George Washington University Law School Gives To ACILA

The George Washington University Law School (GW Law) in Washington, D.C, has donated international law books to the Africa Center for International Law and Accountability (ACILA) towards the establishment of an international law library in Accra, Ghana.

The library is being established by ACILA in honour of Mr. Justice Emile Francis Short, a former Judge of the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda for his efforts at bringing justice to victims and families of the Rwandan genocide. Justice Short also served as Ghana’s Commissioner at the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice.

The books, mostly on Public International Law, International Human Rights Law, and International Litigation and Arbitration, were donated by international law professors at GW Law, with some of them having authored the books.

GW Law Associate Dean for International and Comparative Legal Studies and Burnett Family Professorial Lecturer in International and Comparative Law and Policy, Susan Karamanian, presented the books to Mr. Carl Mensah, Deputy Director of ACILA-USA, at GW Law in Washington, D.C on Thursday. The books will be shipped to Ghana.

Dean Karamanian said that “GW Law is honored to donate these important books on international law to the Africa Center for International Law and Accountability. We hope they will enable ACILA and users of the Justice Emile Francis Short Library to gain more insight into international law and thus help Ghana build capacity in this key area of the law. We expect as the summer progresses to have more books donated by the GW Law faculty available for delivery to ACILA."

Mr. Mensah thanked Dean Karamanian and GW Law for the donation, adding that the books will be put to good use to enable users contribute to African scholarship through enhanced understanding of international law, a key mission of ACILA.

ACILA Executive Director, Mr. William Nyarko is an alum of GW Law and graduated from the school with a Master of Laws in International and Comparative Law (LLM) last year.