Academy on Human Rights and Humanitarian Law

The Academy on Human Rights and Humanitarian Law addresses the need for a specialized scholarly legal approach to human rights law. The defense of human rights requires a professional community that is capable of undertaking a wide variety of actions. The Academy's programs help practitioners understand the scope and practical implications of the human rights rules and mechanisms, whose applications impact people worldwide by providing human rights training via its summer program, curriculum development, international partnerships, technical assistance to human rights institutions and practitioners, and scholarly research with multiple publications and other practical resources.

The Academy's unique initiatives include:

Program of Advanced Studies The Program offers 19 courses in both English and Spanish over the course of three intensive weeks in at the beginning of Jine. Faculty include over 35 world-renowned scholars and activists in the field of human rights. As a Graduate Certificate program, it is tailored to the needs of counselors in international organizations, government agency workers, international relief agency workers, policymakers, NGO representatives, academics and law students, who can earn up to seven credits toward their degree. More than 150 participants from around the world engage in the program annually. For more information on courses, costs, and houring, please visit our website: http://www.wcl.american.edu/hracademy/summer.cfm

Inter-American Human Rights Moot Court Competition The Inter-American Human Rights Moot Court Competition was established to train law students on how to use the Inter-American human rights legal system as a legitimate forum for redressing human rights violations. Through the trilingual Competition (English, Spanish and Portuguese), law students from around the world are exposed to one of the most active regional human rights systems in the world. Traditionally written on a cutting-edge topic currently being debated within the Inter-American human rights legal system itself, the hypothetical case operates as the basis of the Competition, and students argue the merits of this case by writing legal memoranda and preparing oral arguments for presentation in front of human rights experts acting as the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. For more information, please visit our website: http://www.wcl.american.edu/hracademy/mcourt/

Human Rights Award In order to encourage scholarly work in international human rights law, each year, the Academy requests the submission of papers for the Human Rights Award. The Academy grants two awards, one for the best article in English and the other for the best article in Spanish. The Award includes full-tuition scholarship for the Diploma courses of the Program of Advanced Studies, paid airfare and housing costs, and a per diem. The winning submissions are published in the American University International Law Review. For information on this year's topic, please visit: http://www.wcl.american.edu/hracademy.

Human Rights Month Human Rights Month, which the Academy sponsors simultaneously during its Human Rights Program, includes panel discussions, film screenings, and debates on a variety of cutting-edge topics relevant to human rights professionals. For examples of past Human Rights Month events, please see: http://www.wcl.american.edu/hracademy/activities.cfm