DePaul University’s International Human Rights Law Institute (IHRLI) has established a relationship with the Diplomatic Academy of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to investigate international security issues and work to control weapons of mass destruction.

Working in collaboration, the two institutes will address the legal issues raised by weapons control treaties, including the 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) and the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. They also will engage in dialogues and sponsor programs both in the United States and Russia that are designed to help improve international human relations.

The educational pinnacle for Russian diplomats and policy makers, the academy attracts the brightest graduate students in Russia to be trained by senior foreign service officers and international experts. Because it is an integral part of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and its faculty members are senior officials of that ministry, the academy has unparalleled access to, and influence on, the Russian government.

“There is no other partnership like this,” said Barry Kellman, a professor in the DePaul University College of Law and co-director of its International Criminal Justice and Weapons Control Center, which is part of the IHRLI. Kellman recently traveled to Russia to lay the groundwork for the partnership. “The opportunity for academics from the U. S. and Russia to have direct discussions about arms control is especially intriguing.”

The partnership is a natural fit for the IHRLI, which since its establishment in 1990, has been recognized for its expertise in international security and weapons control issues. Kellman, whose work with the center forms the bulk of the IHRLI’s concentration on international security and weapons control, is a nationally recognized expert on the CWC. He has served as chair of the CWC’s committee of legal experts established by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and as lead author of the "Manual for National Implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention.”

He also has advised the United States Defense and Energy departments on legal issues relating to weapons control and has written numerous articles on Middle East arms control, nuclear non-proliferation, biological weapons control, weapons smuggling and the laws of armed conflict.

Editor’s note: Barry Kellman can be reached at 312/362-5258.