DePaul University College of Law's International Human Rights Law Institute (IHRLI) will host a meeting of experts to discuss methods to prevent impunity for international crimes and serious human rights violations.

The Washington conference, co-hosted by the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council, is entitled: "Reigning in Impunity for International Crimes and Serious Violations of Human Rights." It will be held at 9:30 a.m., April 13, in Conference Room B of the museum, 100 Raoul Wallenburg Place, S.W., Washington.

This meeting is the second of a three-stage project investigating ways to prevent impunity and to develop accountability mechanisms for international crime and serious violations of human rights. The first portion has been research into international victimization since World War II in conflicts of an international and non-international character and tyrannical regimes by experts.

"The research aspect of the project focuses on the identification of the various conflicts that have occurred since World War II," according to M. Cherif Bassiouni, DePaul law professor, president of the IHRLI and vice chairman of the U.N. Preparatory Committee on the Establishment of a Permanent International Criminal Court.

Bassiouni, an internationally recognized expert on human rights violations, has called for the creation of a permanent court instead of convening a court after each violation.

"At present, it is estimated there have been more than 200 conflicts ranging from internal to international crimes which have produced 150 million victims. That is twice the number of victims of World War I and World War II combined," said Bassiouni, "yet there has been very little accountability for these crimes. The project will look at international mechanisms and where they have occurred and attempt to assess which mechanisms are appropriate to what type conflict," Bassiouni said.

"The project will also examine the relationship between political settlements and the pursuit of justice," said Bassiouni. "Should justice be bent to achieve agreements to end conflicts? Are there crimes such as genocide, crimes against humanity or war crimes for which there can be no impunity?"

The ongoing IHRLI project is funded by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, The Open Society Institute, which is part of the Soros Foundation of New York and the International Institute of Higher Studies in Criminal Sciences (ISISC) of Siracusa, Italy.

The project is also looking at international investigations and judicial bodies since World War I. Also under examination are studies into the policies and practices of impunity and the development of accountability mechanisms.

The final stage of the project will be an international meeting at the ISISC in Siracusa this September.

The Washington meeting will begin at 9:15 a.m. with a welcome to participants by Walter Reich, executive director of the museum. He will be followed by Tom Buergenthal, law professor at The George Washington University, president of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and chairman of the Committee of Conscience of the museum.

There will also be an opening statement by Bassiouni discussing the impunity project and an introduction of experts' reports to be presented in Washington.

Also making opening statements are experts who have been involved in various international human rights issues. They will be Aryeh Neier, Soros Foundation President, L. Roberts Owen partner at Covington and Burling and former legal adviser to the U.S. Department of State on the Dayton Accord, Michael Reisman, Yale Law professor, Neil Kritz, senior legal council for the U.S. Institute of Peace, Mike Scharf, associate professor at the New England School of Law and former adviser to the U.S. Department of State and Stephan Landsman, DePaul law professor.

Between 11:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. there will be a general discussion of the reports followed by lunch.

From 1:30 p.m. until 3:00 p.m. there will be another general discussion and from 3:15 p.m. until 5 p.m., participants will discuss the development of guidelines against impunity and how to achieve that objective.

Among the reports to be distributed at the conference are:

• "An Empirical Study on Conflicts (of an international and non-international character, civil conflicts, tyrannical regime victimization) and their Outcomes Since WWII," by Jennifer Balint, IHRLI fellow, under the direction of Bassiouni.
• "From Versailles to Rwanda in 75 Years: The Need to Establish a Permanent International Criminal Court," by Bassiouni.
• "Legal Implications of Impunity" by Scharf.
• "Evaluation of Accountability Mechanisms" by Kritz.
• "Philosophical and Policy Observations on Impunity" by Landsman.

For more information contact Bassiouni at DePaul at 312/362-8701.