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The Dean Rusk Center plays an active role in the international arena by hosting conferences, colloquia and lectures that bring scholars, practitioners, government officials, business leaders, students and alumni together to discuss relevant international law and policy issues. Rusk Center conferences and lectures seek to increase the understanding of international law and policy decisions, as well as contribute to the solution of challenges of global significance.

Our goal is to provide a forum for true legal and policy debate. In addition to promoting the academic value of these programs we also remain concerned with exposing how the legal and policy issues at hand actually play out in a practical sense, and seek to gain insight from participants who are directly affected by changes in these laws and policies. Through the publication of our conferences and lectures we extend these insights to the legal community at large.

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•  World Court Judge Joan Donoghue presented the 108th Sibley lecture on Tuesday, April 3, 2012 at 3:30 p.m. in the Hatton Lovejoy Courtroom in Hirsch Hall. International Court of Justice Judge Joan E. Donoghue will present, "The Role of the World Court Today" as this year's Sibley Lecturer. During her presentation at the UGA School of Law, she addressed the continuing role of the World Court in light of the evolution of international law and the creation of other courts and tribunals. Before her election to the 15-judge court in 2010, Donoghue was a U.S. government lawyer. As the principal deputy in the State Department's Office of the Legal Adviser, her duties included advising Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and other officials on all aspects of international law.

• The End of Impunity: War Crimes Tribunals in the 21st Century: March 6, 2012--David Scheffer, America's first Ambassador at Large for War Crimes Issues and author of All the Missing Souls: A Personal History of the War Crimes Tribunals, discussed atrocity crimes past, present, and future and how the fate of indicted leaders will be an international trial or vengeful retribution. Outlining the development of war crimes tribunals since the 1990s, Scheffer pronounced that "Impunity is on the losing side of history." He drew on his personal experience of direct involvement in the establishment of international criminal tribunals in the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone and Cambodia, as well as his experience heading the U.S. team negotiating the statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), and flavored the lecture with anecdotes from his years working for "the world's most powerful woman," then Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. To view the lecture, click here.

• Crimes against Humanity: The Case of Zimbabwe: November 30, 2011--The Larry Walker room at the Rusk Center was packed with a widely diverse audience from across campus and the local community when Peter Godwin spoke about his recently published book, The Fear (Little, Brown & Co., 2011), which chronicles the brutal campaign dictator Robert Mugabe unleashed against Zimbabwean political opposition in the wake of his failed election bid in 2008. A seasoned journalist with a law background who grew up in Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia), Godwin conveyed in vivid detail the deteriorating human rights conditions in a country that was once considered a model for post-colonial Africa and discussed the factors that keep Mugabe from being held accountable under international law for the devastation his regime has wrought in Zimbabwe. 

A One Health Strategy for Global Health Security, A Lecture by Rear Admiral Ali S. Khan Assistant Surgeon General & Deputy Director (acting) National Center for Emerging & Zoonotic Infectious Diseases   Listen to the streaming audio file of the lecture Mr. Khan's lecture on January 21, 2010 was presented by the Dean Rusk Center and co-sponsored by the College of Public Health. Amidst an unprecedented decrease in infectious diseases, we remain vulnerable to emerging, re-emerging, and yet-to-be-discovered microbial threats. These microbial threats have proven to have profound societal, economic, and health impacts and will continue or even intensify in the coming years. Dr. Khan's lecture explored how public health law plays a critical role in confronting infectious disease threats through quarantine laws, the declaration of public health emergencies, and the International Health Regulations.

Morality in Armed Conflict: Dilemma of the Decision Maker in Operational Counterterrorism, A lecture by Professor Amos N. Guiora, The S.J. Quinney College of Law, University of Utah    Professor Guiora's lecture on October 27, 2009 was presented by the Dean Rusk Center in cooperation with the Consulate General of Israel to the Southeast.  In addressing the operational dilemmas of the commander in operational decision making, Professor Guiora addressed morality in armed conflict, and legal and policy aspects of counterterrorism and international law issues.

The Post-Financial Crisis World Order: Sino-American Relations in an Age of Economic Turmoil, A lecture by The Honorable Daniel R. Fung, QC, Former Solicitor-General of Hong Listen to the streaming audio file of the lecture Mr. Fung’s lecture on September 25, 2009 was presented by the Dean Rusk     Center and co-sponsored by the Georgia Society for International and Comparative Law. Mr. Fung is a delegate to the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference - the principal advisory body to the People's Republic of China. He is an expert and frequent speaker on U.S.-China relations. His lecture focused on the U.S.-China economic and political relationship and how it has been impacted by the global financial crisis.

• Conflict Mediation: Personal Reflections on the Release of American Journalists from North Korea, A lecture by Dr. Han S. Park, University Professor of Public and International Affairs and Director of the Center for the Study of Global Issues (Globis) at the University of Georgia

Listen to the streaming audio file of the lecture

Dr. Park’s lecture on September 16, 2009 was presented by the Dean Rusk Center and the School of Public and International Affairs in the Larry Walker Room on the fourth floor of Dean Rusk Hall to an audience of 150+. Dr. Park is credited for his role in gaining the recent release of the two American journalists, Laura Ling and Euna Lee, who had been detained in North Korea for nearly five months. In his lecture, Dr. Park analyzed the complexity and intricacy involved in effective mediation, stressed the importance of mediation in today’s volatile world, and presented personal reflections on his experience. 

View news coverage of the event here



• Individual Rights in India: a Perspective from the Supreme Court, A lecture by The Honorable K.G. Balakrishnan, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of India

Listen to the streaming audio file of the lecture

The Honorable Mr. K.G. Balakrishnan, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of India, spoke on April 6, 2009 at the Hatton Lovejoy Courtroom in the School of Law’s Hirsch Hall. A native of India, Chief Justice Balakrishnan began his career in law as an advocate of the Kerala Bar Council in 1968. In 1985, he was appointed as a judge of the Kerala High Court. He was transferred to the Gujarat High Court, becoming its chief justice in 1998. He then served on the High Court of Judicature in Madras, were he became chief justice, before being elevated to the Supreme Court of India in 2000. He became chief justice in 2007. His lecture, “Individual Rights in India: A Perspective from the Supreme Court,” was sponsored by the Rusk Center as part of a two-day visit of the law school and Center by the Chief Justice, The Honorable Dr. Justice Arijit Pasayat of the Supreme Court of India, and several high-ranking members of the Ministry of Law and Justice, and the Indian Law Institute.

• The Conduct of Foreign Policy under the Obama Administration, A lecture by former U.S. career diplomats, Earle and Barbara Scarlett

Listen to the streaming audio file of the lecture

The Scarletts’ joint lecture (March 19,2009) presented in cooperation with the Department of International Affairs and the Carl Vinson Institute of Government, focused on the diplomatic challenges that lay ahead for the Obama Administration, as well as on some of the domestic concerns that impinge on U.S. foreign policy makers. Earle and Barbara Scarlett have a combined 50-plus years of global diplomatic experience. As a tandem couple, the recently retired U.S. Foreign Service Officers, the Scarletts had joint overseas diplomatic assignments in Cameroon, Brazil (twice, during the transition from military to civilian rule and subsequently), the Philippines (during the overthrow of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos), the former Yugoslavia (during its dissolution), and Ireland (implementing the Good Friday Agreement). Mr. Scarlett also served in Bosnia on the international diplomatic team implementing the Dayton Peace Accords.