Tuesday, January 18, 2011

IntLawGrrls

IntLawGrrls

Breaking News: "Baby Doc" in Haitian Court

Posted: 18 Jan 2011 02:52 PM PST

Former self-appointed "president-for-life" Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier was questioned by a Haitian prosecutor and a judge at his hotel outside Port-au-Prince and then "escorted" to court according to this BBC News report. At the time of posting, it is unclear whether he is being arrested or being subjected to further questioning. Reports indicate some unrest outside the courthouse.
International human rights NGOs and Haitian abuse survivors called for Duvalier's immediate arrest after his mysterious return to the island on Sunday. Forced to leave Haiti during a popular uprising in 1986, "Baby Doc" Duvalier has been living in exile in France for more than two decades without arrest. His regime was characterized by widely and reliably documented human rights abuses.
Charges?
In addition to arguing Duvalier's liability under Haitian law for alleged misappropriation of public funds and other violations, the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti (IJDH) and the Bureau des Avocats Internationeaux (BAI) called for international human rights legal accountability (see press release here).
This legal documentation is supplemented by an extensive public record of Mr. Duvalier's human rights violations, including the torture and disappearances of political dissidents at the Fort Dimanche prison and other crimes committed by organizations under his control including the Armed Forces of Haiti and the Volunteers for National Security (Tontons Macoutes).
Another Year...
For previous IntLawGrrls takes on Haiti, including by Marjorie Florestal, Jaya Ramji-Nogales, and yours truly, Hope Lewis, see here and here. One year after the 12 January 2010 earthquake, I wish I could suggest an accountable, effective, and sustainable pathway for rebuilding, recovery, and transformation. One thing is clear—the core of sustainability lies with the Haitian people and the Haitian Diaspora. Still, the rest of us must play our roles--even if that role is to remember the physician's oath "first, do no harm...."
As Dr. Martin Luther King said all human beings are "tied together in an inextricable web of mutuality." Trade, humanitarian, human rights, migration, labor, tourism, and business laws and policies do have transnational implications. What "we" do has an impact in Haiti. What happens in Haiti matters wherever "we" are. Stay tuned.

How 'bout a women's legal history trial?

Posted: 18 Jan 2011 03:00 AM PST

A prince is about to stand trial for murder.
He's Hamlet, fatal assailant of the meddlesome man destined (if Ophelia had her way) to become his father-in-law.
At issue: given the welter of woe in which Shakespeare situated the troubled Dane, is the prince mentally competent to face judgment?
"The Trial of Hamlet" will take place January 31 at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. (here for tickets & image credit) Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, who created the play, will preside. A jury including celebs like Helen Hunt will decide.
Karen Wada of the Los Angeles Times properly places the staging in a Court tradition, writing that "[i]n 1987, for instance, three high court jurists heard arguments over who really wrote Shakespeare's plays." (On continuing high court furor over the question, see this article by Jess Bravin.)
Blog readers no doubt also are familiar with the many trials of this sort staged by the American Bar Association.
So here's a thought:
How 'bout retrying some signature event of women's legal history? (And see here and here.)
Jumping to mind are 2, both involving IntLawGrrls foremothers:
► The 1873 conviction of Susan B. Anthony (by a U.S. Supreme Court Justice) for the offense of illegal voting.
► Any number of 1917 jailings -- at times brutal -- of Alice Paul, Lucy Burns (left), and their National Woman's Party colleagues for the "direct action campaign" against U.S. entry into World War I. As IntLawGrrls alumna Catherine Lanctot has posted, they took that campaign to "the very doorstep of the President of the United States, Woodrow Wilson."
Additional nominations welcome.

Go On! "Live from L" webcast

Posted: 18 Jan 2011 02:00 AM PST

(Go On! is an occasional item on symposia and other events of interest)

To celebrate the 80th Anniversaryof the "L" -- the Office of the Legal Adviser, U.S. Department of State -- a webcast event, Live from L, will be held from 12 noon to 2 p.m. Eastern time on February 24, 2011.
Speaking live from the moot courtroom at George Washington University Law School will be the current Legal Adviser, Harold Hongju Koh, and other senior L staff. They'll be talking about a variety of international law issues. Time permitting, there'll be Q&A as well.Cosponsoring the event with GW are American University, the American Society of International Law, and the American Bar Association Section of International Law.
Law students may sign up for the webcast free; for others, registration is $15.
Register here.

On January 18

Posted: 18 Jan 2011 01:04 AM PST

On this day in ...

... 2000, Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky (right) died in Vienna, Austria, where she'd been born 102 years earlier. She'd been the 1st woman to study at the arts university where painters like Kokoschka and Klimt were teaching; soon Austria's 1st woman architect, after World War I she helped design housing for veterans. After moving to Germany in the 1920s, she created the design for which she became famous: the Frankfurt Kitchen (below left), forerunner of today's built-in kitchens. The design derived from the belief of Schütte-Lihotzky, who'd "'never cooked'" herself, that
women's struggle for economic independence and personal development meant that the rationalization of housework was an absolute necessity.
Schütte-Lihotzky and her husband worked in the Soviet Union in the 1930s; they lived as well in France, England, and Turkey. From the last country, she and another exile returned to Nazi-controlled Austria to serve in the Communist Resistance movement. Soon arrested, Schütte-Lihotzky remained in a Bavarian prison. Despite the need to rebuild after the war, on account of her Communist beliefs she found both work and acclaim hard to come by; she did some consulting in Cuba, East Germany, and China. One her 100th birthday she remarked:
I would have enjoyed it, for a change, to design a house for a rich man.


(Prior January 18 posts are here, here, and here.)
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