American Exceptionalism & Human Rights Examines Issues, Is Well-Received

The American Exceptionalism and Human Rights Conference, held May 1 and 2 in the Emerson Library Conference Room, received favorable reviews from speakers and audience alike. The purpose of the conference was to explore American influence on—and resistance to—the International Criminal Court and United Nations Human Rights Council, and to discuss other questions of leadership. Co-sponsors were the E. Desmond Lee Professorship in Global Awareness, College of Arts & Sciences, and United Nations Association of St. Louis. The conference schedule was as follows:

Friday

Student Panel discussion, led by Andrea Miller, Interim Director, Center for the Study of Human Rights. Panelists: Anne Fischer, Emily Kothe, and Justin Raymundo

Dean David Carl Wilson, left, and Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich (Photo by Cornell E. Hassan)

Welcoming Remarks, David Carl Wilson, Dean, College of Arts & Sciences. Introduction of conference moderator Rashida Manjoo, human rights lawyer, University of Cape Town (South Africa); Eleanor Roosevelt Fellow, Harvard Law School; and Webster University's current E. Desmond Lee Professor
of Global Awareness

U.S. Policy towards the International Criminal Court at the Crossroads
Leila Sadat, Henry H. Oberschelp Professor of Law, Washington University in St. Louis, and Director of the Whitney R. Harris World Law Institute

Nuremberg Trials Prosecutor Whitney R. Harris, left, and International Criminal Court Judge Han-Peter Kaul

The International Criminal Court: Current Work and Challenges
Hans Peter Kaul, International Criminal Court judge and 2nd vice president of the court

The ICC's African Foray: Justice, Politics and the Delicate Task of Building Legitimacy
Peter Rosenblum
Lieff Cabraser Clinical Professor of Human Rights and Faculty Co-Director, Human Rights Institute, Columbia University

Saturday

Bruna Molina (Photo by Cornell E. Hassan)

The Human Rights Council: The Implementation Crises
Bruna Molina
Mary T. Hall speaker, United Nations Association of St. Louis
Adjunct Professor, Webster Geneva and the Geneva School of Diplomacy, former Deputy Secretary of the Commission on Human Rights and Secretary of the War Crimes Commission on Rwanda.

Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich
Panel discussion: American Exceptionalism and Accountability Panelists: Jack Donnelly, Andrew Mellon Professor, Graduate School of International Relations, University of Denver; David Forsythe, Charles J. Mach Distinguished Professor of Political Science, University of Nebraska-Lincoln;
Kelly-Kate Pease, Associate Professor of International Relations, Webster University Student panel discussion, led by Basiyr Rodney, Assistant Professor, Multidisciplinary Studies, Webster University Panelists: Michael Kaercher, Megan Mouser, Jon Schuessler, and LaRhonda L. Wilson

Carol Anderson discusses “un-civil” rights in the U.S.

When the Levees Broke: A History of Un-Civil Rights in America
Carol Anderson, AssociateProfessor of African American Studies, Emory University

Gulag America? Punishment in the United States as a Subject of International Human Rights Discourse
Warren Rosenblum
Associate Professor of History, Webster University

Universality and the Need to Join Forces for a Common Cause: Grotius Meets Eleanor
Peter van Krieken Human rights lawyer in the Dutch ministry and Webster Leiden Adjunct Professor

A close-up of De Jure Belli ac Pacis: Libris Tres (On the Law of War & Peace: Three Books). The 17th-century book by Dutch statesman Hugo Grotius was presented to Dean Wilson by conference speaker Peter van Krieken.