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Guest Lecture: Interviewing Witnesses to Serious Violations of Human Rights

21 Feb 2016

Guest Lecture: Interviewing Witnesses to Serious Violations of Human Rights

7:00pm - 7:00pm

Oakes Hall - Room 207

Oakes 207

​​When conducting fact-gathering to document violent human rights abuses, how should you go about interviewing victims and witnesses? What are procedures to use, and concerns to be aware of?


A former Senior Trial Attorney at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, Dermot Groome, will guest lecture on this subject in our Applied Human Rights class via Skype; his lecture will be followed by Q & A.


Interviewing Witnesses to Serious Violations of Human Rights
Monday, February 22nd
3:35 PM - 5:15 PM
Oakes 207


This class session is open to the VLS community at large. Please email Jennifer Lawrence if you are interested in attending and use the subject heading "FEB 22 SKYPE LECTURE".


Dermot Groome led the investigation into crimes committed by Slobodan Milosevic in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and led the prosecution of Bosnian Serb general Ratko Mladic for the Srebrenica massacre and the siege of Sarajevo. He has addressed the UN Human Rights Council on the right to truth and served as a consultant to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. Prior to his work in human rights, he was a prosecutor in the Manhattan DA's office specializing in prosecuting crimes of sexual violence.


Reading:  "Interviewing Witnesses," Chapter 7 in Dermot Groome, The Handbook of Human Rights Investigation: A Comprehensive Guide to the Investigation and Documentation of Violent Human Rights Abuses (2d ed. 2011), available on SSRN.

Questions? Concerns? Contact Jennifer Lawrence at jlawrence@vermontlaw.edu