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Stephen Rapp | |
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| 4thUnited States Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issues | |
| In office September 8, 2009 – August 7, 2015 | |
| President | Barack Obama |
| Preceded by | John Williamson |
| Succeeded by | Todd F. Buchwald |
| Member of theIowa House of Representatives from the34th district | |
| In office January 8, 1973 – January 12, 1975 | |
| Preceded by | Larry N. Larson |
| Succeeded by | M. Peter Middleton |
| In office January 8, 1979 – January 9, 1983 | |
| Preceded by | Albert L. Garrison |
| Succeeded by | David M. Tabor |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1949-01-26)January 26, 1949 (age 76) |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Alma mater | Harvard University Columbia University Drake University |
Stephen J. Rapp (born January 26, 1949)[1] is an Americanlawyer, academic and former politician who served asUnited States ambassador-at-large for war crimes issues in theOffice of Global Criminal Justice. He previously served as Member of theIowa House of Representativesfrom the 34th district from 1973 to 1975 and from 1979 to 1983.
Rapp has been a lawyer in private practice, aDemocratic member of theIowa House of Representatives,[2] and a staff director and counsel for theU.S. SenateJudiciary Committee. Rapp ran for theU.S. House of Representatives forIowa's 3rd congressional district twice, losing toCharles Grassley. From 1993 to 2001, Rapp was theU.S. Attorney for theNorthern District of Iowa. In 2001, he joined theInternational Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, where he led the prosecution in the "media trial" against the leaders of theRTLM radio station andKangura newspaper for inciting theRwandan genocide of 1994. He became the chief of prosecutions of the ICTR in 2005, and continued to assist chief prosecutorHassan Jallow in prosecuting those involved in the 1994 genocide. In 2007, Rapp succeededDesmond de Silva to become the third chief prosecutor of theSpecial Court for Sierra Leone, where he directed the prosecution of former Liberian PresidentCharles Taylor and others alleged to have violatedinternational criminal law during theSierra Leone Civil War.
Rapp was appointed ambassador-at-large for war crimes issues by PresidentBarack Obama, and confirmed by the U.S. Senate on September 8, 2009. Rapp led theState Department'sOffice of Global Criminal Justice. In that position, he advised the secretary of state and the under secretary for civilian security, democracy, and human rights and worked to formulate U.S. policy on prevention and accountability for mass atrocities. He stepped down from the post on August 7, 2015.[3]
Secretary of StateMadeleine Albright created the position of ambassador-at-large for war crimes issues in 1997 in order to bring focus in American foreign policy to the twin imperatives of enabling the prevention of, and ensuring accountability for, atrocities around the world. In 1997, President William J. Clinton appointedDavid Scheffer to serve as the first advisor to the Secretary of State on U.S. policy responses to atrocity crimes. In 2001, President George W. Bush appointedPierre-Richard Prosper to serve as ambassador-at-large to Secretary of State Colin Powell, and, in 2005, he appointedJohn Clint Williamson to succeed Prosper as ambassador-at-large to Secretary of StateCondoleezza Rice.[4]
In February 2011, Rapp gave a lecture entitled "Achieving Justice for Victims of Genocide, War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity" at the University of San Diego's Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice Distinguished Lecture Series.
The office coordinates U.S. government support forad hoc and international courts trying persons accused of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity committed (among other places) in the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, and Cambodia, and helps bolster the capacity of domestic judicial systems to try atrocity crimes. It also works closely with other governments, international institutions, and non-governmental organizations to establish and assist international and domestic commissions, courts, and tribunals to investigate, judge, and deter atrocity crimes in every region of the globe. The ambassador-at-large coordinates the deployment of a range of diplomatic, legal, economic, military, and intelligence tools to help expose the truth, judge those responsible, protect and assist victims, enable reconciliation, and build the rule of law.
In an interview with theCBS newsmagazine60 minutes about ongoing war crimes investigations onSyria, Rapp stated that there was more incriminating evidence against Syrian presidentBashar al-Assad "than we had against the Nazis atNuremberg" due to the existence of official documents and photographs that were smuggled out of the country.[5]
In 2015, Rapp was appointed Sonia and Harry Blumenthal Distinguished Fellow at the U..S Holocaust Memorial Center, where he subsequently became a Tom A. Bernstein Genocide Prevention Fellow (2021–24). Currently, Rapp is a Senior Visiting Fellow of Practice at theBlavatnik School of Government, Distinguished Fellow atThe Hague Institute for Global Justice, a think tank inThe Hague,Netherlands, and a Global Prevention Fellow at the Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide (U.S. Holocaust Memorial Center).
Rapp received his BA with honors fromHarvard University in government and international relations. He attendedColumbia Law School and received his JD with honors fromDrake University.[citation needed]
Media related toStephen Rapp at Wikimedia Commons