Event Description
Join documentation experts on August 17 at 12:00 pm ET / 6:00 pm Khartoum time for a webinar on civilian documentation of human rights violations. The webinar will equip Sudanese civilians who have first-hand information about the conflict with key principles and guidance on documentation in conflict areas, with a focus on how best practices can be applied to the Sudan context.
In mid-April 2023, fighting broke out between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and a rival paramilitary group, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Sudan. Hundreds have tragically lost their lives, including civilians, hundreds of thousands have been compelled to seek refuge elsewhere, and millions urgently require humanitarian assistance. Both parties to the conflict have been implicated in human rights abuses and atrocity crimes.
The aim of this webinar, co-sponsored by our law firm partners Covington & Burling LLP, is to help enable civilians to document information in a way that ensures it is properly collected and stored, thereby maximizing the possibility for its eventual use in domestic, regional, and international investigations, criminal proceedings, and transitional justice processes.
The webinar will examine basic elements of documentation, focusing on what is most relevant and accessible for people with little formal documentation training (“citizen documenters”), but who have access to information and data about human rights violations and atrocities.
Our panelists are experts who have conducted documentation missions and will offer various insights into the main principles and best practices for initial documentation efforts, including conducting initial documentation efforts specifically in Sudan.
This is part of the PILPG Thought Leadership Initiative. The Initiative focuses on prominent international law and international affairs topics and organizes monthly expert roundtables to share expertise and reflections from our work on peace negotiations, post-conflict constitution drafting, and war crimes prosecution.
عن الحدث
تدعوكم مجموعة القانون الدولي والسياسات العامة للمشاركة في ندوة اسفيرية حول التوثيق المدني لانتهاكات حقوق الإنسان، والتي يقدمها خبراء توثيق مرموقون في 17 أغسطس 2023، وذلك في تمام الساعة 12 منتصف النهار بتوقيت الساحل الشرقي للولايات المتحدة، الساعة السادسة مساءً بتوقيت الخرطوم. سيقدم الخبراء عرضاً لمبادئ التوثيق الأساسية والإرشادات المتعلقة بتوثيق الانتهاكات داخل مناطق النزاع. وسيتم التركيز، بشكل خاص، على كيفية تطبيق الممارسات الفضلى على واقع السودان وسياقاته إن الهدف من هذه الفعالية هو تمليك المدنيين القدرة الفنية على توثيق المعلومات على نحو يؤهلها مستقبلاً، من حيث طريقة جمعها وتخزينها، لتكون مقبولة في أي تحقيقات وطنية أو إقليمية أو دولية، أو تدابير جنائية، أو أي عمليات للعدالة الانتقالية. ستغطي الندوة العناصر الأساسية لعملية التوثيق، مع التركيز على القدر والمستوى الذي يستوعبه ممن لم يتلقوا تدريباً نظامياً في التوثيق (توثيق المواطن) ولكنهم، مع ذلك، على علم مباشر بالانتهاكات والجرائم الجسيمة التي يرتكبها المتحاربون
Speakers
Saadia Aleem
Saadia Aleem has extensive experience researching, monitoring, and documenting human rights and protection concerns in conflict settings. She is currently serving as the Protection Program Coordinator for the UN International Organization for Migration in Bangladesh where she works for Rohingya refugees. Prior to that she has worked with UNHCR to lead the Protection Cluster for NorthWest Syria, and she spent time as a human right officer with the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) where she documented and reported extensively on human rights violations.
Jae Won
Professor of International Law and Director of Handong International Law Centre, Handong Global University, Pohang, Korea
Professor Won began his legal career as an international law officer at the Office of General Counsel, Ministry of National Defense of the Republic of Korea. After completing law studies at Brooklyn Law School (USA), he entered public prosecution service at the Kings County District Attorney’s Office, New York, U.S.A. as an Assistant District Attorney.
In 2001, Professor Won joined Handong International Law School, an American J.D. style graduate law school, as a founding Associate Dean. In 2009, he took a leave from academia to serve the National Human Rights Commission of Korea as Director-General (DG) in charge of Human Rights Policy, Human Rights Education, and International Human Rights Affairs.
In 2013, Professor Won became a founding Director of the Handong Institute for Peace and Reconciliation (HIPR) and currently serves as Director of the Handong International Law Centre.
Mohamed Elnu’man
Mohamed Elnu’man is a PILPG Senior Legal and Technical Advisor and a Former Senior Legal Advisor to the Minister at Sudan’s Ministry of Justice.
Kyle Wood
Kyle Wood is an Assistant Attorney General in the Washington State Attorney General's Office where he leads Attorney General Bob Ferguson's efforts to end human trafficking in Washington. In 2018, he participated as an investigator in PILPG's investigation into allegations of atrocities committed against the Rohingya, part of a team that interviewed more than 1,000 Rohingya refugees living in camps near Cox's Bazar in Bangladesh. Between 2005 and 2015, Mr. Wood was a trial and appellate prosecutor at the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague, Netherlands, where he litigated crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity, violations of the laws and customs of war and Grave Breaches of the Geneva Conventions of 1949. He also serves as an international election observer, and represents, pro bono, indigent asylum-seekers in proceedings before U.S. immigration courts.
Adrienne L. Fricke
Adrienne L. Fricke is a Senior Legal Advisor at PILPG. She is also a Senior Fellow at the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative where she is studying policy initiatives to improve access to healthcare for Syrian refugees, and a consultant specializing in human rights and refugee-related issues in the Middle East and Africa. Since 2007, she has worked with Physicians for Human Rights, serving most recently as Syria Advisor, designing and implementing projects for Syrian healthcare workers and human rights defenders. Adrienne previously assessed the health impacts on Sudanese refugee women living in Eastern Chad, and from 2006-07 was a Clinical Fellow at Harvard Law School’s Human Rights Program. She is the co-author of a series of studies by the Institute of International Education and the UC Davis Human Rights Initiative evaluating the impact of the Syrian conflict on access to higher education in Syria, as well as in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey. Adrienne holds a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania, an M.A. in Near Eastern Studies from New York University, and a B.A. in African Studies from Yale University. She has lived and worked in Syria, Egypt and Lebanon and is fluent in Arabic and French.
Moderator
Dr. Paul R. Williams
Dr. Paul R. Williams holds the Rebecca I. Grazier Professorship in Law and International Relations at American University where he teaches in the School of International Service and at the Washington College of Law. Dr. Williams is also the co-founder of the Public International Law & Policy Group (PILPG), a pro bono law firm providing legal assistance to states and governments involved in peace negotiations, post-conflict constitution drafting, and the prosecution of war criminals. As a world renowned peace negotiation lawyer, Dr. Williams has assisted over two dozen parties in major international peace negotiations and has advised numerous parties on the drafting and implementation of post-conflict constitutions. Several of Dr. Williams' pro bono government clients throughout the world joined together to nominate him for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Dr. Williams has served as a Senior Associate with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, as well as an Attorney-Adviser for European and Canadian affairs at the U.S. Department of State, Office of the Legal Adviser. He received his J.D. from Stanford Law School and his Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge. Dr. Williams is a sought-after international law and policy expert. He is frequently interviewed by major print and broadcast media and regularly contributes op-eds to major newspapers. Dr. Williams has authored six books on various topics concerning international law, and has published over three dozen scholarly articles on topics of international law and policy. He has testified before the U.S. Congress on a number of occasions relating to specific peace processes, transitional justice, and self-determination. Dr. Williams is a member of the Council of Foreign Relations, and has served as a Counsellor on the Executive Council of the American Society of International Law. In 2019, Paul was awarded the Cox International Law Center's Humanitarian Award for Advancing Global Justice. More information about Dr. Williams can be found at www.drpaulrwilliams.com.