For Immediate Release — Tuesday, October 11, 2005
Contact:
Mary E. McCrank
Media Relations Officer
(585) 245-5516
SUNY Geneseo Alumnus to Talk About His Work Prosecuting
War Crimes in Sierra Leone Oct. 25
GENESEO, N.Y. — David Cohen, chief of legal operations
for the Special Court for Sierra Leone, will talk about his work prosecuting
war crimes during a lecture on Oct. 25 at the State University of New York at
Geneseo.
Cohen, who received his bachelor's degree in political
science from Geneseo in 1977, will talk at 12:45 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 25, in
Newton Hall, Room 201. The talk is free and open to the public.
The Special Court, in Freetown, Sierra Leone, Africa, was
established jointly by the U.N. and Sierra Leone government as an independent
tribunal charged with bringing to justice those responsible for the worst
atrocities committed during the civil war that took place in the late 1990s and
early 2000s. Cohen took the position of chief of legal operations, overseeing
the office of the prosecutor, in 2004. To date, the prosecutor has indicted 11
people on various charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and other
serious violations of international humanitarian law. Nine inductees are
currently in the custody of the court.
As chief of legal operations, Cohen essentially serves as
the chief of staff, overseeing the daily operations of the prosecutor's office.
He is responsible for all administration of the prosecutor's office, including
development of a completion strategy. In addition, he serves as a member of the
court's management board; as a legal and political advisor to the prosecutor on
a variety of issues; and as a liaison between the court, the Sierra Leonian
government, and diplomatic and international organizations on personnel issues
affecting the performance of the duties of the prosecutor.
After Geneseo, Cohen went on to study political theory at
the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He interrupted his studies to join
the Peace Corps, serving in Sierra Leone, from 1979 to 1981. He taught improved
methods of rice farming to villagers, improving yields from three bushels per
acre harvested once per year to 20 bushels per acre harvested three times per
year. He also trained a representative from the World Bank Development Project
on these methods so they could be introduced in other parts of the country.
Cohen served as a foreign service officer with the U.S.
Department of State from 1984 to 1996 in a variety of management and diplomatic
capacities in the U.S. and abroad. His assignments included: general services
officer with the U.S. Embassy in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, from 1984-86;
consular officer with the U.S. Mission to Berlin in West Germany from 1987-89;
political/economic officer with the U.S. Mission to the United Nations in New
York City from 1991-94; and operations officer/civilian observer with the
Multinational Force & Observers in Sinai, Egypt, from 1989-91 and 1994-96.
Cohen received his juris doctorate in 1998 from Southwestern
University, Los Angeles, Calif., and ran a private law practice from 1999-2004
in New York City.
Cohen's visit is sponsored by the political science and
international relations department, International Relations Club and Legal
Studies Club. For more information about Cohen's visit, call (585) 245-5371.
For more information about the Special Court for Sierra Leone or the Sierra
Leone Civil War, go to: http://www.sc-sl.org/.
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