Prof. Tom Kelley Travels to Rwanda and South Africa with UNC students

With the exception of a few days in August, I have not been on U.S. soil since early June.

I spent the summer leading a study abroad program in The Hague and Rwanda for a mix of Carolina law and undergraduate students.  The focus was Genocide, Human Rights, and International Criminal Law.  During our week in The Hague we visited the International Criminal Court and several other ad hoc international criminal tribunals such as the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia.  After The Hague, we spent five weeks in Rwanda studying that country’s tragic 1994 genocide and their subsequent attempts – not always successful – to reweave the fabric of their devastated society.   

In mid-August I traveled to South Africa, another post-conflict African society.  I led a Carolina honors undergraduate program focusing on Justice, Reconciliation, and Development in post-apartheid South Africa.  The group stayed in Cape Town, one of the most beautiful and troubling cities in the world: beautiful because of its unique Cape Dutch architecture and its setting between sheer mountains and dramatic coastlines; troubling because of Cape Town’s stark inequality.  A glance in almost any direction will reveal Ferrari sports cars whizzing past some of the most desperately poor communities in the world.  For the curious, South Africa is considered the most unequal country on the planet. We in the U.S. are close behind at #9.

 

I have learned an enormous amount since leaving the country in June.  I have also had the pleasure of forming close relationships with thirty-four fabulous students.  I am, however, looking forward to returning to my duties in the Community Development Law Clinic and, on the home front, spending some quality time with my dogs.

 

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Posted by Thomas A. Kelley III (Tom) on Wed. December 9, 2015 1:55 PM
Categories: Service