CHAUTAUQUA - The 2012 Chautauqua Declaration will be issued at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Athenaeum Hotel in Chautauqua Institution.
The declaration will close the sixth annual International Humanitarian Law Dialogues, co-sponsored by the Robert H. Jackson Center, is a gathering of renowned international prosecutors from Nuremberg, the International Criminal Court, the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, the Special Court for Sierra Leone, The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia and the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.
The 2012 installation of the dialogues will be Sunday through Tuesday at Chautauqua Institution and focus on the theme, "Hybrid International Courts: A 10th Anniversary Retrospective on the Special Court for Sierra Leone." The sessions are free and open to the public, with the exception of meals. For more information, call the Robert H. Jackson Center at 483-6646.
Sunday night will feature events at the Jackson Center in Jamestown including the laying of a brick in honor of one of the 20 "most powerful women in the world" and the presentation of a humanitarian award. On Monday, Hans Corell, former under secretary general for legal affairs and the legal counsel of the United Nations will deliver the keynote address at Fletcher Hall in the Chautauqua Institution.
Each year, the dialogues conclude with the issuance of a Chautauqua Declaration, a statement developed by the prosecutors during the two-day symposium that calls on all nations to pursue justice as a matter of law. It reaffirms the first Chautauqua Declaration, issued in 2007, which stated, "The challenge for states and for the international community is to fulfill the promise of the law they created; to enforce judicial decisions; [and] to ensure the arrest and surrender of sought individuals ..." The dialogues are held each year to honor the declaration's ideals and to help advance the field of international humanitarian law. The 2012 declaration signing will be moderated by Elizabeth Andersen of the American Society of International Law.
The Robert H. Jackson Center was established to advance the legacy of Justice Jackson through education, exhibitry and pursuing the relevance of his ideas for current and future generations. For more information about the information center or its upcoming events, visit www.roberthjackson.org or call 483-6646.