Oettinger-Gallup Interview: Mark Oettinger and David Gallup met to lay out the plans for creating the World Court of Human Rights Development Project and Design Team Meetings.
The 1st Design Team meeting was held on January 19, 2014. Participating were Charlotte Dennett, David Beatty, Joseph Wronka, David Gallup and Mark Oettinger. The meeting was 66 minutes long, and featured a guided tour of this website, an explanation of the Design Team’s process, a discussion of the need for a World Court of Human Rights, and preliminary consideration of a few of the fundamental questions that the Design Team faced in drafting of the proposed Statute of the World Court of Human Rights.
The 2nd Design Team Meeting was held on February 16, 2014. Participating were Charlotte Dennett, David Gallup, Amanda Mowle and Mark Oettinger. The meeting was 102 minutes long, and featured a detailed look at recent updates to, and enhancements of, the WCHR website, as well as an explanation of the Design Team’s work since the first online meeting. A review of the current draft of the Statute of the WCHR focused on the creation of the Court, the selection of the Court’s Justices, and the administration of the Court’s operations. The group discussed the next critical “design features” of the Statute, including: (1) how the Court selects its cases; (2) how class actions are handled; and (3) who will have standing to represent a class. Additional topics covered include: (1) how to assure the impartiality of the Justices; (2) how far does the scope of “human rights” extend; and (3) the cost and funding mechanism of the International Court of Justice (by analogy).
The 3rd Design Team Meeting was held on Sunday, March 16, 2014. Participating were David Gallup, Anirudh Singh and Mark Oettinger. The meeting was 111 minutes long, and began with an exploration of a large collection of online international human rights research tools that had been posted on the website since the second online meeting. Mark Oettinger then led a walk-through of the current draft of the Statute, and reviewed the underpinnings of the Court and the service of the Justices. Many new Articles of the Statute are discussed in depth, including the Court’s case selection methodology, class action certification, standing, contentious and advisory jurisdiction, the role of intergovernmental organizations, enforcement of the Court’s orders, and much more. Anirudh Singh, of City Montessori School, in Lucknow, India, site of the annual Chief Justices’ Conference, joined the last portion of the conversation, and spoke about the strong support of the Chief Justices, and of plans to present the draft Statute to them, for their consideration and endorsement, at their December 2014 conference.