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Curriculum Guide

The Center for Justice and International Law

 

On Tuesday, October 4, UConn, Storrs will be hosting a visit by a delegation representing this year's Dodd Prize in International Justice and Human Rights recipients, the Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL). The visit will feature an 11am public lecture in Konover Auditorium.

The visiting group includes staffers from both CEJIL's Washington, D.C. and San Jose, Costa Rica offices, and special guest Andrea Gisela Ortiz Perea, sister of one of the students of the Enrique Guzman y Valle National University (La Cantuta) of Peru who was kidnapped, tortured and murdered by troops of the Peruvian Army in 1992. Ms Ortiz Perea was a pivotal person in the prosecution and ultimate conviction of Peru's former President Alberto Fujimori for his responsibility for this crime and other extrajudicial murders. The Peruvian trial was preceded some years earlier by a case at the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, focusing specifically on the La Cantuta disappearances, brought by Ms Ortiz Perea and other surviving family members of the victims, and led by CEJIL lawyers.

The CEJIL visit thus constitutes an opportunity for your students to participate in dialogue with people who have devoted their careers to fighting for justice through international law. Learn more about CEJIL's work in the Inter-American human rights system.

Here are a few items of background reading that your students might pick from to learn more:

  • Cavallaro, James L., and Stephanie Erin Brewer, 2008, "Reevaluating Regional Human Rights Litigation in the Twenty-First Century: The Case of the Inter-American Court." American Journal of International Law 102:768-827. (This article examines the relationship of supranational litigation and human rights outcomes in Latin America.) Full text pdf (from UConn domain)
  • Pocket-size overviews of the 2 main institutions of the Inter-American human rights system can be gotten at the Wikipedia entries on "Inter-American Commission on Human Rights" ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inter-American_Commission_on_Human_Rights ) and "Inter-American Court of Human Rights" ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inter-American_Court_of_Human_Rights )
  • Burt, Jo-Marie, 2009, "Guilty as Charged: The Trial of Former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori for Human Rights Violations." International Journal of Transitional Justice 3: 384-405 (Presents background on this extraordinary prosecution of Peru's former head of state.) Full text pdf (from UConn domain)
  • Laplante, Lisa J.,2009, "Outlawing Amnesty: The Return of Criminal Justice in Transitional Justice Schemes." Virginia Journal of International Law, Vol 49. 2009. Marquette Law School Legal Studies Paper No. 08-26.
  • Laplante, Lisa J., 2007, "Entwined Paths to Justice: The Inter-American Human Rights System and the Peruvian Truth Commission." In Paths to International Justice: Social and Legal Perspectives. Marie-Benedicte Dembour & Tobias Kelly, editors. This publication is on reserve in the Homer Babbidge Library. Ask for it at the iDesk on the Plaza level by its call number, K2100 P38 2007. The loan period is three hours, in house use only.

We are pleased to have this opportunity to host representatives of CEJIL and we appreciate your interest in sharing the experience with your students. The presentation on October 4th will have ample apportunity for Q&A with our guests.

Downloadable flyer(pdf)

 

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Sam Martinez.

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