Even the simplest message can endure as a lasting statement that speaks for the global community.
Nie wieder Krieg! - Never Again War! - was the bold phrase sprawled across an iconic poster created by Kathe Kollwitz following the horrors of the first World War. Her impassioned plea has not yet fulfilled itself as an obligation for humanity. And for nearly a century, people have sought to make sense of aggressive war, and in its aftermath, seek justice for the sad lineage of crimes against humanity.
This week, Chautauqua Institution will once more play host to the International Humanitarian Law Dialogs, sending a clear message of its own for the world stage.
The fourth annual event is co-sponsored by the Robert H. Jackson Center, and brings an "historic gathering" of global prosecutors from past and present together to one venue. The theme for 2010 is "Crimes Against Peace: Aggression in the 21st Century."
"Because of the topic this year, we have the most prosecutors this year than we have ever had," said Adam Bratton, executive director at the Jackson Center.
Even the most current prosecutors in the international community follow Jackson's original role as chief prosecutor of the Nuremberg trials, he said. The dialog speakers pay tribute to Jackson but also speak on the most important issues of the modern day. Veterans from the Nuremberg trials will speak, and there will also be modern prosecutors of tribunals for Cambodia, the former Yugoslavia, Sierra Leone and Rwanda. Bratton said the Chautauqua event is a unique experience.
"The current tribunals are largely ad hoc in organization," he said " and they don't often have an opportunity to dialogue with one another."
A special film presentation of War Don Don, a documentary from this year, will precede the discussion on Sunday, Aug. 29. Rebecca Richman Cohen, the film's director & producer, will be present along with a panel of prosecutors who are featured in the film. Tickets can be purchased at the Cinema (for more information, please call the theater directly at 716-357-2352.
The two-day series of lectures will culminate with the Fourth Chautauqua Declaration, which Bratton said is a united statement about crimes and aggression in the 20th century.
All speaking sessions are free and open to the public, but there is cost for meals at the Athenaeum Hotel. Sponsors include the Chautauqua Institution, Robert H. Jackson Center, Syracuse University College of Law, ASIL, Washington University Law/Whitney R. Harris World Law Institute, Enough! Project, Planethood Foundation, Case Western Reserve University School of Law, the Gebbie Foundation and IntLawGrrls.
For more information, call the Robert H. Jackson Center at 483-6646.