Events
2007 Events
Seminar with Prof. Martin Scheinin, U.N. Special Rapporteur on Promoting Human Rights While Countering Terrorism (Oct. 30, 2007)
Professor Martin Scheinin, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Promoting Human Rights while Countering Terrorism, conducted a special seminar for NYU law students on Tuesday, October 30. He was joined by Joanne Mariner, Director of the Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism Division of Human Rights Watch, who acted as a commentator. Students were given an inside look at the work of a U.N. Special Rapporteur. Prof. Scheinin discussed his mandate, the major issues he has encountered in his work, and his recent missions to the United States and Israel.
Panel Discussion with Profs. Manfred Nowak and Meg Satterthwaite, CIA “Black Sites” and Rendition in the Spotlight (Oct. 25, 2007)
Professors Manfred Nowak, U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment and legal expert on enforced disappearances, and Margaret Satterthwaite (’99), Director of the International Human Rights Clinic and Faculty Director of the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice (CHRGJ), conducted a panel discussion on CIA “black sites” and rendition under international law. Among other things, Prof. Nowak comprehensively outlined the prohibition on enforced disappearances under international law and Prof. Satterthwaite related this prohibition to the practice of CIA secret detention, with both concurring that CIA "black sites" infringe the international prohibition on enforced disappearances. Prof. Satterthwaite also discussed the Clinic’s representation of two former “black site” detainees, including the recent lawsuit brought against a Boeing subsidiary responsible for rendition flights. The panel discussion was moderated by CHRGJ Research Director Jayne Huckerby.
The Transitional Justice Essentials Course (May 21-23, 2007)
The International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ), in partnership with New York University's School of Law, hosted the New York City-based Essentials Course: a 3-day on site intensive, non-credit course on transitional justice.
The course covered essential themes, mechanisms, and case studies in the field of transitional justice. The course focused on a range of topics including prosecution mechanisms, truth commissions, reparations programs, vetting mechanisms, and reconciliation initiatives. It also explored the intersection between efforts to achieve justice and accountability, and negotiations to ensure sustainable peace.
The overall aim of the course was to equip busy professionals with the knowledge required to conceive and implement transitional justice policies and programs in line with international best practices. The program was primarily targeted at mid-level and senior staff of multilateral agencies, governments, NGOs, foundations, and universities who wish to undertake an intensive course on cutting-edge developments in this important and expanding field.
For more information, please visit www.ictj.org
CHRGJ Co-Sponsors Conference on Human Rights and Documentary Film in Southern Asia (May 17 – 19, 2007)
The Center for Human Rights and Global Justice co-sponsored a conference, titled, "Signs of Crisis: Religious Conflict, Human Rights & the New Documentary Film in Southern Asia." The conference, which was held from May 17 to May 19, 2007, was hosted by the NYU Anthropology Department in conjunction with the Law School's Institute for Law and Society, the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice, the University's Center for Religion and Media and the Harvard-Leiden Signs of Crisis research program.
The event brought together contemporary documentary film makers from Indonesia and India with legal scholars, anthropologists, NGO workers and others working on issues of human rights and representation. The goal of the conference was to stimulate dialogue and knowledge across a wide spectrum of cross-cultural Southern Asia communities by examining the relationship between human rights activism and documentary film-making. Through documentary film screenings and panels, the conference explored the role film plays in producing human rights consciousness, generating evidence of violations, providing legally acceptable documentation, and creating a changed cultural climate that might move forward claims to justice as well as reconciliation. Discussions explored parallels between documentaries and the law and the way both rely on case studies, the use of narratives and testimonies, and the creation of memory and history, particularly in circumstances shaped by religious violence, and conflicts between secular and religious orders.
Fourth Annual Emerging Human Rights Scholarship Conference (April 6, 2007)
The Center held its 4th Annual Emerging Human Rights Scholarship Conference. (More: Agenda)
Hidden Apartheid: Caste Discrimination against India's "Untouchables": NYU Briefing (Apr. 3, 2007)
NYU School of Law, Vanderbilt Hall, Room 214, 40 Washington Square South, New York, NY 10012. Open to Public.
The International Human Rights Clinic at NYU School of Law hosted a briefing on the impact of its recently published report on caste discrimination in India. The report was presented by the Clinic to the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in Geneva ahead of its examination of India's human rights record on February 23 and 26, 2007. More than 165 million people in India continue to be subject to discrimination, exploitation, and violence simply because of their caste. In India’s “hidden apartheid,” “untouchability” relegates Dalits, or so-called untouchables, throughout India to a lifetime of segregation and abuse. Caste-based divisions continue to dominate in housing, marriage, employment and general social interaction-divisions that are reinforced through economic boycotts and physical violence. Hidden Apartheid was produced as a “shadow report” by the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice at NYU School of Law and Human Rights Watch ahead of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination’s review of India’s periodic report.
Discussion with Stephen Grey: “Exposed! How the CIA's Secret Rendition Program Was Revealed”
On January 29, 2007, the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice (CHRGJ) hosted freelance journalist Stephen Grey as he promoted his new book, Ghost Plane: The True Story of the CIA Torture Program. The book is a result of Grey’s research, over the last three years, into the CIA’s rendition program. Grey opened his discussion with a bit of history about renditions, and its evolution into what he, and many others, refer to as “extraordinary rendition.”
Grey spoke of his research and discussions with former CIA rendition pilots as well as two victims of extraordinary rendition, Khaled El-Masri and Maher Arar. The discussion focused on his findings and his belief that the United States, while never having admitted to a single case of extraordinary rendition, was very much taking part in the transfer of suspected individuals to countries that practice various methods of torture. Grey discussed the difficulties and complications of his research – the daunting task of investigating the CIA’s covert activities in the “War on Terror.”
Grey concluded his discussion by expressing concern about the United States’ participation in extraordinary rendition, as well as the global acceptance of its necessity. Grey concluded with a cautionary note about the use of torture as common practice in the “War on Terror.”
More information about Stephen Grey and his work can be found on his website: www.stephengrey.com/
Information about CHRGJ’s work on extraordinary rendition in the context of Human Rights Abuses in the “War on Terror”
