Diane Orentlicher is a professor of

international law International law (also known as public international law and the law of nations) is the set of rules, norms, and standards generally recognized as binding between states. It establishes normative guidelines and a common conceptual framework for ...

at American University's

Washington College of Law The American University Washington College of Law (AUWCL or WCL) is the law school of American University, a Private university, private research university in Washington, D.C. It is located on the western side of Tenley Circle in the Tenleyto ...

in Washington, D.C., and serves as Co-Faculty Director of its Center on Human Rights and Humanitarian Law. In the mid-1990s, she founded the law school's War Crimes Research Office, which provides legal analysis in support of international and transitional justice initiatives.

Early career

Orentlicher, a native of Washington, DC, practiced international law at Steptoe and Johnson after graduating from law school. In 1983, she became the first deputy director of what was then called the Lawyers Committee for International Human Rights (now

Human Rights First Human Rights First (formerly known as the Lawyers Committee for International Human Rights) is a nonpartisan, 501(c)(3), international human rights organization based in New York City and Washington, D.C. In 2004, Human Rights First started its " ...

) and directed its Human Rights Program. During her years there, she undertook human rights field missions to the Philippines, Cambodia, Chile, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras, Israel and other countries while supervising the organization's work in South Africa, Pakistan, Poland and other countries. Her mission to Cambodia in 1984, with

Floyd Abrams Floyd Abrams (born in July 9, 1936) is an American attorney at Cahill Gordon & Reindel. He is an expert on constitutional law and has argued in 13 cases before the Supreme Court of the United States. Abrams represented ''The New York Times'' ...

, was the first time a Western group was allowed to visit territory controlled by the

Khmer Rouge The Khmer Rouge (; ; km, ខ្មែរក្រហម, ; ) is the name that was popularly given to members of the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK) and by extension to the regime through which the CPK ruled Cambodia between 1975 and 1979. ...

since it was ousted from Phnom Penh at the beginning of 1979. She began teaching human rights as an adjunct professor at

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...

in 1985, and has also taught at Yale, Columbia and Oxford Universities. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, she helped pioneer the subdiscipline of international business and human rights. She developed, and co-taught, the first course on the subject at Columbia University's business school and authored or co-authored several publications on the subject in the early 1990s. In 1992, she joined the faculty of

American University Washington College of Law The American University Washington College of Law (AUWCL or WCL) is the law school of American University, a private research university in Washington, D.C. It is located on the western side of Tenley Circle in the Tenleytown section of no ...

Professional career

In the early 1990s, Orentlicher helped develop the legal framework for the field of transitional justice. In 1991, she published a seminal article on the international legal obligations of governments to address mass atrocities of a prior government. In the early 2000s, she served as the United Nations Independent Expert on combating impunity, updating the UN Set of Principles to Combat Impunity, a key "soft law" instrument guiding States’ efforts to address serious human rights violations in light of their international legal obligations. Since the mid-1990s, Orentlicher has also been involved in the field of international criminal justice, and on accountability for war crimes. She provided legal analysis to the first Prosecutor of the

International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) was a body of the United Nations that was established to prosecute the war crimes that had been committed during the Yugoslav Wars and to try their perpetrators. The tribunal ...

in The Hague and the

International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR; french: Tribunal pénal international pour le Rwanda; rw, Urukiko Mpanabyaha Mpuzamahanga Rwashyiriweho u Rwanda) was an international court established in November 1994 by the United Nation ...

. Orentlicher has published numerous articles and books on international and transitional justice, often addressing the social and political impact of war crimes courts in countries emerging from violence. She is a member of the

Council on Foreign Relations The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is an American think tank A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, mi ...

Government Service

During the first term of the Obama Administration, Orentlicher served from 2009 through 2011 as Deputy, Office of War Crimes Issues, in the Department of State. In that capacity, she worked on the administration's review of United States’ policy toward the

International Criminal Court The International Criminal Court (ICC or ICCt) is an intergovernmental organization and international tribunal seated in The Hague, Netherlands. It is the first and only permanent international court with jurisdiction to prosecute individuals ...

and implementing the policy that emerged from that review; strengthening efforts to prevent violence against women; developing the administration's atrocities prevention initiative; and supporting international and hybrid tribunals. In 1999, Orentlicher served as Special Advisor to the High Commissioner, on secondment from the U.S. Department of State.

Selected publications

* ''Kampuchea, after the worst: A report on current violations of human rights,'' Human Rights First, 1985. * ''Vigilantes in the Philippines: A Threat to Democratic Rule'',

, 1988. *''Human Rights in Indonesia and East Timor'',

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human r ...

, 1989. *''Human Rights'', Foundation Press, 2001. *''‘Settling Accounts’ Revisited: Reconciling Global Norms with Local Agency,''

International Journal of Transitional Justice ''International Journal of Transitional Justice'' is an interdisciplinary peer-reviewed academic journal published triannually by Oxford University Press to provide a forum for transitional justice as an academic discipline in its own right. It ...

, 2007. *''Some Kind of Justice: The ICTY’s Impact in Bosnia and Serbia'',

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, 2018.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Orentlicher, Diane American legal scholars Washington College of Law faculty American human rights activists Women human rights activists Living people Year of birth missing (living people)