With the United States and Iraq moving closer to an apparent armed showdown, the CWRU School of Law has inaugurated its Frederick K. Cox International Law Center War Crimes Research Symposium series with a day-long event examining the connection of peace and justice in international relations.

The symposium, "The Role of Justice in Building Peace," looked at the role of international justice in peace-building efforts in the former Yugoslavia, Somalia, Rwanda, Cambodia and Sierra Leone. It is sponsored by the War Crimes Research Office of the Frederick K. Cox International Law Center, part of the CWRU School of Law, and will take place Friday, February 28 beginning at 8:30 a.m. at the law school, 11075 East Blvd. The event is open to the public, and 7.5 hours of Continuing Legal Education credits will be available.

"We are very pleased to host this unique event that brings together international scholars, human rights advocates, prominent journalists and military and government leaders," said Gerald Korngold, dean and McCurdy Professor of Law. "At a time when the world is increasingly scarred by wars and other acts of violence, it is more important than ever to explore links between notions of justice and peace."

Among the speakers and panelists for the day were the Hon. Abraham Sofaer, the George P. Shultz Distinguished Scholar and Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution and former Legal Adviser to the U.S. Department of State; Major General (Ret.) William Nash, former commander of the NATO forces in Bosnia and UN Regional Administrator for Kosovo; Roy Gutman, diplomatic correspondent for Newsweek and a winner of the Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of war crimes in Bosnia; and Leila Nadya Sadat, commissioner for the United States Commission for International Religious Freedom and professor at the Washington University School of Law.

The luncheon speaker was M. Cherif Bassiouni, president of the International Human Rights Law Institute and professor at DePaul University College of Law in Chicago and former chairman of the U.N. Commission to Investigate International Humanitarian Law Violations in the former Yugoslavia.

Panel topics included "The G-Word (Genocide) and Diplomacy," "Accommodation versus Accountability in Peace Negotiations and Implementation," "International Tribunals and Tribulations: A View from the Trenches," "Arresting War Criminals: Mission Creep or Mission Impossible?" and "Building the Historic Record: Reporting on War Crimes and International Trials."

The International War Crimes Research Office, established by Case Western Reserve University School of Law in 2002, is sponsored by the law schools Frederick K. Cox International Law Center. Under the direction of Professor Michael Scharf, a leading expert in international criminal law, the Office sponsors several unique programs dealing with accountability for violations of international humanitarian law.