By Caroline Schwartz, Legal Communications Intern
On Tuesday April 3, Raymond M. Brown and Wanda M. Akin, the IJP’s co-founders presented the lecture Freedom, Sustainability and Security: International Criminal Law and Human Rights at the Institute for Global Understanding at Monmouth University. The lecture was held in Great Hall, Wilson Hall in West Long Branch, NJ, and it was filled to capacity with more than 400 attendees, including students, professors, lawyers, nurses, social workers, and others.
During the first part of the lecture, Mr. Brown and Ms. Akin discussed their international legal work in Sierra Leone, but they mainly focused on victim representation and participation at the International Criminal Court (ICC). Many students found that Mr. Brown and Ms. Akin were able to engage the audience on a personal level, making their passion for the issues evident. They brought both practical experience from their work at the ICC and expert knowledge from years of teaching international law at various universities.
The second half of the lecture included some brief statements from the IJP Darfurian Community Outreach Leader, Aisha A., who furthered the individual engagement of the audience with her presentation on the suffering of the Darfurian people living in the United States. Specifically, Aisha spoke about the lack of access that Darfurians have to education, job training, and healthcare in the United States.
The lecture, which was followed by a dinner reception, left the students enthused for international law and excited to engage in these important world issues.
Student Quotes:
“This was an amazing lecture that all Monmouth students could have benefited from. The speakers were entertaining and knew how to keep the audience involved. Their personal stories with the clients and different trials made this a very personal and worthwhile lecture.”
“[The speakers'] passion is contagious and I left assured that interconnectedness and community involvement is necessary to make any change we want to see in the world.”
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