IU McKinney Students, Alumni, Faculty, Staff Encouraged to Observe Gitmo Hearings
07/07/2022
IU McKinney students, alumni, faculty, and staff are invited to apply to serve as observers in the Program in International Human Rights Law’s Military Commission Observation Project. The Pentagon’s Guantanamo Bay Convening Authority granted non-governmental organization status to PIHRL in 2014.
Members of the IU McKinney Law family may travel to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, or to Ft. Meade in Maryland to observe the hearings via a secure video link as part of the project. After a two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the hearings have resumed at an increased pace, said Chuck Dunlap, J.D. ’96. Dunlap, who serves as president and CEO of the Indiana Bar Foundation, has observed the Guantanamo Bay hearings five times, and traveled to Ft. Meade on multiple occasions to view the legal proceedings. Professor George Edwards, PIHRL’s founder and executive director, invited Dunlap to serve on the MCOP’s advisory council and Dunlap now serves as deputy director.
“The hearings routinely raise challenging and novel legal issues around constitutional law and due process that are historic,” Dunlap said, “and having a front row seat to see it develop in real time is truly a remarkable privilege.”
Madison Sanneman, who serves as a clinic assistant for IU McKinney’s clinic programs, traveled to Guantanamo Bay to observe the hearings in June 2022. Sanneman joined the law school’s staff in September 2021 and became interested in taking part in the opportunity. After applying to the program and being accepted, she spent time preparing for the journey by learning about Guantanamo Bay and what a fair trial looks like in the PIHRL’s guide and manual. About a week before she was scheduled to leave, the Pentagon indicated she may not be able to attend as there was a chance the proceedings would be classified. That turned out not to be the case.
“I just kept an open mind about it going in and decided I would be happy to see whatever I was allowed to see,” Sanneman said, who also got to do some hiking and snorkeling during her down time on the island. “It’s a unique opportunity I think more people should consider. I would recommend it to anyone interested in international law, viewing a military commission hearing, and sharing what they witnessed with others.” In the photo at left, Sanneman is enjoying the scenery on the island, standing underneath some banyan trees.
Dunlap also emphasized the importance of observers to the process, serving as the “eyes and ears of the outside world,” he said. “Given the remote location of the hearings and the limited access, I think it is crucial that the observers can help tell others about the proceedings. Observers serve an extremely important role in promoting and protecting the internationally recognized human rights of the wide range of U.S. Military Commission stakeholders, including the defendants, the prosecution, the victim and victims’ families, the press, detention and security staff, and others. Even more than 20 years after the events that served as the catalyst for the creation of these tribunals, the work that they do is still creating new law and legal precedent that will shape our national legal system, international human rights law, and U.S. Constitutional jurisprudence for generations to come.”
Visit the PIRHL landing page on the IU McKinney website to learn more about the program, and read about the MCOP project and check out upcoming hearing dates.