Groome speaks at Georgetown Law during Sexual Assault Awareness Month

CARLISLE, PA—On April 15 and 16, 2026, Professor Dermot Groome participated in two panel discussions at Georgetown Law focused on conflict-related sexual violence.

Sexual Assault Awareness Month calls attention to the fact that sexual violence is widespread and has broad impacts on not only victims but also other members of their communities. The panels addressed sexual violence in the context of armed conflicts and were moderated by Ambassador Clint Williamson. Dr. Ingrid Eliott MBE, founding member of Synergy for Justice, also appeared with Groome on these panels.

Groome spoke about recent developments in international law related to sexual violence and the progress that has been made in this area. He spoke about his work as a prosecutor in the Yugoslav tribunal and his investigation into the largest case of male sexual assault that occurred during the Yugoslav conflict. Groome also spoke about his work with the International Criminal Justice Initiative (ICJI) at Georgetown Law to help build local capacity to investigate and prosecute widespread sexual violence being perpetrated during the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Groome was a prosecutor in Manhattan and a member of its Sex Crimes Unit (now called Special Victims Unit), the first unit of its kind in the United States. Sexual violence has been a component of each of the five international trials that Groome has led.

Groome has been training and advising Ukrainian prosecutors since the start of the current conflict in February 2022. He has traveled to Kyiv four times as part of the Atrocity Crimes Advisory Group, a joint effort by the U.S., U.K., and E.U. to provide expert advice and support in the investigation and prosecution of international crimes. He regularly meets with Ukrainian prosecutors via Zoom to answer questions and provide advice.

Professor Dermot Groome is a Professor of Law and the Harvey A. Feldman Distinguished Faculty Scholar at Penn State Dickinson Law. Much of his teaching, scholarship, and service focus on emerging areas of human rights and international criminal law and draw upon his deep expertise and experiences. After starting his career in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, where he was a member of the Sex Crimes Unit, and after working in Jamaica, W.I. on issues of community development, human rights, and children’s rights, Professor Groome worked in Cambodia. While in Cambodia, he served as a Legal Advisor to the International Human Rights Law Group, helped lead an investigation into a 1997 attack on peaceful protestors and drafted a report for the UN Security Council, helped the Cambodia Defender’s Project and Legal Aid of Cambodia investigate deaths in police custody, worked on issues related to the incarceration of children, and wrote a draft juvenile criminal procedure code. Professor Groome subsequently spent over 11 years as a senior war crimes prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. He investigated and drafted the first genocide indictment against a sitting head of state, Slobodan Milošević, and was the Senior Trial Attorney for the Bosnia indictment. In total, Groome led the prosecution of five international criminal trials including the case against Ratko Mladić, who was convicted of genocide for the murder of over 7,000 men and boys in Srebrenica in 1995. He led eight large complex international investigations of senior military, political, and police officials. Groome’s cases all included crimes of sexual violence against women, men, and children. He was instrumental in the development of Joint Criminal Enterprise, a theory of criminal responsibility often used to assess the culpability of senior officials for the crimes committed by their subordinates. Two documentaries have been made about Professor Groome’s cases: The Trial of Ratko Mladić (PBS/Frontline 2019) and Crimes Before the ICTY: Višegrad (UN TV 2017).