# Stephen Rapp
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{{Short description|American lawyer and politician}}
{{Refimprove|date=March 2026}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Stephen Rapp
| image = Stephen Rapp in 2010.jpg
| office = 4th [United States Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issues](/source/United_States_Ambassador-at-Large_for_War_Crimes_Issues)
| president = [Barack Obama](/source/Barack_Obama)
| term_start = September 8, 2009
| term_end = August 7, 2015
| predecessor = [John Williamson](/source/John_Clint_Williamson)
| successor = [Todd F. Buchwald](/source/Todd_F._Buchwald)
| state_house1 = Iowa
| district1 = [34th](/source/Iowa_House_of_Representatives%2C_District_34)
| term_start1 = January 8, 1973
| term_end1 = January 12, 1975
| predecessor1 = [Larry N. Larson](/source/Larry_N._Larson)
| successor1 = [M. Peter Middleton](/source/M._Peter_Middleton)
| term_start2 = January 8, 1979
| term_end2 = January 9, 1983
| predecessor2 = [Albert L. Garrison](/source/Albert_L._Garrison)
| successor2 = [David M. Tabor](/source/David_M._Tabor)
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1949|1|26}}
| birth_place = [Waterloo, Iowa](/source/Waterloo%2C_Iowa)
| death_date =
| death_place =
| party = [Democratic](/source/Democratic_Party_(United_States))
| alma_mater = [Harvard University](/source/Harvard_College)
[Columbia University](/source/Columbia_Law_School)
[Drake University](/source/Drake_University_Law_School)
}}
'''Stephen J. Rapp''' (born January 26, 1949)[ https://www.legis.iowa.gov/legislators/legislator?ga=68&personID=275 ] is an American [lawyer](/source/lawyer), academic and former politician who served as [United States ambassador-at-large for war crimes issues](/source/United_States_Ambassador-at-Large_for_War_Crimes_Issues) in the [Office of Global Criminal Justice](/source/Office_of_Global_Criminal_Justice). He previously served as Member of the [Iowa House of Representatives](/source/Iowa_House_of_Representatives)
from the 34th district from 1973 to 1975 and from 1979 to 1983.
== Early life ==
Rapp was born January 26, 1949 in [Waterloo, Iowa](/source/Waterloo%2C_Iowa). He received an BA with honors from [Harvard University](/source/Harvard_University) in government and international relations. He attended [Columbia Law School](/source/Columbia_Law_School) and received his JD with honors from [Drake University](/source/Drake_University).{{citation needed|date=June 2022}}
== Career ==
Rapp has been a lawyer in private practice, a [Democratic](/source/Iowa_Democratic_Party) member of the [Iowa House of Representatives](/source/Iowa_House_of_Representatives),[{{cite news |title=Representative Stephen J. Rapp |url=https://www.legis.iowa.gov/legislators/legislator?personID=275&ga=69 |access-date=December 3, 2023 |agency=Iowa General Assembly}}] and a staff director and counsel for the [U.S. Senate](/source/United_States_Senate) [Judiciary Committee](/source/United_States_Senate_Judiciary_Committee). Rapp ran for the [U.S. House of Representatives](/source/United_States_House_of_Representatives) for [Iowa's 3rd congressional district](/source/Iowa's_3rd_congressional_district) twice, losing to [Charles Grassley](/source/Charles_Grassley). From 1993 to 2001, Rapp was the [U.S. Attorney](/source/United_States_Attorney) for the [Northern District of Iowa](/source/United_States_District_Court_for_the_Northern_District_of_Iowa). In 2001, he joined the [International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda](/source/International_Criminal_Tribunal_for_Rwanda), where he led the prosecution in the "media trial" against the leaders of the [RTLM](/source/Radio_T%C3%A9l%C3%A9vision_Libre_des_Mille_Collines) radio station and [Kangura](/source/Kangura) newspaper for inciting the [Rwandan genocide](/source/Rwandan_genocide) of 1994. He became the chief of prosecutions of the ICTR in 2005, and continued to assist chief prosecutor [Hassan Jallow](/source/Hassan_Bubacar_Jallow) in prosecuting those involved in the 1994 genocide. In 2007, Rapp succeeded [Desmond de Silva](/source/Sir_Desmond_Lorenz_de_Silva) to become the third chief prosecutor of the [Special Court for Sierra Leone](/source/Special_Court_for_Sierra_Leone), where he directed the prosecution of former Liberian President [Charles Taylor](/source/Charles_Taylor_(Liberia)) and others alleged to have violated [international criminal law](/source/international_criminal_law) during the [Sierra Leone Civil War](/source/Sierra_Leone_Civil_War).
[[File:Stephen Rapp in Jaffna.JPG|thumb|left|Stephen J. Rapp and [Michele J. Sison](/source/Michele_J._Sison), US ambassador to Sri Lanka are discussing with [E. Saravanapavan](/source/E._Saravanapavan), managing director of the [Uthayan](/source/Uthayan) newspaper and M. V. Kanamaylnathan, Editor-in-chief at Uthayan Newspapers's Office in [Jaffna](/source/Jaffna) on 8 January 2014. Some of the bullet holes and portraits of slain staff are visible on the wall behind them.]]
Rapp was appointed ambassador-at-large for war crimes issues by President [Barack Obama](/source/Barack_Obama), and confirmed by the U.S. Senate on September 8, 2009. Rapp led the [State Department](/source/State_Department)'s [Office of Global Criminal Justice](/source/Office_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.[{{Cite web|url=https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2015/08/stephen-rapp-no-syria-peace-assad-prosecution.html|title=Former US ambassador: There won't be peace in Syria without prosecution of Assad - Al-Monitor: The Middle Eastʼs leading independent news source since 2012|website=www.al-monitor.com|accessdate=December 18, 2024}}]
Secretary of State [Madeleine Albright](/source/Madeleine_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 appointed [David Scheffer](/source/David_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 appointed [Pierre-Richard Prosper](/source/Pierre-Richard_Prosper) to serve as ambassador-at-large to Secretary of State Colin Powell, and, in 2005, he appointed [John Clint Williamson](/source/John_Clint_Williamson) to succeed Prosper as ambassador-at-large to Secretary of State [Condoleezza Rice](/source/Condoleezza_Rice).[{{Cite web|url=https://2009-2017.state.gov/j/gcj/c53694.htm|title=About Us|website=U.S. Department of State|accessdate=December 18, 2024}}]
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 for ''ad 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 the [CBS](/source/CBS) newsmagazine [60 minutes](/source/60_Minutes) about ongoing war crimes investigations on [Syria](/source/Syria), Rapp stated that there was more incriminating evidence against Syrian president [Bashar al-Assad](/source/Bashar_al-Assad) "than we had against the Nazis at [Nuremberg](/source/Nuremberg_trials)" due to the existence of official documents and photographs that were smuggled out of the country.[{{Cite web|title=Former prosecutor: More evidence of war crimes against Syrian President Assad than there was against Nazis|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/bashar-al-assad-syria-60-minutes-2021-02-18/|access-date=2021-02-23|website=www.cbsnews.com|language=en}}]
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 the [Blavatnik School of Government](/source/Blavatnik_School_of_Government), Distinguished Fellow at [The Hague Institute for Global Justice](/source/The_Hague_Institute_for_Global_Justice), a think tank in [The Hague](/source/The_Hague), [Netherlands](/source/Netherlands), and a Global Prevention Fellow at the Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide (U.S. Holocaust Memorial Center).
==See also==
*[United States ambassador-at-large for war crimes issues](/source/United_States_Ambassador-at-Large_for_War_Crimes_Issues)
==References==
{{Reflist}}
* https://www.npr.org/2017/04/05/522690548/chemical-attack-and-bombs-kill-at-least-58-in-syria
==External links==
{{Commonscatinline}}
*[http://www.event.iastate.edu/event/573/?sy=2006&sm=04&sd=29&s=m&default=1 Biography from Iowa State University]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20090925184804/http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/biog/129455.htm State Department Biography]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20130501033724/http://www.sandiego.edu/peacestudies/institutes/ipj/programs/distinguished_lecture_series/biographies/stephen_rapp.php Lecture transcript and video of Rapp's speech at the Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice at the University of San Diego, February 2011]
*{{C-SPAN|1009866}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rapp, Stephen J.}}
Category:1949 births
Category:Columbia Law School alumni
Category:Harvard College alumni
Category:International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda prosecutors
Category:Iowa lawyers
Category:Living people
Category:Democratic Party members of the Iowa House of Representatives
Category:Place of birth missing (living people)
Category:Special Court for Sierra Leone prosecutors
Category:American officials of the United Nations
Category:United States ambassadors-at-large for war crimes issues
Category:United States attorneys for the Northern District of Iowa
Category:20th-century American lawyers
Category:Drake University Law School alumni
Category:Politicians from Waterloo, Iowa
Category:20th-century members of the Iowa General Assembly
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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Stephen Rapp](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Rapp) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Rapp?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.