the case again Germain Katanga and

Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui.

 

David Crane will then moderate a panel featuring Beverly Allen and Elizabeth Fildes.

Beverly Allen is currently Professor of Italian and Comparative Literature and Tolley Distinguished Teaching Professor in the Humanities at Syracuse University. Allen’s foray into investigative journalism produced Rape Warfare, the book that influenced the United Nations Security Council to create a new law making rape a crime against humanity. Allen has previously served as a consultant to the U.N. International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. She earned a Masters degree from Columbia University and a Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley.

 

Deputy Elizabelth Fildes is the program director of the Erie County Sheriff’s Human

Trafficking Task Force, where she trains government officials, law enforcement officers and non‐government employees worldwide to identify human trafficking and how to interview victims. Having been deemed an expert on the matter by the U.S. Department of Justice, Deputy Fildes is also a member of the NYS DCJS Criminal Justice Subcommittee of the Interagency Task Force on Human Trafficking. Deputy Fildes is also the co‐founder of United Hands of Hope House, where all proceeds go to developing a safe house for domestic victims in New York.

 

Impunity Watch will present their annual symposium, Sexual Violence as a Weapon of War and Crime against Humanity, on Saturday, April 14, 2012 at 1:00PM in Maxwell Auditorium at Syracuse University. The day will conclude with a reception in the foyer. The event is open to public. Parking is available in Irving Garage on Stadium Place.

 

For more information about the symposium, visit the Facebook event page or www.ImpunityWatch.com, where you can also find Impunity Watch’s daily human rights news stories.

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