Former Child Soldier to Speak at NSAC Law Review Symposium

Tchicaya Missamou, former Congolese child soldier, U.S. Marine, bestselling author, and founder of the Hope for Congo Foundation, will be joined by Washington & Lee University School of Law Professor Mark Drumbl and Dr. Saby Ghoshray, Vice President for Development and Compliance at WorldCompliance Company, at the University of Miami at the Storer Auditorium on Friday, March 2nd, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The title of the symposium is "Child Soldiers and International Law," three short lectures will be followed by a question-and-answer period and book signings.

By UM News 02-09-2012

Tchicaya Missamou was born in Congo-Brazzaville, subsisting in relative peace with his 15 brothers and sisters until civil war swept the country in 1992. At age 13, he was yanked into the brutal life of a child soldier, witnessing unspeakable atrocities. After years of violence and tragedy, Missamou resolved to save lives instead of taking them, and began using his military connections to ferry white diplomats out of the country. As a result of this, Missamou gained great wealth, but at an enormous cost – his family was brutalized and in 1997 he was forced to flee the country of his birth.

Professor Drumbl is the Class of 1975 Alumni Professor at Washington & Lee University School of Law, where he also serves as Director of the University's Transnational Law Institute. Professor Drumbl's research and teaching interests include public international law, global environmental governance, international criminal law, post conflict justice, transnational legal process, and contracts. His current scholarly project examines the challenges in reintegrating child soldiers who have been implicated in acts of mass atrocity. His book, titled Reimagining Child Soldiers in International Law and Policy, is under contract with Oxford University Press and will be published early in 2012.

Dr. Saby Ghoshray has been a prolific researcher in multi-faceted disciplines, investigating issues from cross-cultural perspectives. He is the author of more than 60 scholarly articles published in journals, books and conference proceedings, and continues his research on diverse subsets of international law, interface between domestic jurisprudence and international law, juvenile criminal law, military tribunals, and constitutional law.

The event is free and open to the public and parking is available at the Pavia Garage at 5615 Pavia Street. The Storer Auditorium is at 5250 University Drive, Coral Gables. For more information, contact Theodore Massey at tmassey@students.law.miami.edu.