By Wally Sarkeesian,

La Crescenta, California: Sunday, July 15, 2018, the Educational Committee of the Armenian Apostolic Church of Crescenta Valley hosted a lecture on the Promise Institute for Human Rights at the School of Law at UCLA, presented by Jessica Peake, entitled: “The Promise Institute One Year On: What have we done and where are we heading?” The lecture begin at 1:00 p.m., at the conclusion of Divine Liturgy, at the Prelacy “Dikran and Zarouhie Der Ghazarian” Hall (6250 Honolulu Ave, La Crescenta, CA 91214).

The Promise Institute for Human Rights at the UCLA School of Law was established in April 2017 with a founding gift of $20 million. Dr. Eric Esrailian, a faculty member at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, and producer of the film The Promise – a feature film about the Armenian genocide released on April 21, 2017 – spearheaded the donation effort on behalf of the team at Survival Pictures.

Ms. Peake presented information about the mission of the Institute, its current activities, and its projected programming for the near future. Ms. Peake reflected on possible collaborative involvement by the Armenian community with the Institute.

Jessica Peake is the Director of the International and Comparative Law Program (ICLP), and Assistant Director of the Promise Institute for Human Rights at the School of Law at UCLA. Since arriving at UCLA in January 2014, Jessica has developed relationships with several human rights organizations creating internship, externship and pro bono opportunities for students. She has also assisted in the expansion of UCLA Law’s Foreign Legal Study and Exchange Program. Jessica has an LL.B from the University of Sheffield, UK, and two LLMs: one, from the University of Leiden, the Netherlands, and the second from the University of Pennsylvania. She is currently finishing her doctoral thesis on international criminal procedure at the University of Pennsylvania.