News Archive
Professor Edwards Gives Keynote at Earlham College Model United Nations Conference
02/12/2015
Professor George Edwards delivered the keynote address at the Model United Nations Conference at Earlham College on January 30. This marked the 20th anniversary of the Richmond, Indiana, school’s hosting of this event.
Earlham College hosted 350 college and high school student Model United Nations delegates from across the nation and the world. The students took on the roles of delegates of United Nations member states and negotiated on important and topical global issues. Students engaged in an experiential academic exercise in problem-solving, and acquired leadership, diplomacy, debate, and negotiation skills.
The title of Professor Edwards’ address was “International Law, Diplomacy, and the Promotion of Human Rights in the U.S. and Around the Globe: The Benefits of International Experiential Education in the Context of Model United Nations”
Professor Edwards introduced the delegates to principles of international law, which serve as the rules that would govern their negotiations during the three-day conference. He expounded upon the different types of diplomacy – traditional, public, and citizen diplomacy – and the relationship between international law and diplomacy.
“The students serving as Model United Nations delegates are not only engaging in diplomacy during their negotiations,” Professor Edwards said, “they are helping to protect human rights.”
Professor Edwards also introduced students to his work at the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law, including the Program in International Human Rights Law’s overseas human rights law internships, which have had over 200 student placements in 56 countries since 1997, and the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba Military Commission Observation Project/Gitmo Observer www.GitmoObserver.com that has sent dozens of law students, faculty, staff and graduates to observe/monitor Guantanamo Bay hearings.
Professor Edwards is the Special Assistant to the Dean for Inter-Governmental and Non-Governmental Organizations and the Carl M. Gray Professor of Law. He is also Faculty Director (Founding), of the Program for International Human Rights Law and Faculty Director (Founding), Guantanamo Bay, Cuba U.S. Military Commission Observation Project (MCOP) and The Gitmo Observer.
Professor Edwards is author of LL.M. Roadmap: An International Student’s Guide to U.S. Law School Programs (www.LLMRoadMap.com), and of the forthcoming LL.M. Roadmap Career Guide: An International Student’s Job Hunt After Their U.S. Law Degree.
