Professor Leah Calabro presented her paper Finding Justice for the Yazidi Women Victims of the Islamic State at the 2023 ASIL Mid-Year Research Forum. Her paper was selected from a very competitive application process. Professor Calabro is currently serving as a Visiting Associate Professor and Fellow of the International and Comparative Law Program at GW Law. She is also a distinguished alumna of the law school.
Professor Calabro’s paper explores justice opportunities for Yazidi women who have suffered atrocities at the hands of the Islamic State (IS). She alludes in her paper to discussions surrounding the proper approach to ensure that IS Members are held accountable for these crimes and the challenges faced by both international and domestic tribunals to do so. She also analyzes whether a peoples’ tribunal would achieve justice based on the goals put forth by the victims, as well as whether, alternatively, it would be able to achieve interim justice based on those same goals.
“We are fast approaching the tenth anniversary of the Islamic State’s invasion of Iraq and their campaign against the Yazidi people of mass murder and enslavement, among numerous other atrocity crimes. However, we still have yet to see meaningful accountability for these crimes and so it is critical that we work to bring awareness of this community’s calls for justice back to the public consciousness,” Professor Calabro says of her reasons for writing this article.
Milena Sterio, Charles R. Emrick Jr. – Calfee, Halter & Griswold Endowed Professor of Law – served as a discussant during the paper presentation. Professor Sterio underscored the importance of a victim-centered transitional justice lens to this topic and inclusive models of transitional justice.
Professor Calabro teaches several courses for GW Law, including International Criminal Law and Victims’ Rights in International Human Rights and International Criminal Law. She also coaches GW Law's Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Team.