Abstract:
The Women, Peace and Security Agenda (WPS) plays a critical role in global peace, stability and prosperity. However, while the successful implementation of WPS is heavily dependent on the involvement and active participation of the legal community, most legal educators, decision-makers and legal professionals remain unaware of its existence. During this presentation, the author will explain select findings from her article, Teaching the Women, Peace and Security Agenda in MENA Law Schools, recently published by Lexis Nexis’ MENA Business Law Review, to provide an overview of WPS, and highlight its relevance in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, with a specific emphasis on its implementation in Qatar. In addition, she will argue the importance of the agenda being taught to law students globally and explain lessons learned from teaching the agenda to Undergraduates and Master’s students in Qatar. Open access to the full article as an official publication for the postponed Fourteenth United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice can be found at: http://www.un-congress.org/Publication/View/98c03b44-3bd1-46c4-ac4c-ca201547037b
Speaker:
Melissa Deehring, Clinical Assistant Professor of Law, Qatar University College of Law
Melissa is an attorney (California) and Clinical Assistant Professor of Law at Qatar University (QU) College of Law in Doha, Qatar. She was the founding director and creator of her college’s Externship Program and has taught advocacy, ethics and professionalism concepts to Qatari law students since 2011. As one of her college’s first female faculty members, Melissa has been a prominent voice encouraging women to join Qatar’s legal profession. Melissa’s research focuses on SDGs 5 (gender equality) & 16 (peace, justice & strong institutions) and how culture affects local legal professions, legal education, and professional responsibility notions. In addition, Melissa hosted Qatar’s first Women in Law Conference during March 2018, was awarded her college’s Excellence in Community Service Award during August 2018, was named a NIFTEP (National Institute for Teaching Ethics & Professionalism) fellow during December 2018, and was awarded an Education for Justice (E4J) Champion Consultancy with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) during 2019.