June 2010 Irish Centre for Human Rights Hosts Summer Schools

The Irish Centre for Human Rights at NUI Galway will today, (Monday, 14 June), open the first of two summer schools entitled, Minority Rights, Indigenous Peoples and Human Rights Law. The event will take place from Monday 14 to Friday, 18 June 2010. During the following week, 20-24 June, the Centre will run a Summer School on the International Criminal Court. Professor William Schabas, Director of the Irish Centre for Human Rights said: "We held our first summer school in 2000, and the popularity and international reputation of both the International Criminal Court and Minority Rights programmes continues to grow". The 2010 Minority Rights, Indigenous Peoples and Human Rights Law summer school will provide participants with an overview of the legal, political and philosophical issues pertaining to international human rights law and its relationship to minority rights and the rights of indigenous peoples. During the course participants seek to understand, assimilate and critically evaluate legal arguments with respect to the international minority rights regime and how it pertains to minorities and indigenous peoples. In addition they are encouraged to analyse the underlying philosophical basis of the subject and become familiar with current debates and cases with a special focus on issues such as the right to land, affirmative action policies, and effective political participation and restitution. The final day of the minority rights summer school will be dedicated to the issue of customary law and human rights, as part of a two day international conference being organised by the Irish Centre for Human Rights in collaboration with the United Nations University and other partner institutions, on June 18-19. Participants of the summer school will be invited to attend as observers at the second day of this event which takes the form of an international roundtable dialogue on Customary Law Traditional Knowledge and Human Rights. The dialogue is designed to provide a forum for in-depth examination of the challenges and opportunities for securing effective respect and recognition of customary law in the international regulation of access to genetic resources and benefit sharing and protection of traditional knowledge. Anthony Taubman, Director of Intellectual Property issues at the World Trade Organisation will be a keynote speaker among others from indigenous peoples organizations, international universities, non-governmental organizations and legal practitioners. The Summer School on the International Criminal Court at the Irish Centre for Human Rights which starts on June 20 is widely acknowledged to be the premier programme of its kind. The programme will consist of intensive lectures, delivered by leading specialists in the field. Students are provided with a detailed working knowledge of the establishment of the Court, its applicable law, its structures and its operations. Lectures also speak to related issues in international criminal law, including universal jurisdiction, immunities and the role of the victim. The International Criminal Court is arguably the most important new international institution since the establishment of the United Nations. The aim of the International Criminal Court is in combating impunity for atrocities and it is at the forefront of a broader movement for achieving accountability. During the summer school, a lecture by NUI Galway's Professor William Schabas "Reflections on the International Criminal Court Review Conference", on Monday, 21 June will be open to the public. Professor Schabas will reflect on his experience of the review conference, which he will attend in Uganda in the first two weeks in June. The review conference itself will evaluate the International Criminal Court, and make it more effective in prosecuting the world s worst atrocities. Delegates at the Review Conference will discuss the Court s past and future, and will propose changes to the Court s founding treaty, the Rome Statute. . -Ends-