Partners for Global Change
Next Teleconference Call:

July 10th, 2010
1 - 2 pm EST

Downloadables:

 Click here to download the July Toolkit.

 Click here to download the Candidate Questionnaire. 

Topic:

On July 10th Partners for Global Change will provide a briefer on the happenings of the International Criminal Court.  Our two speakers, Ambasador Stephen Rapp from the State Department and our own Ariela Blatter will both provide first hand accounts of the ICC Review Conference that just happened in Kampala, Uganda.  In anticipation of International Justice Day listen in and ask questions of these two experts on the International Criminal Court 

Speakers

Ambassador Stephen Rapp

Stephen J. Rapp of Iowa is Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issues. Appointed by President Obama, he was confirmed by the Senate, and assumed his duties on September 8, 2009. Prior to his appointment, he served as Prosecutor of the Special Court for Sierra Leone beginning in January 2007, leading the prosecutions of former Liberian President Charles Taylor and other persons alleged to bear the greatest responsibility for the atrocities committed during the civil war in Sierra Leone. During his tenure, his office achieved the first convictions in history for sexual slavery and forced marriage as crimes against humanity, and for attacks on peacekeepers and for recruitment and use of child soldiers as violations of international humanitarian law.

From 2001 to 2007, Mr. Rapp served as Senior Trial Attorney and Chief of Prosecutions at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, personally heading the trial team that achieved convictions of the principals of RTLM radio and Kangura newspaper—the first in history for leaders of the mass media for the crime of direct and public incitement to commit genocide.

Mr. Rapp was United States Attorney in the Northern District of Iowa from 1993 to 2001, where his office won historic convictions under the firearms provision of the Violence Against Women Act and the serious violent offender provision of the 1994 Crime Act. Prior to his tenure as U.S. Attorney, he worked as an attorney in private practice and served as Staff Director of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency and as an elected member of the Iowa Legislature.

He received his BA degree from Harvard College in 1971. He attended Columbia and Drake Law Schools and received his JD degree from Drake in 1974.

Ariela Blatter

Ariela Blätter comes to us from Amnesty International (AI) where she most recently, served as the Senior Director for International Programs.  During her seven year tenure at AI she also served as Deputy Managing Director for Government Relations and as the Director of the Conflict Prevention and Response Center.  Ariela comes from an extensive advocacy and law background—she is an international human rights lawyer that has served as a lobbyist at the State, Congressional and at the international level.  Most notably, she served as a permanent representative to the UN on the establishment of the International Criminal Court, overseeing a team of NGO’s lobbyists and policy staff. Additionally, she was an international affairs advocate for the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston, where she gained significant experience lobbying members of the State House and US Congress on foreign policy.