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Published: September 6th 2011
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Symbol of the Empire
Symbol of the British Empire. Once atop the town's
courthouse, pulled down after independence, school placed it behind the Quad. Today I went to the Sioban McKenna Theater, named after a famous Irish actress, where the four LLMs under the Irish Centre for Human Rights would meet and be introduced to the faculty and courses. Dr. Cavanaugh who manages the
overall procedural process said it might be difficult to pick our classes but I knew instantly
which I wanted to take. Dr. Murphy the acting Director of the Centre with Professor Schabas
retired, had a captivating way of talking and his class on Humanitarian Law was probably the
most interesting of the introductory courses besides my own Intro to International Criminal
Law. Dr. Shane Darcey who teaches that class was the spitting image of my girlfriend's best
friend Ben if his hair was less spiked. In addition he teaches Transitional Justice in the
spring which is about truce and reconciliation commissions and similar methods. Another obvious
choice for my field. The final class I have decided to take in the spring is Counter Terrorism
and Human Rights. I forget the professors name but the class seemed right up my alley especially
the intriguing discussion on states of emergency in response to terrorism and how that effects
human rights.
After a
St. Nicholas Church
Oldest medieval church
still used in Galway. nice lunch in the College Bar, I went back into town to see if I had lost my camera and
someone had turned it into the church. St. Nicholas church is the oldest medieval church in Galway
that is still used. I took a few pictures of the beautiful structure, but I also learned there is
alot of other cool sights inside that I should be pointing out, so I will add more pictures of it
later. As I made my way back through town I saw the same buskers performing songs in front of a
large crowd. It seems they are regulars so I will go back later this week and try to buy their CD.
They sound pretty good although I can't tell if their songs are originals or covers.
I came back to the theater at 3pm to hear from Martin Day, an environmental and rights lawyer
working in a London firm. Probably one of the most interesting guest speakers I had heard in a
while (saying a lot coming from Elon), Martin Day had represented clients in Ivory Coast and
other African nations where BP and Shell oil companies had found ways to dump their
toxic waste
and cause people to be sick as a result. He also represented Irqais against the British Military
for acts of torture and violence. In addition he even had clients who were veterans of World
War II who wanted to get compensation from the Japanese government. 50 years later still having
problems, they came to Martin Day who discovered that in addition to having a peace treaty that
promised compensation, the treaty had a clause that would allowed British soldiers to receive
more compensation if another country had managed to bargain for another deal. The original treaty
only granted 50 pounds to each soldier but five years later the Swiss bargained for 2,500 pounds
a soldier. When Martin Day uncovered this and found out the British government did nothing
to secure the larger compensation number he went to them with an ultimantum to either talk to the
Japanese government or pay out of pocket. In all instances he managed to get his clients some sort
of compensation. When asked why these companies and governments would be so willing to do this
he remarked "everybody is worried about their image." I thought back to what the lady at the
student
Damaged church motiff
This angel like many church motiffs in Galway was defaced by the forces of Oliver Cromwell who laid siege to Galway. help desk saying how Irish students will pay 30 pounds to take a new picture for their
student card rather than use an old one and it made sense. We are now in an era where image is
as important if not more than anything else to many people.
After Mr. Day's lecture we head over to the Irish Centre for Human Rights for some wine and
refreshments. Dr. Murphy tells us that the centre used to be a fever hospital during the famine,
and the bride you cross from school to get to the centre is called the Begger's Bridge because
that's where all the people from the countryside came to beg when they had nowhere else to go
during the difficult times of the famine. The cathedral he said had been built in the 1960s
over the remains of the old Galway prison. He said there is a monument somewhere in the car park
to commemorate all the people were executed there and buried on sight. I will try to get a picture of it later.
The medieval looking building across the main bridge over the Corrib turned out to be the old courthouse. When
12 Tribes of Galway
These are the crests of the 12 merchant families that founded the city of Galway. Note the blue one 2nd row from the bottom with golden clovers. This is the crest of the infamous Mayor of Lynch. Ireland
gained independence they removed a stone monument of a lion and unicorn, which were the symbols
of the British empire, from the top of the courthouse. The school then took it and placed in on
the campus grounds, which explains why I discovered the strange thing sitting on the grass
behind the Quad.
I was really excited to finally get to meet my new classmates during reception since most had
kept to themselves during the morning introductions. The first person I met was Carmen who
was an Ecuadorian living in Bangkok. She was the director of a NGO focusing on legal aspects of
children's rights and had decided to pursue the LLM in International Human Rights Law as part of
a sabattical. Chris a graduate of UC Berkley in California had come to Ireland to pursue a
LLM in Economic, Social, and Cultural rights. I got to talk to Dr. Vinodh Jaichand, a professor
from South Africa having been with the Centre for 9 out of the 11 years, who is the director
of the program and I wish I could take some of the classes he is teaching. Finally I met David
who is a Ugandan prosecutor.
He is actually in my program so I can't help be excited to make
a good connection especially with someone from the country I know a lot about but really
haven't gotten to interact with the people or culture of that country.
All in all it was an exciting but tiring day. I know I need to normalize my sleep schedule as I
know it is only going to be busier and more involved from here on. Finally get to see why I came
here and make the most of it.
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