Canadian law professor to speak about political power in Guantanamo Bay detainment of 15-year-old Canadian citizen

Canadian law professor to speak about political power in Guantanamo Bay detainment of 15-year-old Canadian citizenApril 14, 2008Jill Leonhardtjlleonha@maxwell.syr.edu

Audrey Macklin, professor of law at the University of Toronto, will use the case of Canadian citizen Omar Khadr, who has been held at Guantanamo Bay since 2002, to explore mechanisms by which citizenship, territoriality and jurisdiction are used to exercise legally authorized political power. The talk will take place on Thursday, April 24, at 3:30 p.m. in Room 500 of the Hall of Languages.

Khadr, who was 15 years old in 2002 when he was apprehended, is the only remaining citizen of a western state and NATO ally detained in Guantanamo Bay. The conditions of detention and the legal framework governing the treatment of detainees at Guantanamo Bay have been criticized inside and outside the United States as violations of international human rights, international humanitarian law, U.S. military law, the U.S. Constitution and the rule of law.

Macklin holds law degrees from Yale University and the University of Toronto. She has also served as a member of the Immigration and Refugee Board in Canada. Macklin’s research and writing interests include transnational migration, citizenship, forced migration, feminist and cultural analysis, and human rights.

The talk is sponsored by the Gender and Globalization Initiative and the Department of Geography at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, and is free to the public.