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David Scheffer

Former U.S. Ambassador at Large for War Crimes Issues

Council Expert David Scheffer

About David Scheffer

David Scheffer is a nonresident senior fellow of international law and human rights at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. He currently serves as a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, Professor of Practice at Arizona State University, and is Director Emeritus of the Center for International Human Rights at Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law. Scheffer served as the first U.S. Ambassador at Large for War Crimes Issues during the Clinton Administration, where he led the U.S. delegation in establishing the International Criminal Court and signed the Rome Statute on behalf of the United States in 2000. Scheffer played a crucial role in negotiating five war crimes tribunals, including those for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. His extensive career includes roles as Vice-President of the American Society of International Law, UN Special Expert on UN Assistance to the Khmer Rouge Trials, and Tom A. Bernstein Genocide Prevention Fellow at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum

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