The SAIS GPS Focus Area and the Foreign Policy Institute invite you to A Fireside Chat with Beth Van Schaack, US Ambassador-at-Large for Global Criminal Justice, a conversation with Professor Jeffrey Pryce (JHU SAIS), former Counselor, OSD.
Ensuring accountability for war crimes, crimes against humanity and aggression has emerged as a critical issue in crises like Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Ambassador Van Schaack, who leads the United States efforts in international criminal justice, will engage on US efforts to ensure accountability in Ukraine, Africa, and Central America.
Date and Time
Monday, April 22, 2024 · 3:00-4:30pm
Location
JHU Bloomberg Center - Room 440
555 Pennsylvania Ave NW
Washington, DC 20001
Please RSVP: https://GPS-ChatwithVanSchaack.eventbrite.com
About the Speakers
Dr. Beth Van Schaack was sworn in as the Department’s sixth Ambassador-at-Large for Global Criminal Justice (GCJ) on March 17, 2022. In this role, she advises the Secretary of State and other Department leadership on issues related to the prevention of and response to atrocity crimes, including war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide.
Ambassador Van Schaack served as Deputy to the Ambassador-at-Large in GCJ from 2012 to 2013. Prior to returning to public service in 2022, Ambassador Van Schaack was the Leah Kaplan Visiting Professor in Human Rights at Stanford Law School, where she taught international criminal law, human rights, human trafficking, and a policy lab on Legal & Policy Tools for Preventing Atrocities. In addition, she directed Stanford’s International Human Rights & Conflict Resolution Clinic. Ambassador Van Schaack began her academic career at Santa Clara University School of Law, where, in addition to teaching and writing on international human rights issues, she served as the Academic Adviser to the United States interagency delegation to the International Criminal Court Review Conference in Kampala, Uganda. Earlier in her career, she was a practicing lawyer at Morrison & Foerster, LLP; the Center for Justice & Accountability, a human rights law firm; and the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunals for Rwanda and the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague.
Ambassador Van Schaack has published numerous articles and papers on international human rights and justice issues, including her 2020 thesis, Imagining Justice for Syria (Oxford University Press). From 2014 to 2022, she served as Executive Editor for Just Security, an online forum for the analysis of national security, foreign policy, and rights. She is a graduate of Stanford (BA), Yale (JD) and Leiden (PhD) Universities.
Jeffrey Pryce is Professorial Lecturer of the Foreign Policy Institute at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), where he focuses on international security and international law. He teaches International Crises and International Law, and previously taught a seminar on the role of international tribunals in dispute resolution. He is also a practicing international lawyer, and has successfully represented clients in major investment treaty, international commercial arbitration and multijurisdictional litigation cases. He previously served in the Department of Defense as Special Counsel for International Affairs, then as Counselor to the Undersecretary for Policy. He was particularly engaged in policy toward and response to crises involving Bosnia, Russia, NATO, Iraq, Haiti, and North Korea. He negotiated nuclear disarmament agreements with Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Belarus. He also served as delegation leader or senior DoD representative to significant multilateral negotiations impacting international security. He began his career working for 5 years in the offices of Sen. Kennedy and Congressman Markey on issues of nuclear arms control, defense, regional armed conflicts and human rights. He received a BA in Philosophy from Wesleyan; an M.Phil in International Relations from Cambridge, where he was the founder and first Editor-in-Chief of the CAMBRIDGE REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS; and a JD from Yale Law School, where he was an editor of the YALE LAW JOURNAL. He served as a two-year law clerk to Supreme Court Justice Byron White. Among other outlets, his commentary has appeared on NPR; VOA Television; ABC News; and Univisión Radio (in English and Spanish). He has served on the Board of Directors of the Washington Institute of Foreign Affairs and the Cambridge Society of Washington DC.