Faculty of Law & Administration at the Jagiellonian University

In attendance was a contingent of five students from the Sydney University Law School who recently spoke to fellow students of their experiences at the Conference:

What is GAJE?

GAJE is best described as a worldwide alliance of academics, law students, teachers and practitioners, who share a common interest in social justice education. Every few years, a GAJE Conference is hosted by a different region, bringing together representatives from a vast array of nations to discuss questions of ethics, justice & law. The organisation is the only one of its kind and the brainchild of one of its founders, Associate Professor Les McCrimmon, a lecturer of litigation at the University of Sydney. In 1996, A/Prof. McCrimmon, together with 20 other academics, established GAJE as a clearing house of ideas for those with similar motivations and passions. The first and second Conferences were held in Trivandrum, India in 1999 & Durban, South Africa in 2001, with a Regional Conference also being held in Sydney in 2002.

GAJE Conference, Krakow 2004:

Seminar at GAJE 2004

The third GAJE Conference, held in Kraków, Poland and spanning for 9 days, focused on developing a curriculum for justice education & adopted the theme of "Using the Experience of Lawlessness to Teach Justice". During the first three days of the Conference, participants attended various seminars and workshops, focusing on the multifaceted notions of ethics. Participants were challenged by the themes of human nature & obedience arising from the various discussions & experiments, with Nana Frishling, a law student at Sydney University, commenting afterwards that "In the case of law, there's no doubt that (in future) we'll find ourselves within various institutions & structures where we'll inevitably be told to do something & our ethics will be compromised". Students & academics alike grappled with questions of how students could rise to these situations & whether ethics were something which in fact could be taught.

Participants were also asked to consider the alternatives provided by law, where traditional avenues had been exhausted. Issues of mitigation, alternative dispute resolution and legislative advocacy were thus featured throughout discussions. Additionally, Sydney University's contingent, in conjunction with representatives from the University of New South Wales, were involved in the development of a model for social justice projects - being a basis which others could adopt when executing social projects within their own communities.

A significant portion of the Conference was spent visiting the Auschwitz Concentration Camp, only two hours travel from the University, which proved to be a very intense period for participants. By exposing participants to such an historical example of extreme lawlessness & injustice, the Conference aimed to further its purpose of increasing awareness & acceptance of the mechanisms of international justice.

Luci Wilson & Simon Levett, both law students from Sydney University, commented that the experience was an emotional and overwhelming one. The students admitted that at one stage, some attendees of the Conference, particularly those representatives of African nations, displayed visible frustration with the Conference's chosen focus, arguing that similar acts of genocide were occurring on a daily basis in nations like Sudan & that the Conference may have directed its attention more so to the failure of the world community to adequately respond to such crises. However, the students noted that despite such tensions which surfaced at the Conference, it had proved to be an amazing opportunity to learn from history as well as an engaging and enriching personal journey.

What's in stall for the future?

The next GAJE Conference is set to take place in South America in 2006, with host countries being decided upon by GAJE's Steering Committee. For more information, visit www.gaje.org. For further information on the Jagiellonian University's Human Rights Centre, visit www.juhrc.org/hrlc/.