Inaugural 'Distinguished Lecture' will focus on Rwandan genocide

Justice Hassan Bubacar Jallow

“International Criminal Justice: Developments and Reflections on the Future”
featuring Hassan Bubacar Jallow, Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda
5:30 p.m., Monday, Nov. 30, 2009
International Lounge, Usdan


On Nov. 30, Justice Hassan Bubacar Jallow, Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), will deliver the inaugural Distinguished Lecture in International Justice and Human Rights. The series brings distinguished figures in international justice and human rights to campus to address vital and timely topics in the field.

Justice Jallow served as Gambia’s Attorney-General and Minister of Justice from 1984 to 1994 and subsequently as a Judge of the Gambia’s Supreme Court from 1998 to 2002. In 1998, he was appointed by the United Nations Secretary General to serve as an international legal expert and carry out a judicial evaluation of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia. He also has served as a legal expert for the Organisation of African Unity and worked on the drafting and conclusion of the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights. Until his appointment as Chief Prosecutor to the ICTR, Justice Jallow was a Judge of the Appeals Chamber of the Special Court for Sierra Leone on the appointment of the U.N. Secretary-General in 2002 as well as a member of the Commonwealth Secretariat Arbitral Tribunal.

“Hassan Jallow is an eminent figure in international justice circles,” said Leigh Swigart, who serves as director of programs in international justice and society for the International Center for Ethics, Justice and Public Life at Brandeis. “During his tenure as prosecutor, the tribunal has investigated, tried, and sentenced many of the individuals responsible for masterminding the 1994 Rwandan genocide. The legacy of the tribunal will be felt by generations to come through its groundbreaking jurisprudence in the areas of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide.

“The choice of Jallow as Brandeis' first Distinguished Lecturer in International Justice and Human Rights is particularly appropriate as the event is funded by the Planethood Foundation, which was created by Benjamin Ferencz, a prosecutor at the historic Nuremberg Trials and a lifetime supporter of international criminal justice and world peace,” Swigart said.

The conversation will be moderated by The Honorable Philip Rapoza, chief justice of the Massachusetts Appeals Court and former chief international judge on the Special Panels for Serious Crimes in East Timor.

The Distinguished Lecture in International Justice and Human Rights is part of the Social Justice Leadership Series and is cosponsored by Gen Ed Now. For more information, contact Leigh Swigart.

Before his lecture, Jallow will be a guest on the NPR program "Talk of the Nation" Monday afternoon. He will be interviewed live between 3:40 - 4 p.m. EST.

For those who cannot make Monday's on-campus event, Justice Jallow also will be the featured speaker at a Brandeis Spotlight Forum on "Seeking Justice after Mayhem" at the Old State House Tuesday morning. His respondent will be William Leahy, who is chief of public counsel services in Massachusetts and teaches a course on international criminal law and human rights at Brandeis. Light breakfast will be provided beginning at 7:45 a.m. The program will begin at 8 a.m. and conclude at 8:55 a.m. Reservations are recommended; RSVP to 781 736-4210.

Return to the BrandeisNOW homepage