|
NORTH AMERICA; USA: THE RULE OF LAW ORAL HISTORY PROJECT
 |
Gabriel Solis of the Columbia Center or Oral History (CCOH) introduces the Rule of Law Oral History Project.
‘The Rule of Law Oral History Project at CCOH was initiated in 2008 with a focus on documenting legal challenges brought against capital punishment in the United States. In its first year, the project conducted a series of interviews with attorneys working on the frontlines of death penalty jurisprudence.
‘Recognising intersections between litigation challenging the death penalty and the legal architecture surrounding the use of detention facilities at Guantánamo Bay, the Rule of Law Oral History Project expanded in 2010 to study the deterioration of basic constitutional principles during the global “war on terror,” including the degradation of the promise of habeas corpus and the right to due process.
‘In the past year, the Rule of Law Oral History Project has conducted oral history interviews with civilian defence and habeas attorneys, military defence attorneys and prosecutors, former Generals, Colonels, and Commanders, US government officials from the Departments of State, Defense and Justice, human rights advocates, activists, and psychologists. These interviews address the need to gather historical information from the people who witnessed and directed policy changes at the highest levels of government and the military as well as from those who witnessed, experienced, and challenged systematic violations of constitutional and human rights that have occurred in the aftermath of 11 September 2001.
‘This year, the Rule of Law Oral History Project continues its focus on the immediate and lasting effects of the global “war on terror” with a series of upcoming interviews with legal scholars, public intellectuals, investigative journalists, and artists.
‘We are also interested in documenting the life histories and stories of those that have been detained without cause in Guantánamo Bay, Bagram, Abu Ghraib, CIA black sites, and detention facilities in the United States and other countries that have detained individuals as part of the global “war on terror.”
‘Where other documentation projects have interviewed former detainees about the abuses they experienced during their detention, the Rule of Law Oral History Project is primarily interested in documenting the life histories of former detainees in order to gain a better understanding of the effects of the policies and practices of the “war on terror” on their families and communities.
‘Funding for the Rule of Law Oral History Project was generously provided by the Atlantic Philanthropies. To view transcripts from selected interviews from the Rule of Law Oral History Project, please visit: http://library.columbia.edu/indiv/ccoh.html
• For more information on the Rule of Law Oral History Project and other projects at the Columbia Center for Oral History: oralhist@libraries.cul.columbia.edu
ORAL HISTORY, spring 2012, p. 29
|
