International and Comparative Law

Professor Juan Mendez discusses the right of prisoners to health in the midst of a pandemic.

During the Faculty Speaks Series, AUWCL Professors, Claudio Grossman, Fernanda Nicola, Macarena Saez, and Robert Goldman discussed the effects of COVID-19 on marginalized populations, the discrepancies in health care accessibility, and the future impact on human rights in a post-pandemic globalized world. 

On June 11, 2020, Professor Lindsay Wiley was the featured speaker for AUWCL's Faculty Speaks Series, where she spoke on the rapidly changing world of health law during the pandemic. Asked by Professor Jonas Anderson on how it feels to be the a part of currently the most sought after legal sector, Professor Wiley commented on her gratitude in the opportunity to present facts and dispel fiction related to COVID-19 and the health law sector.

On May 18-21, the Center on International Commercial Arbitration hosted the VII International Investment Moot Arbitration Competition in Spanish language. The event was originally scheduled for the week of March 16, and postponed to this week due to the COVID-19 crisis. Eleven teams accepted the challenge of presenting their arguments online. This moot once again showed the usefulness of moot competitions for the practical training of arbitration practitioners. 

AUWCL Professor David Hunter’s commitment to the progressive development of international environmental law was further highlighted in his support of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the issue of human rights obligations relating to the enjoyment of a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment, Mr. David R. Boyd. The Special Rapporteur had made a call for submissions from civil society to a global online “researchathon” on best practices followed by states in recognizing the right to live in a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment and in implementing the procedural and substantive elements of the right. With the support of his students at the Environmental Law Program, Professor David Hunter contributed to this “researchathon” with relevant information.

Deyaa Alrwishdi, Director of the Syrian Initiative to Combat Sexual and Gender-Based Violence at AUWCL, has worked tirelessly to lift up his home country, with grassroots advocacy campaigns, providing low or no cost legal service to survivors of SGBV, and more. Just as the war in Syria was winding down, civilians were once again faced with enormous challenges as the COVID-19 pandemic swept through the globe and eventually into Syria. As many as four million IDP’s live in Northern Syria, which has no legitimate state presence for the organization and resources needed to handle a pandemic response. With the region already lacking basic necessities such as adequate medical facilities, the COVID-19 outbreak has once again hurt an already vulnerable Syrian civilian population.