Short but sweet.

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7/20/09:

Jammmbooo

Short entry for today because I feel like yesterday took a lot out of everyone who read it.

The most important thing for today was the speaker that we had, which was arranged by myself, with the fabulous help of Dr. Max Hilaire. After the speaker from the defense at the ICTR had to cancel a few weeks ago, I emailed Dr. Hilaire and told him we were disappointed. As he has contacts just about everywhere, he informed me he knew a man who was on the defense counsel and he would put me in touch with him. I emailed Mr. Charles Taku and got him in touch with my professor, and was able to facilitate a visit.

He spoke to us this morning and gave us such a different point of view from the other ICTR speakers and even the visit of the ICTR. I won’t go into immense detail (I also didn’t take many notes because I just wanted to listen) but what was so fascinating about Mr. Taku was that he didn’t think as highly of the ICTR as most people because it has become more of a court for revenge, than a shining beacon for international justice. The ICTR has actually had more indictments than the Nuremburg trials, despite the fact that you’re dealing with 800,000 deaths vs about 6 million in the Holocaust. He said the precedent set up by Nuremburg ought to be the standard for int’l tribunals. He also said something else so poignant; he wasn’t there (in trials) to assign guilt or innocence, but to ensure that the rule of law was applied justly and correctly and that the accused received a fair and just trial. He was a passionate man, but passionate about the law, something I also notice about Dr. Hilaire. The two of them seem to men of a dying breed, men which hope for the purity and sustainability of just law. Men that study the law and seek its correct application in all instances. No matter how disgusted you may be with the accused, no matter if they have the blood of thousands on their hands, their guilt or innocence is not yours to assert, but the rule of law is. The more I learn about the law the more I want to get into law school and start studying it; I’ve become hungry to learn about the law and I hope that one day I can be one of those dying breed, one who hopes to see the law used and applied correctly in all instances so that international law and even the UN can once again be viewed as credible tools in the international community. The Geneva Conventions and the UN Charter are there for a reason you know…

And now a quick note to Dr. Hilaire if you’re reading this, thank you for helping me get Mr. Taku to come speak to our class. He was a great speaker with a different point of view and seemed to be a very, very nice man. He also spoke so highly of you and your work here in Africa and I felt very proud and more importantly, privileged to have had you as a professor. Those of you reading this may all it brown nosing, but I call it being honest and showing sincere, sincere gratitude. So thank you, again.

That was really the highlight of the day; the rest of the morning was spent giving Sipho our praise and criticism for the course and suggestions for the future. Personally, doing it publicly like that everyone was much nicer, but on paper I think we would have given a more honest opinion since many of us, myself included, found the class to be a disappointment.

The rest of my day includes reading, blogging, working out and hopefully convincing the girls to head up to Via Via tonight for a glass of wine and a change of scenery.

I hope you all enjoyed the safari blog, I’ll get the pictures up as soon as I can.

Kwaheri!
<3<3<3

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