Dr. Hussain Shaban in a delegation of universities to The Hague 2019-04-14

Dr. Abd al-Hussein Shaaban, Vice President of “AUNOHR” and a specialist in international law and human rights, participated in a study-academic visit to the International Tribunal in The Hague, within the framework of a delegation of deans and professors from eight Lebanese universities, with the visit coordinator, over a period of four days. Days from 14 to 18 April 2019.

This study visit to The Hague falls within the framework of the seventh session of the Inter-University Program on International Criminal Law and International Criminal Procedure, which was launched in 2011, and eleven universities in Lebanon participate, including “AUNOHR”, which are: the Lebanese University and the American University in Beirut. Beirut, Beirut Arab University, Holy Spirit University of Kaslik, Wisdom University, Notre Dame University, American University of Science and Technology, Lebanese American University, University College of Nonviolence and Human Rights, University of Balamand, and the Islamic University.

The curriculum in these visits includes many topics, including the history of international law, genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, terrorism crimes, the role of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, the rights of defendants in international criminal procedures, and the role of those affected.

This year's visit included briefings by representatives from the International Court of Justice, the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals, the International Criminal Court and the Asser Institute. The deans and professors also met with the director of the International Bar Association, a representative from Leiden University to discuss potential collaboration, and participated in a discussion on the "changing face of transitional justice".

The delegation also met the President of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, Judge Ivana Hrdlichkova, the Prosecutor, Mr. Norman Farrell, the Head of the Defense Office, Ms. Dorothé Le Fraper, and other officials.

In his intervention during the discussions, Dr. Shaaban expressed the importance of such study visits, especially the meeting between universities in Lebanon and the development of coordination in the academic framework for human rights, adding: “The law is like death, and it should not be an exception.” This is what Montesquieu said. This phrase came to my mind during the visit of the Academic Team for Transitional Justice to The Hague, where the values ​​of justice abounded, which is the goal of the law.