Kicking Off the Summer

After an exciting spring, the Global Justice Program is gearing up for our annual summer tradition- putting our students in the field, doing hands-on work in rule of law and human rights work.  This summer, the Global Justice Program is sending 17 students to five countries to work with our global partners on a variety of projects, including research and writing projects for the Ugandan judiciary and Rwandan justice ministry, anti-human trafficking work in India, and indigenous land rights reports in Peru.

A few weeks ago, the Global Justice Program was proud to welcome to campus Gary Haugen, the President of International Justice Mission. Haugen visited Pepperdine to teach a week-long seminar course entitled "The Rule of Law and Human Rights in the Developing World." The course focused on fixing broken public justice systems and their importance in ending the cycles of violence that affect the poor in the developing world.

A number of Global Justice Program alumni enrolled in the course, and were able to discuss their interactions with the poverty and violence throughout the developing world. This is the vision of the Nootbaar institute and the Global Justice Program- see bring together classroom and real-world experience in tackling global issues with expert practitioners. As we look forward to the summer, when we send our students out across the world, the seminar was a timely reminder of the great privilege and calling to use our resources- funds, time, energy, and intellect- to advocate for the "least of these".

This summer, 17 Pepperdine School of Law students will work in 5 countries- Uganda, Rwanda, Ghana, India, and Peru. Watch here for their blogs!