The Whitney R. Harris World Law Institute at Washington University School of Law was established in 2000 as the Institute for Global Legal Studies. It serves as a center for instruction and research in international and comparative law.
Background The Harris Institute was established in November 2000 as the "Institute for Global Legal Studies""Digital Commons" WashULaw and was later renamed as the "Whitney R. Harris Institute for Global Legal Studies" in honor and recognition of Whitney R. Harris' lifelong achievements in the field of international justice. Whitney R. Harris served as a trial counsel prosecuting the major German war criminals before the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg in 1945 and he kept the Nuremberg dream alive through his writings and his advocacy, and later through his philanthropic support of legal education and research. In 2008, he and Anna Harris endowed the Institute's "World Peace Through Law Award""Harris was last Nuremberg prosecutor; HMLC supporter" STL Jewish Light, May 2010 at a ceremony during which the Harris Institute's name was changed to the "Whitney R. Harris World Law Institute".
The Harris Institute has sponsored more than 125 speakers and held or co-sponsored more than 70 conferences, workshops, and experts' meetings and more than 120 lectures since it opened. Its work has also led to the publication of at least 6 books and 15 law review volumes. Primary projects led by the Harris Institute include the Crimes Against Humanity Initiative, the Gun Violence and Human Rights Project, the annual Arbitration and Dispute Resolution Symposium, as well as numerous opportunities for students to get experience in the field of international law. It also houses an "Ambassador-in-Residence" program and hosts debates and scholarship roundtables on pressing issues in international law and policy.
Crimes Against Humanity Initiative
In 2008, the Whitney R. Harris World Law Institute launched Crimes Against Humanity Initiative to study the need for a comprehensive international convention on the prevention and punishment of crimes against humanity, analyze the necessary elements of such a convention, and draft a proposed treaty. The Initiative helped inspire the United Nations International Law Commission to pick up this topic, with a view towards drafting a UN treaty on Crimes Against Humanity."Towards a New Global Treaty on Crimes Against Humanity" EJIL Talk As of 2020, a set of Draft Articles on the Prevention and Punishment of Crimes against Humanity is being considered by the United Nations General Assembly Sixth Committee."United Nations General Assembly Sixth Committee"
Gun Violence and Human Rights Project
In the fall of 2017, the Institute launched a new initiative on gun violence examining U.S. government responses to gun violence in light of U.S. obligations under international human rights law."U.S. government failure to prevent gun-related violence may violate international human rights" the Source, February 2015 As part of this project, Washington University Law students and the Harris Institute Fellow conduct in-depth research articulating mechanisms to rectify the crisis and suggesting international fora that can examine the issue."Guns and Human Rights: US Violates International Human Rights Law" Human Rights at Home Blog, Leila Nadya Sadat and Madaline George, April 2018 The project argues that the failure of the U.S. government to exercise due diligence with respect to preventing and reducing gun-related violence may violate the government's obligations under several international human rights instruments."Leila Sadat and Madaline George: Protect our human rights, not gun rights" Leila Nadya Sadat and Madaline George, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 2019
An article by Harris Institute Director Leila Sadat and Madaline George argues that U.S. gun violence violates ten specific human rights: the right to life; the right to security of person; the right to health; the right to be free from ill-treatment; the right to be free from racial discrimination; the right to gender equality; the right to freedom of religion, expression, opinion, and belief; the right to peaceful assembly and association; the right to special protection for children and the right to education; and the right to participate in the cultural life of the community."Leila Nadya Sadat and Madaline M. George, Gun Violence and Human Rights, 60 Wash. U. J. L. & Pol'y 001 (2019)" Washington University Journal of Law and Policy
Along with Washington University's Institute for Public Health, the Harris Institute hosted the conference and experts' meeting A New Approach to the Gun Violence Crisis in America"The U.S. Gun Violence Crisis: An Interdisciplinary & Human Rights Approach" Washington University Law on November 2–3, 2018, with speakers including Jonathan Hafetz of the American Civil Liberties Union, Mike McLively of the Urban Gun Violence Initiative at Brady United, Barbara Frey"Barbara Frey" University of Minnesota, Humphrey School of Public Affairs, Faculty & Staff of the Human Rights Program at the University of Minnesota, and Philip Alpers from the University of Sydney School of Public Health."Human Rights and the U.S. Gun Violence Crisis: A New Approach" Leila Nadya Sadat, IntLawGrrls, November 2018 This conference resulted in the symposium edition of the Washington University Journal of Law and Policy."Washington University Journal of Law and Policy" Language used from this project has been utilized by Amnesty International in their Gun Violence Report"Gun Violence - Key Facts" Amnesty International and echoed by then-candidate for the Democratic Presidential Nomination Elizabeth Warren during the New Hampshire 2020 Debate."Sen. Elizabeth Warren gives amazing answer on gun control during New Hampshire debate" Daily Kos, YouTube, February 2020
Engagement with international bodies
The Harris Institute submitted "The U.S. Gun Violence Crisis as a Violation of U.S. Obligations Under the ICCPR","Whitney R. Harris World Law Institute Submission to the United Nations Human Rights Committee 125th Session" Washington University Law in January 2019 as part of the U.N. Human Rights Committee's 2019 periodic review of the United States. When the Committee began its review in March 2019, it requested information from the U.S. government based upon issued highlighted by the Institute's submission."List of issues prior to submission of the fifth periodic report of the United States of America" United Nations Human Rights Committee, CCPR /C/USA/QPR/5, April 2019
The Harris Institute and Washington University's Institute for Public Health co-submitted a stakeholder report to the U.N. Human Rights Council, for the Third Universal Periodic Review of the U.S. government's interactions with human rights.
In connection to this new project, the Institute was one of four members of civil society invited to present testimony before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights during a hearing on "The Regulation of Gun Sales and Social Violence in the United States" in Bogotá, Colombia on February 27, 2018."Estados Unidos Regulación de Armas" Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos, Youtube The hearing highlighted that there are proven and effective measures that the U.S. government can implement to reduce the number of lives lost due to gun violence. An appropriate government response that takes a public health and human rights approach to this problem would reduce homicide and suicide rates in the United States, and reduce illegal gun trafficking that is rampant in the Americas."Harris Institute Presents Testimony on Gun Violence at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights" Washington University School of Law, News
In November 2019, Harris Institute Fellow Madaline George presented to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights at a hearing dedicated to the impact of gun violence upon the United States.Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos "EUA: Impacto armas de fuego" Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos, YouTube The Harris Institute spoke at that hearing as part of a coalition of civil society representatives and victims of gun violence.
World Peace Through Law Award
The World Peace Through Law Award is bestowed upon an individual who, by his or her work and writings, has considerably advanced the rule of law and thereby contributed to world peace. Established in 2006, the Award recognizes individuals who have achieved great distinction in the field of international law and international relations. To date, this award has been bestowed upon the following distinguished individuals: 2018 – Her Excellency Judge Christine Van den Wyngaert, Judge at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers, and former International Criminal Court Judge 2015 – Benjamin B. Ferenz, former Nuremberg Prosecutor"Former Nuremberg Prosecutor Benjamin Ferencz, Recipient of the 2015 World Peace Through Law Award, acceptance remarks on 9/11/15" Washington University School of Law, Mediasite 2013 – Sir Christopher Greenwood QC"Harris Institute Honors H.E. Sir Christopher Greenwood with World Peace Through Law Award" Washington University Law 2011 – Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court Fatou Bensouda 2010 – Professor M. Cherif Bassiouni 2008 – The Honorable Richard Goldstone 2006 – Honorable Philippe Kirsch
International Arbitration and Dispute Resolution Project
This annual program aims to establish a forum in which top practitioners, academics, attorneys, and students gather on an annual basis to explore sophisticated topics in international arbitration and dispute resolution; advance the development of international arbitration and dispute resolution; educate the next generation of lawyers; and provide networking opportunities."International Arbitration and Dispute Resolution Symposium" Washington University School of Law
The program seeks to advance conversations on international arbitration and dispute resolution by bringing together private practitioners, in-house and government counsel, academics, arbitration and mediation institutions, and engaging users of international arbitration and dispute resolution, particularly those from the Midwest."Mahnaz Malik is keynote speaker at the Washington University International Arbitration and Dispute Resolution Symposium" Twenty Essex, 2020 CLE credit is offered to lawyers who attend this symposium. Course credit may be awarded to students of Washington University School of Law, in conjunction with courses in international arbitration and international business transactions.
International Arbitration and Dispute Resolution Conferences International Arbitration & Dispute Resolution Symposium: What Happens Before and After International Arbitration? (February 2020)"Heaven Chee Participating As Counsel in Mock Appellate Arbitration Presentation At Washington University School of Law International Arbitration & Dispute Resolution Symposium" Yetter Coleman LLP, February 2020 International Arbitration & Dispute Resolution Symposium: Challenges and Controversies in International Arbitration (March 2019)"International Arbitration & Dispute Resolution Symposium: What Happens Before and After International Arbitration?" WashULaw and Whitney R. Harris World Law Institute, 2020 International Dispute Resolution: Protecting Your Client In The Global Economy (February 2015)
Other programs
Conferences and Workshops Introduction to Medicine & Global Human Rights: Annual Forensic Documentation Workshop (November 2019) The Role of the ICTY in Understanding the War and Genocide in Bosnia-Herzegovina (October 2019)"Symposium: The Role of the ICTY in Understanding the War and Genocide in Bosnia-Herzegovina" Happenings at WashU, October 2019 International Humanitarian Law Workshop for Professionals (w/ the American Red Cross) – (April 2019)