Advocating Socio-Economic Justice: Some Experiences of the ICC-India Campaign and the Potential for a Law Clinic

Abstract

The purpose of clinical legal education is not merely to equip the law student with lawyering skills to further the interests of his/her client; lawyers are also campaigners of socio-economic justice, policy makers, architects and influencers of law and policy, educators, counsellors and a voice for those whose human rights are trampled upon. The Indian campaign on the International Criminal Court (ICC-India campaign) is an anti-impunity campaign that worked in collaboration with various human rights groups, lawyers, law universities, academics, media persons and other like-minded individuals and groups to further socio-economic justice for marginalised sections of the society affected by mass crimes, through the use of international legal standards, from the years 2000 to 2010. Thereafter, key personnel of the erstwhile campaign, including members of its Board of Advisors as well as the present author, have continued the work of the campaign in their individual capacities. In this article, the experiences of the campaign in interacting with law students through its internship programme is extrapolated to examine the potential for a law clinic on the ICC.