2011 Wisconsin Division Statewide Conference in La Crosse on the United Nations and International Law

When:  Saturday, April 16, 2011
10am to 4pm

Where: Viterbo University, La Crosse

Keynote Speaker:  Professor David J. Scheffer
"Challenges of International Law at the U.N."

Students may attend free!  Please register using contacts below.

Professor Scheffer is on the faculty at Northwestern University Law School, where he is Director of the Center for International Human Rights.  He was the U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issues from 1997-2001, and led the U.S. delegation in the U.N. talks establishing the International Criminal Court.  During his ambassadorship, he negotiated and coordinated U.S. support for the establishment of international hybrid criminal tribunals.  Dr. Scheffer headed the Clinton Administration's Atrocities Prevention Inter-Agency Working Group from 1999-2001.

Dr. Wolfgang Schmidt, was the longtime chair of the Wisconsin Governor's Commission on the United Nations until Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker recently cancelled the commission.  Over the lunch hour, he will lead a discussion on possibilities for maintaining the work of the Commission in some way within a new format.

After lunch, attendees will have the opportunity to participate in discussions on the following topics:

• The International Criminal Court
• UN Security Council and Nation Creation
• The UN Security Council's Responsibility to Proect (R2P) in Lybia
• International Law and Nuclear Arms

For more information and to download the registration form, please write to UNAWisconsin@tds.net or phone 608-441-1994.

US and UN Intervention in Libya: Humanitarian Necessity or Misguided Adventurism; neither or both?

At the March 25 board meeting of the United Nations Association-USA Wisconsin Division, those in attendance engaged in a vigorous and thought-provoking discussion about the implications of UN and US military intervention in Libya.We resolved to continue the dialogue here, and hope that others will join in, too.

This newly-created blog will serve as a forum for discussion of international justice issues related to the UN, and US foreign policy.  We'll also link to other related sites, and be place where you can find out about upcoming speakers and other events.
For right now, please consider weighing in on the situation in Libya.  Did the potential humanitarian concern about the slaughter of innocents justify this action?  Was the reaction too little, too late?  Does this represent a third front in the U.S.'s misguided attempts to achieve its foreign policy goals in this part of the world?
And in the bigger picture: why didn't US and other world diplomats anticipate the pro-democracy uprisings now occurring all across North African and the Middle East?  Is U.S. foreign policy equipped to support these nascent movements, even if they may be hostile and resentful of past U.S. foreign policy?  How is Barack Obama behaving differently than his predecessors (most notably G.W. Bush) in both the tenor of his remarks, and his actions?
Please join in our conversation by commenting below.  First time visitors to blogspot or blogger may need to complete a brief registration process by following the prompts.
UNA-WI board members have suggested the following links: 
Short article on Time online re Susan Rice's role in Libyan intervention, posted on national UNA website
"Libya Intervention Threatens the Arab Spring," article by Phyllis Bennis on anti-war.com
NY Times:  Samantha Power's role (in concert with the US' Representative to the UN Susan Rice and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton) in persuading President Obama to act to prevent a slaughter of the anti-Gaddaffi rebels in Libya

 

Video from the 2011 "Ending Wars: New Practical Ways for Peacebuilding" Conference in Brookfield, WI

2011 Peace Conference

“Ending Wars: New Practical Ways for Peace-Building” was the theme of the 7th annual peace conference to be held on Sunday, March 27th from 2:30 – 5:30pm .  The conference is free and all are invited to attend. The featured speaker is Dr. Sharon Welch, Professor of Religion and Society at Meadville Lombard Theological School in Chicago.  Welch is a member of the International Steering Committee of Global Action to Prevent War and is the author of four books, including Real Peace, Real Security: The Challenges of Global Citizenship.  Respondents include Julie Enslow, Milwaukee Community   Peacemaker at Marquette University Center for Peacemaking and Dr. Gareth Shellman, former intelligence analyst for the U.S. Army Security Agency.  All those attending were invited to engage in a Deliberative Dialogue to weigh the pros and cons of ways to end  wars and to forge a practical way forward.

Major conference sponsors were Candlelight Coalition and Unitarian Universalist Church West. Co-sponsors include Catholics for Peace and Justice, Peace Action-Wisconsin, Peace Seekers of Washington County,  the WI Network for Peace and Justice, and  Veterans for Peace.


Please note:  due to the death of her husband on Friday, Julie Enslow was unable to attend, and George Paz Martin filled in for her as a respondent.  Please hold Julie and her family in thoughts and prayers.