Professor Milena Sterio (center) with participants of the Human Rights Documentation workshop in Nairobi, Kenya (Victoria Akur, left, and Grace John, right – representatives of South Sudan’s civil society organizations)

Professor and Associate Dean, Milena Sterio, participated in a four-day workshop entitled “Human Rights Documentation in South Sudan” in Nairobi, Kenya, as a consultant for the Public International Law and Policy Group (PILPG).  PILPG is a Nobel Peace Prize-nominated non-governmental organization based in Washington, D.C., whose mission is to provide legal assistance to states and governments with the negotiation and implementation of peace agreements, the drafting of post-conflict constitutions, and the creation and operation of war crimes tribunals.

PILPG has been involved with several projects in South Sudan already; the human rights documentation project, which Professor Sterio participated in, brought together about forty participants – representatives from South Sudan civil society organizations, the United Nations, as well as several PILPG members from the Washington, D.C. and Nairobi offices, to draft a road map agreement which South Sudanese organizations can implement in order to begin documenting human rights violations.  The documentation is an important step toward peace-building, reconciliation, and accountability.

Professor Sterio published a blog post on Intlawgrrls, describing the workshop in more detail; the post is available here.