Letters from Samoa: Invisible College makes the Samoa Observer

Completely unbeknownst to me, the Samoa Observer picked up one of my posts and some of the photos I posted recently, and published it as an almost-full page article.
Samoa Observer 21 October 2013
We certainly welcome expanding the readership of our blog, although hope next time that anyone who wants to publish a post or photos from our blog will ask our permission first. (This is particularly important for me, as an Australian Volunteer for International Development.) This does show the need for media regulation here in Samoa, a topic which has been hotly debated over recent months, with a Media Council Bill 2013 currently under debate. The Media Council aims to balance freedom of expression and speech with media professionalism and integrity, a balance that is extremely important in a human rights context. The model proposed has come under criticism for aspects such as not providing for the right of appeal within the Council against Council decisions (appeal is only an option through the judicial action).

Panel Discussion: Military Justice, International Criminal Accountability and Cross-Cultural Contexts: US v. Bales

The Lieber Society on the Law of Armed Conflict of the American Society of International Law is sponsoring a panel discussion about the Court-Martial of US Army Sgt Bales for the murder of 16 Afghan civilians. The case presents a unique opportunity to explore the challenges in both investigating and prosecuting a case involving crimes in a remote area of a war zone, differing cultural perceptions of accountability and justice, and the relationship between military justice and international criminal justice.

SPEAKERS:

Lt. Col Jay Morse, chief, Trial Counsel Assistance Program, US Army; lead prosecutor in the Bales case
Morwari Zafar, Afghanistan Subject Matter Expert, Defense Intelligence Agency
Sandra Hodgkinson, Vice President, Chief of Staff of DRS Technologies; former Special Assistant (Chief of staff) for Deputy Secretary of Defense William J. Lynn; former Deputy Ambassador for War Crimes Issues, US Department of State
MODERATOR:
Jennifer Daskal, Assistant Professor of Law, Washington College of Law, American University Continue reading

Visiting Assistant Professor or Instructor: Gender, Sexuality and Feminist Studies

The Gender, Sexuality and Feminist Studies program at Middlebury College seeks to hire a one-year visiting assistant professor (Ph.D) or instructor (ABD) in 2014-2015. The primary responsibility will be to teach the introductory course outlining the foundations of gender, sexuality and feminist studies and an upper level feminist theory course. The candidate will also teach two courses in their field of specialization. The position entails teaching four courses during the course of the year.

The deadline for this position is December 9, 2013. Middlebury College uses Interfolio to collect all faculty job applications electronically. Email and paper applications will not be accepted. Through Interfolio, submit cover letter, curriculum vitae, statement of teaching and research, and three letters of recommendation (with at least one addressing the candidate’s teaching abilities). More information on the website.

CfP: The Holocaust in Hungary, 70 Years On: New Perspectives

On March 19, 1944, the Nazis marched into and occupied Hungary, precipitating one of the most intense periods of genocidal destruction of the Holocaust. By the time the deportations of Hungarian Jews to Auschwitz and other locations had been brought to an end four months later, no fewer than 500,000 Jews had been murdered.

This conference, taking place to mark the 70th anniversary of the Nazi invasion, seeks to bring together individuals from a wide variety of disciplines to explore key issues and recent research relating to the Holocaust in Hungary, as well as to contribute to ongoing discussions on this event. Continue reading

CfP: Canadian Yearbook of International Law

The Canadian Yearbook of International Law, Canada’s leading scholarly publication, invites both Canadian and non-Canadian authors to submit articles involving topics of public and private international law and the diffusion of cutting-edge research. All submissions are requested to be between 12,000 and 20,000 words and should be submitted by no later than January 31, 2014. For details, click here.

Call for applications: John Peters Humphrey Fellowship in International Human Rights or International Organization

Open to students at Canadian institutions studying law or studying at an advanced level in political science, the John Peters Humphrey Fellowship is awarded to outstanding students to support them in the pursuit of full-time graduate studies in the fields of international human rights or international organization at leading institutions in Canada or worldwide. Eligibility criteria and the 2014 application are available here. The deadline to apply is November 22, 2013.

Human Rights Review books available for review

You are invited to review a book for Human Rights Review. The list of “Books Available for Review” includes over one hundred titles and can be found on the Human Rights Review webpage under FOR AUTHORS AND EDITORS at:

http://www.springer.com/law/journal/12142

If you are interested in doing a “Review Essay,” you can select three (3) books that touch on common themes. There are web links to the publishers of the books for general information regarding the focus of each book on the list.

Please contact Dr. Lilian A. Barria at labarria@eiu.edu OR hrrbooks@eiu.edu with any questions and/or to request a book from the current list for review.

Interested reviewers should provide:

(1) A mailing address
(2) An estimated deadline for completion of the review (four possible deadlines from which to choose: February 1, 2014; April 1, 2014; June 1, 2014; or August 1, 2014).

Reviews are generally published in the journal 6-12 months after the review is received.

CfP Student Conference: The Human, Human Rights, and the Humanities.

I wanted to call your attention to an upcoming conference at the University
of Kansas for undergraduate and graduate student researchers on “The Human,
Human Rights, and the Humanities.” The conference will be held April 3-4,
2014, and paper abstracts are due Dec. 6.

This conference offers a venue to critically examine the interrelationship
of “the human,” human rights, and the purview of the
humanities–interpreting human expression. We welcome papers from
undergraduate and graduate students in the humanities and social sciences
that explore topics including, but not limited to, the following:

* What are the benefits and limits to a notion of universal human rights?
* Are there notions of being human that are not encapsulated by a human
rights framework?
* How do artists and writers engage or critique notions of human rights?
* What can we learn about the human experience, and, potentially human
rights, from a speculative vantage point, such as that of science fiction?
* How do disciplines that challenge normative parameters of human
experience such as Queer Studies, Disability Studies, or Animal Studies
enrich and/ or complicate notions of human rights?

Please submit 250 word paper abstracts to Dr. Marike Janzen, mjanzen@ku.edu,
by December 6, 2013

Call for Research Proposals: Effectiveness of Torture Prevention

The APT has released a call for proposals (http://www.apt.ch/en/working-with-us/) for researchers to contribute to its ongoing project on the effectiveness of torture prevention (http://www.apt.ch/en/research-project/).

The APT is seeking country researchers to work in 12 countries out of a shortlist of 26 countries: Albania, Armenia, Benin, Colombia, Georgia, Honduras, Hungary, India, Israel, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Mexico, Montenegro, Morocco, Nepal, Peru, Philippines, Senegal, South Africa, Taiwan, Thailand, Tunisia, Zimbabwe. The work includes researching and drafting a chapter on the country’s experience with incidence of torture and prevention measures since 1985, as well as gathering data to contribute to a comparative quantitative analysis of torture incidence and prevention.

Researchers with the relevant experience are invited to submit proposals, including a budget. The working language of the project is English, so a basic understanding of that language will be required. However, applicants may include a budget line for translation of documents. The deadline for applications is 1st November 2013 and work on the project will begin in January 2014.

The full call is available here: http://www.apt.ch/content/files/apt%20institutional/Research%20project_call_for_proposal.pdf.

Australian Postgraduate Scholarships and University Research Scholarship, ANU, Canberra, Australia

The Australian National University College of Law is currently offering four Australian Postgraduate Scholarships and one University Research Scholarship (each worth about $25,000 a year, plus some other benefits). We are very keen to receive more applications so could you please draw attention to these scholarships to your networks. Applications close on 31 October.

The first person to contact about these scholarships is:

Dinah Irvine
HDR & Military Program Coordinator
ANU College of Law &
National Centre for Indigenous Studies
Fellows Road, Building 5
The Australian National University
Canberra ACT 0200 Australia

T: +61 2 6125 5877
ResearchDegreesLaw@law.anu.edu.au