May

Inter-American Human Rights Moot Court
May 15-23, 2008
Washington DC

The Inter-American Human Rights Moot Court Competition is a unique trilingual (English, Portuguese, and Spanish) competition established to train law students on how to use the Inter-American human rights legal system as a legitimate forum for redressing human rights violations. Since its inception in 1995, the yearly Competition has trained over 1000 students and faculty participants from over 100 universities throughout the Americas and beyond. Written on a cutting-edge topic currently debated within the Inter-American system, the hypothetical case operates as the basis of the competition, and students argue the merits of this case by writing legal memoranda and preparing oral arguments for presentation in front of human rights experts acting as the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.

16th Annual International Judicial Conference
May 21-23, 2008
Berlin, Germany

The International Judicial Conference [IJC] is sponsored each year by the Furth Family Foundation. It is a unique annual gathering that has brought together justices from constitutional, supreme, and supreme arbitration courts from around the world for discussions on key issues related to establishing an independent judiciary and strengthening the rule of law. The first IJC was held in 1993 in Strasbourg, when 40 justices from the high courts of Europe and the former Soviet Union came together, providing a forum to discuss efforts to strengthen the independence of their respective court systems.  Five general areas of issues considered over the history of the conference ar: Independent Judiciaries: Development/Protection/Maintenance; Supreme and Constitutional Courts: Practical Issues and Operations; Legal Procedures and Obligations in the National/International Nexus; The Courts and the Public: the Media and Education; Political and Philosophical Concerns

June

Justice Sector Reform: Applying Human Rights Based Approaches
June 16-20, 2008
Maynooth, Ireland

This IHRN training programme will enhance skills of justice sector professionals in applying Human Rights Based Approaches to Justice Sector Reform. It will facilitate the development of knowledge and skills regarding: The legal principles, policies and practice underpinning human rights based approaches to justice sector reform inter-linkages between justice sector actors (law enforcement, judicial, corrections, etc), the relationship between the justice sector and related terms (security sector rule of law good governance), HRBA needs assessment, programme design, implementation, as well as mentoring, monitoring & evaluation, Programming tools and checklists (including Human Rights Based benchmarks and indicators of change), Case studies from national contexts as well as international field missions (including conflict and post-conflict), and Teamwork, advocacy and strategic partnerships.

July

Hague Academy of International Law 2008
July 7-August 15, 2008
The Hague, Netherlands

The well-known summer courses of the Hague Academy, which have been organised from the very outset, take place over a period of six weeks: three weeks of private international law (in July) and three weeks of public international law (from the end of July until mid-August). Over a period of almost eighty years, thousands of students have been able to attend them. These students, who have come from all over the world, representing between sixty and eighty nationalities each year, and many of whom have subsequently become well-known in the academic world, in research, or in diplomacy, have thus had the opportunity to meet "great names" of international law and to attend courses of a very high level. The "summer courses" also provide an opportunity, in the city which has become the "Capital of international law", to have contacts with the International Court of Justice, the international criminal courts, the Iran-U.S. Claims Tribunal, the Bureau of the Permanent Court of Arbitration, the Conference on Private International Law, and other institutions. The Secretariat General of the Academy and the Association of Attenders and Alumni of the Academy (AAA) organise these meetings.

August

New Developments In International Law in the Americas
August 4-29th, 2008
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

The program is designed by the Inter-American Juridical Committee and the Office of International Law of the Department of International Legal Affairs of the OAS. The main topic of this year´s course will be “New Developments of International Law in the Americas”. The course will consist of two morning sessions from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and one session in the afternoons from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m., Mondays through Fridays. A certificate of attendance will be issued to participants attending at least 90% of classes and pass two of three tests administered within the four weeks. Each participant may present a written paper on one of the specific topics addressed during the course program, within six months of its conclusion, previous presentation of a hypothesis and work sketch before the end of the course. If the final paper is considered satisfactory, the participant will receive a certificate of approval. Classes are given in Spanish or English.