Events
2010 Events
CHRGJ Faculty Director, Margaret Satterthwaite, Presents at: "Recovery and Reconstruction in Haiti: The Role of U.S. Philanthropy and Local Groups" (May 12, 2010)
4:00 PM - 6:00 PM/ Baruch College Info & Tech Bldg, Newman Conf Ctr, 7th Floor, Rm 750, 151 East 25th St (Lex/3rd Aves)
Members and Non-Members: There is no fee for this program, but registration is required and space is limited. Please RSVP by email to Nonprofit.Workshops@Baruch.Cuny.Edu, or by phone at 646-660-6743.
A Philanthropy New York Collaborative Program, presented with the Center for Nonprofit Strategy and Management, Baruch College.
Who should attend: All interested funders, non-orofit staff, and government officials.
Program Description
Light refreshments.
Topics to be addressed:
- The role of nonprofit and community groups in New York and Haiti addressing transitional needs
- Role of the Haitian Diaspora in the relief and reconstruction effort
- Philanthropic efforts supporting organizations focused on the development and sustainability of Haiti
- Accountability mechanisms for pledged and donated funds for reconstruction
Presenters
Penny Fujiko Willgerodt (moderator), Executive Director, Prospect Hill Foundation.
Johnny Celestin, Project Executive, Office Of The President, Atlantic Philanthropies, USA; Founder, The Haitian Fund for Innovation and Reconstruction, Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors.
Marilyn Gelber, President, Brooklyn Community Foundation, Haitian Hope And Healing Fund.
Margaret Satterthwaite, Esq., Director, International Human Rights Clinic; Faculty Director, Center For Human Rights and Global Justice, New York University School Of Law.
Marie Marthe Saint Cyr, Chair of the Board, Lambi Fund of Haiti.
OTHER INFORMATION: Please contact register@philanthropynewyork.org with questions.
CHRGJ Launches its New Documentary “Americans on Hold: Profiling, Prejudice, and National Security”: A Probing Look at Racial Profiling in post-9/11 U.S. (April 28, 2010)
6:00-8:00 PM/ Furman Hall, Room 216
About the Event:
The documentary Americans on Hold: Profiling, Prejudice, and National Security explores the wide-reaching impact of discriminatory profiling carried out by U.S. government agencies in the name of national security since the events of 9/11. Inspired by a Center report of the same name released in 2007, Americans on Hold: Profiling, Prejudice, and National Security is a timely and bold piece, exposing some of the less visible consequences on human rights and dignity resulting from U.S. counter-terrorism policies. The film is both a moving call to action—as the U.S. enters into a pivotal moment in immigration reform—and a creative vehicle for educating the public about the pervasive discrimination faced by hundreds of thousands of individuals residing in the U.S.
Through the personal stories of Zuhair Mahd and Anila Ali, the film exposes the discriminatory profiling at the heart of both citizenship delays and border-crossing detentions and delays. Ali, a teacher, mother, and community organizer originally from Pakistan, received her American citizenship in 2002, but continues to experience humiliating and invasive treatment by Customs and Border Protection officials as a consequence of her national origin. Mahd, a blind information technologies specialist from Jordan, waged and won a five-year legal struggle against the Department of Homeland Security in his effort to become a U.S. citizen. In the process, he was repeatedly interrogated and pressured by the FBI to become an informant.
Both Mahd and Ali share compelling stories of their experiences with racial profiling and the impact of these experiences on their families, their communities, and their sense of self and security. The film also explores the inherent affront to one’s sense of dignity and belonging that results from such discriminatory targeting and from having one’s life put “on hold.”
As conveyed by notable experts in the film, these delays result from the government’s reliance on mismanaged and bloated databases and watch lists in which South Asians, Middle Easterners, Arabs, and Muslims are over-represented due to years of discriminatory profiling. The film’s release coincides with on-going congressional debates on watchlist procedures and criteria.
NEW
About the Film and The Americans on Hold Advocacy Campaign
Profiling in the Name of National Security and What You Can DO to Help End it
Human Rights in Haiti: Working in the Aftermath of the Earthquake (April 22, 2010)
12:30- 2:00 PM/ Furman Hall, room 118
Please join us for a lunchtime discussion with Evel Fanfan, Haitian human rights lawyer and President of AUMOHD (Association of University Graduates Motivated for a Haiti with Rights). Mr. Fanfan will speak about how the earthquake affects the struggle for human rights in Haiti. Mr. Fanfan will also discuss his work in the Gran Ravin neighborhood and the community’s efforts at peace since the two massacres in 2005.
Lunch will be served.
Sponsored by: the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice (CHRGJ), Law Students for Human Rights (LSHR) and the African Law Association
Transitional Justice Series: “In the Absence of Transition: Veterans, Refugees, and the Search for Truth and Justice in Iraq” (April 14, 2010)
6:00-8:00 PM/ Vanderbilt Hall, Room 206
About the Event:
In the seven years since the start of the war in Iraq, countless thousands of Iraqis have been injured, displaced, or killed and scores of US military personnel have also been maimed or lost their lives. While many Iraqis have been forced to leave the country as refugees, a number of soldiers have also left the military to object to a war they feel is both unjust and immoral. In the absence of a transition from war to peace, both of these groups continue to face the myriad challenges of accessing justice and having their voices heard as they struggle to defend human rights and repair the damage, even as the war continues.
Please join CHRGJ, Iraq Veterans against the War (IVAW), and the Iraqi Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP) in a panel discussion with a truly diverse range of speakers as they discuss needs, options, and obstacles for transitional justice responses to the ongoing war in Iraq. Discussion will include issues around US accountability for the war; truth-telling efforts, such as the informal truth commission processes of "Winter Solider: Iraq and Afghanistan"; legal obstacles to resettling and attaining refugee status; and the search for meaningful redress, including reparations.
About our Panelists
Jose Vasquez (moderator) is the Executive Director of Iraq Veterans Against the War. He served fourteen years in the U.S. Army and was honorably discharged in May 2007 as a conscientious objector. Jose was a key organizer of Winter Soldier: Iraq and Afghanistan, Eyewitness Accounts of the Occupations and represented IVAW in the editing process for the book published by Haymarket. He is pursuing a Ph.D. in Cultural Anthropology at CUNY Graduate Center where he is conducting research on the politics of veteran status in contemporary American society.
Lisa Magarrell currently directs the US Accountability Project at the International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ), and is a recognized expert on truth commissions and reparations. The US Accountability Project focuses on accountability for human rights abuses in US counterterrorism operations after 9/11, through acknowledgment of the truth, prosecutions of those most responsible, redress and reforms. A lawyer with extensive experience in the human rights field, since joining the ICTJ in 2001 Ms. Magarrell has provided technical assistance on transitional justice issues in Peru, the United States and a number of other countries around the world, and has written widely on the subject.
Chantelle Bateman is an Iraq war Veteran and IVAW member, who originally joined the US Marine Corps Reserves in January of 2003. She deployed with Marine Aircraft Group-16 to Al Asad, Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom II as an Aviation Supply Clerk. Her experiences with the war and her struggle to reconcile her fear and shame with those experiences eventually led her to leave the service and become a member of Iraq Veterans Against the War. She has spoken out against the war by taking part in the Winter Soldier project.
Sally Bette Newman is a founding member of the Iraqi Refugee Assistance Project and an NYU School of Law alum. She has worked on the resettlement cases of about a dozen refugees, trained law students and pro bono lawyers to take their own cases, and traveled to Jordan twice for fact-finding trips investigating the legal needs of displaced Iraqis.
Ziad Turkey is an Iraqi cinematographer, photographer, and artist currently residing with refugee status in the US. In 2005, because of his documentary work, he and his family were forced to flee leave with his family to Syria. In September 2006, he returned to Baghdad to finish his film series “Home Town Baghdad” but had to live in a safe house during the duration of the filming, before joining back up with his family in Syria. In 2007, he applied for refugee status with the UNHCR and in May 2009, he was finally granted refugee status in the US.
Litigating Human Rights Series: Demanding Justice for Business Abuses against the Western Shoshone Tribe (April 13, 2010)
6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m./ Vanderbilt Hall, Room 206 (NYU School of Law, 40 Washington Square Park South)
Click here to hear the audio recording of the event
About the Event:
In December 2009, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit enjoined the construction of a new gold mine by Canada’s Barrick Gold Corporation, the world’s largest gold mining company, on Mount Tenabo, an area well-known for its spiritual and cultural importance to the Western Shoshone in Nevada. This decision represents a landmark victory in the Western Shoshone people’s unrelenting efforts to protect indigenous rights against harmful mining activity through an innovative mix of litigation through domestic and international forums.
Please join CHRGJ as we host a discussion with members of the Western Shoshone Defense Project who are instrumental in these efforts.
Moderator: Professor Smita Narula, Faculty Director, CHRGJ
Guest panelists:
Julie Cavanaugh-Bill, Legal Counsel, Western Shoshone Defense Project
Larson Bill, Community Planner, Western Shoshone Defense Project, and Leader, Western Shoshone tribe
About the panelists:
Smita Narula (moderator) is Associate Professor of Clinical Law and Faculty Director of the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice at NYU School of Law. Both her scholarship and clinical work focus on key human rights issues including: business and human rights; discrimination on the basis of caste, race, religion, and gender; counter-terrorism and human rights; and economic and social rights. Narula supervises the Center’s work on its Business and Human Rights Documentation (B-HRD) Project, an online information portal to be launched in Fall 2010 in collaboration with the International Network on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ESCR-Net). She also serves as legal advisor to the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the right to food.
Julie Cavanaugh-Bill (formerly Julie Ann Fishel) is an attorney and has been actively involved in filings before the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination since 1998. Originally serving as a pro bono attorney with the Indian Law Resource Center through her law firm in Minnesota, in 2002, Ms. Cavanaugh-Bill moved to Shoshone territory and for the next six years served as the Director of the Land Recognition Program at the Western Shoshone Defense Project. She continues to be actively involved as an independent consultant to the WSDP and the University of Arizona Indigenous Peoples Law and Policy Program. Ms. Cavanaugh-Bill also serves as a visiting Professor at the University of St. Thomas College of Law in Miami Florida and has taught seminars and courses at the United Nations University for Peace (Costa Rica), the University of Arizona and the Colorado School of Mines. She was recently elected to the International Board of the Economic, Social, Cultural Rights Network (ESCR-Net) and continues to sit as the Chair of Great Basin Resource Watch Board as well as on the Executive Committee for the Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurances in Vancouver.
Ms. Cavanaugh-Bill earned her law degree from the University of Iowa College of Law in 1998 where she worked under the mentorship of Professor S. James Anaya. She has worked on two separate U.S. Supreme Court cases involving indigenous rights and has written several articles and guidebooks on indigenous rights, corporate engagement and human rights lawyering. Ms. Cavanaugh-Bill lives with her husband, Larson Bill, in the South Fork community of Western Shoshone, located in northeastern Nevada (U.S.).
Larson Bill is Western Shoshone and lives in the Northeastern part of the Western Shoshone Treaty territory, along the Ruby Mountains. He is the Community Planner for the Western Shoshone Defense Project. In that capacity, he serves as the lead organizer for community meetings and dialogues with corporate and government entities. Mr. Bill has been active in the defense of Western Shoshone rights for many years and has been a lead delegate to numerous national and international summits in the U.S., Canada, and Central America, to the United Nations in New York, and to the U.S. Congress. Mr. Bill recently returned from a five country indigenous leadership strategy session.
Emerging Human Rights Scholarship Conference (April 9, 2010)
1:30-5:30 PM/ Furman Hall 608
Open to the Public. ID required for entrance to building.
The conference, which accepted submissions from NYU School of Law JD, LLM, and JSD students, provided an opportunity for presentation of papers, discussion, and debate on key human rights issues.
Several students were selected to briefly present their papers and received comments from an NYU faculty member and/or human rights expert, who led discussion and debate following the presentations. In addition, the best submission will be selected for inclusion in the Center’s Working Paper series (see http://www.chrgj.org/publications/wp.html).
Please email questions to: Liz Sepper at sepper@exchange.law.nyu.edu For more general information on the conference, see: http://www.chrgj.org/opportunities/conference.html
Conference Agenda
Welcome Remarks
1:35-2:15 Niran Anketell, “Genocide, Humanitarian Interventions, and the Exclusion of Slow, Rolling Genocides”
2:15-2:55 Christine Chiu, “Relief from Deportation for Foreign Nationals with HIVAIDS”
2:55-3:35 David Jacobson, “The Right to Official State Recognition under the European Convention of Human Rights: Religionsgemeinschaft der Zeugen Jehovas v. Austria and the Status of New Religious Movements in Europe”
3:35-4:15 April Gu, “Conflicts between Economic Development and Human Rights: The One Child Policy as Case Study”
4:15-4:55 Aristeidis I. Panou, “GAL Norms and the Independence and Accountability of the ICC Prosecutor”
4:55-5:25 Discussion: The Challenges of Human Rights Scholarship
Closing remarks
Panel discussion "CEDAW's Role in Advancing Women’s Rights Worldwide – 30 Years of Success & Setbacks" (March 30, 2010)
6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m./ Faculty Club, D’Agostino Hall, 108 West 3rd Street
About the Event:
Please join NYU's Center for Human Rights and Global Justice, Law Students for Human Rights, International Law Students Association, the Middle Eastern Law Students Association, and NYU Law Women, as well as the International Women’s Rights Committee of the New York State Bar Association International Section at a reception and panel presentation marking the 30th Anniversary of the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).
CEDAW establishes international legal standards for the protection of women’s rights. The Convention was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly approximately 30 years ago and has been ratified by 186 countries. The program will provide attendees with a basic understanding of CEDAW and its role in advancing women’s rights.
Our panelists will address the following topics:
1. What are the basic provisions and mechanisms of CEDAW?
2. How has CEDAW produced concrete progress in advancing the rights of women and girls?
3. What difficulties arise in implementing the protections provided by the Convention?
4. Why hasn’t the United States ratified CEDAW and what are the prospects for its ratification?
Our Panelists:
Gaynel Curry, Gender and Human Rights Officer, United Nations Office for the High Commissioner for Human Rights
Karen Stefiszyn, Human Rights Specialist, United Nations Development Fund for Women
Janet Benshoof, President, Global Justice Center
Moderator: Jayne Huckerby, Adjunct Assistant Professor of Clinical Law and Research Director, CHRGJ, New York University School of Law
The Special Tribunal for Lebanon One Year On: Challenges and Achievements (March 22, 2010)
12:30 to 2:00 PM/ Furman Hall, Room 120
The Center for Human Rights and Global Justice and the Institute for International Law and Justice invite you to a discussion of "The Special Tribunal for Lebanon One Year On: Challenges and Achievements", with Dr. Guido Acquaviva.
Based in The Hague, the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) was created in 2006 by the UN Security Council. Through a subsequent agreement between the UN and the government of Lebanon, the STL became a functioning tribunal on March 1, 2009. Its primary mandate is to prosecute persons responsible for the attack of February 14, 2005 resulting in the death of former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri and 22 others. The STL Statute calls for the application of the Lebanese Criminal Code in its work, but standards of justice, including principles of due process, are to be based on international standards of criminal justice as applied in other international tribunals. The Chambers of the STL are composed of both Lebanese and international judges. The President of the STL is Antonio Cassese.
Guido Acquaviva is a Legal Officer (Chambers) at the STL. Before joining the staff of the STL, Dr. Acquaviva worked at the ICTY from 2003 to February 2009 in Trial Chambers, the Appeals Chamber, and as legal officer to the President. He studied in Italy (J.D.) and Russia before receiving a Fulbright Scholarship to study for his LL.M. in international and comparative law at Tulane University Law School in the United States, from which he graduated with distinction. In 2002 he was admitted to the Italian bar and in 2003 he received a Ph.D. in international relations at the University of Padova (Italy).
Please join us for a discussion of the STL, a unique international tribunal. If you have questions, please contact Tish Armstrong at CHRGJ (tish.armstrong@nyu.edu).
Tracking Human Rights Worldwide: A Conversation on Human Rights in the 21st Century and the State Department’s 2009 Country Reports (March 12, 2010)
4:00-6:00 PM/ Lester Pollack Room, Furman Hall, room 900
Hosted by The Center for Human Rights and Global Justice (CHRGJ), The Institute for International Law and Justice (IILJ), and the Hauser Global Law School Program
About the Event:
On March 11th, 2010, the U.S. Government released its annual Country Reports on Human Rights. As Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, Mike Posner is responsible for the production and release of the Country Reports. He spoke to the NYU community alongside Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions Philip Alston and Amnesty USA’s Executive Director Larry Cox, on the trends in human rights for the year 2009 and how those trends and the findings of the reports influence the democracy and human rights goals of the Department for 2010, as well as those of non-governmental organizations and the United Nations.
Published annually and mandated by Congress, the Country Reports on Human Rights are considered to be an essential element of the U.S.’s effort to promote respect for human rights worldwide. They inform U.S. government policymaking and may serve as a reference to other governments, international institutions, non-governmental organizations, human rights defenders, and journalists. The Country Reports aim to advance worldwide efforts to end abuses, to help strengthen the capacity of countries to protect the human rights of all, and to shine a spotlight on countries that fail to live up to international human rights standards.
CHRGJ's Philip Alston stands left with AIUSA's Larry Cox and Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, Mike Posner.
About Our Panelists:
Michael H. Posner, Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor
Michael H. Posner was sworn in as Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor on September 23, 2009. Prior to joining State Department, Mr. Posner was the Executive Director and then President of Human Rights First. As its Executive Director he helped the organization earn a reputation for leadership in the areas of refugee protection, advancing a rights-based approach to national security, challenging crimes against humanity, and combating discrimination. He has been a frequent public commentator on these and other issues, and has testified dozens of times before the U.S. Congress. In January 2006, Mr. Posner stepped down as Executive Director to become the President of Human Rights First, a position he held until his appointment as Assistant Secretary.
Philip Alston, Faculty Director and Co-chair, CHRGJ; John Norton Pomeroy Professor of Law, NYU School of Law; UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions.
Philip Alston is an international lawyer whose research and teaching interests focus primarily on Human Rights Law and the Law of International Organizations. In 2004 the United Nations Commission on Human Rights appointed him Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions. In 2005 he was elected to chair the Annual Meeting of U.N. Human Rights Special Procedures, which brings together all of the Special Rapporteurs, Working Groups, Special Representatives and Independent Experts working on human rights in the U.N. system (almost 50 in total).
Larry Cox, Executive Director of Amnesty International USA (AIUSA)
Larry Cox was appointed Executive Director of Amnesty International USA (AIUSA) in January 2006. A veteran human rights advocate, he came to Amnesty after serving for 11 years as Senior Program Officer for the Ford Foundation's Human Rights unit. His work there focused on international justice, advancing economic, social and cultural rights, and human rights in the United States. In assuming leadership of AIUSA, Larry's career has come full circle 30 years after joining the organization as its first press officer. He spent nine years at AIUSA, from 1976 to 1984, establishing the organization’s Program to Abolish the Death Penalty before becoming its first Communications Director and as the first Deputy Executive Director. He then spent five years as Deputy Secretary General at Amnesty International's London headquarters.
Affluence and International Human Rights Law (March 11, 2010)
6:00 - 7:30 PM/ Lester Pollack Room, Furman Hall, room 900
Click here to hear the audio recording of the event
About the Event:
The Institute for International Law and Justice and the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice cordially invite you to attend a presentation by Dr. Margot E. Salomon entitled, “Affluence and International Human Rights Law.”
In her presentation, the following will be considered: International human rights law articulates the principal ethical discourse of our time with poverty and the exercise of human rights recognized as intertwined phenomenon. Why then hasn’t this area of international law provided more of a counterweight to the ills that plague the world’s poor? We might point to doctrinal weaknesses within international human rights law that are serving inadequately to mitigate globalization’s most harmful tendencies and practices.
This talk will question how several of these doctrines might be reconceived were they to focus some attention on affluence in order to address better the rights of the poor.
The presentation will be followed by a conversation between Ms. Salomon and Professor Philip Alston (Faculty Director, CHRGJ; John Norton Pomeroy Professor of Law, NYU), moderated by Professor Rob Howse (Faculty Director, IILJ; Lloyd C. Nelson Professor of International Law, NYU).
About our Guest Speaker:
Dr. Margot E. Salomon is Senior Lecturer in Law at the Centre for the Study of Human Rights and Law Department, London School of Economics and Political Science.
Dr. Salomon convenes the LSE’s cross-departmental Research Group on Globalisation, Poverty and Responsibility, is a consultant to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on extreme poverty and human rights and on the right to development, and sits on the Executive Board of the Association of Human Rights Institutes. Her research interests include the legal dimensions of world poverty, and the interface between human rights, development and the international political economy. As an Associate of the LSE’s Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy, Dr. Salomon is currently working on and ESRC-funded project provisionally entitled International Law as if Climate Change Mattered.
Recent publications include: ‘Social Justice and Human Rights’ in A. Walker et al (eds), The Peter Townsend Reader (Policy Press, 2009); ‘Poverty, Privilege and International Law: The Millennium Development Goals and the Guise of Humanitarianism’, German Yearbook of International LawGlobal Responsibility for Human Rights: World Poverty and the Development of International Law (OUP, 2007).
Courting Justice: South Africa’s Female Judiciary and their Role in the Transition from Apartheid to Democracy (March 3, 2010)
5:00 - 7:00 PM/ Vanderbilt, room 214
About the Event:
Center for Human Rights and Global Justice, the African Law Association, Law Students for Human Rights and the Women of Color Collective (WoCC) showcased and discussed a new documentary about the role of women judges in South Africa’s transition to democracy. The screening was followed by a discussion with the film-maker, Ruth Cowan and the editor, Dara Kell.
About the Film:
“From tyranny to democracy.” Fourteen years after the defeat of apartheid, South Africa’s fledgling democracy is acclaimed for its constitutional promise of comprehensive human rights and unprecedented judicial reform. But what is essential for transformation to succeed?
Courting Justice takes viewers behind the gowns and gavels to reveal the women who make up 18 percent of South Africa’s male-dominated judiciary. Hailing from diverse backgrounds and entrusted with enormous responsibilities, these pioneering women share with candor, and unexpected humor, accounts of their country’s transformation since apartheid, and the evolving demands of balancing their courts, country, and families.
About the Film-maker:
Creator Ruth Cowan, a feminist and developing world scholar, is a leader in the fields of microfinance, human rights, judiciary development, and gender and race issues. With acuity and spirit, her film chronicles the hard fought progress of achieving gender and racial justice in a burgeoning new judiciary. It is a pivotal work that examines the exciting transformation of an entire legal system, through the intimate, unique, and inspiring stories of women working to change it from the bench.
About the Editor:
Dara Kell is a South African filmmaker and editor, and recipient of Participant Media’s ‘Outstanding Filmmaker’ award, representing Africa. Her editing credits include 'Courting Justice', 'The Reckoning', which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2009 and was broadcast on P.O.V., and the Academy Award-nominated 'Jesus Camp'. She grew up in apartheid South Africa and studied Journalism and Politics at Rhodes University, where she was awarded the Frank Rostron bursary for Excellence in Journalism. She is currently in production on DEAR MANDELA, her directorial debut.
Transitional Justice and Bank Liability: Recent Developments in re South Africa Apartheid Litigation (March 2, 2010)
1:00 - 2:30 PM/ Furman Hall, room 316
Click here to view the Powerpoint from Dr. Michalowski's presentation
About the Event:
The CHRGJ welcomed Dr. Sabine Michalowski of the Human Rights Centre at Essex University as she discussed her work around bank liability for human rights violations and the current status of this aspect of corporate accountability given recent developments in the re South Africa Apartheid Litigation. In her talk, Dr. Michalowski analyzed the consequences of the most recent decision in this case in regard to pursuing accountability for financial institutions who lend to countries where human rights violations are known to be taking place. She also situated this in the broader context of her work on the economic dimensions of transitional justice.
About the Case:
In April 2009, Judge Scheindlin of the Southern District of New York allowed several claims to go forward on aiding and abetting liability in lawsuits against corporations alleged to have aided South Africa’s apartheid regime. While hailed as a significant step forward for international legal standards on corporate accountability, the Judge’s choice to narrow the claims and dismiss those against Barclays Bank PLC and UBS called into question the extent to which financial institutions can and should be held accountable for their role in supporting repressive, rights-violating regimes.
The plaintiffs are tens of thousands of South Africans being represented by the Khulumani Support group in seeking damages from corporations they claim were complicit in having them driven from their homes and resettled; arrested and imprisoned without cause; or beaten, tortured, and killed by the Apartheid regime. They first filed their case in 2002 against some 20 corporations. A federal district court judge granted the defendants’ motion to dismiss in November 2004. The plaintiffs appealed this dismissal in August of 2005. In October of 2007, the appeals court reversed the lower court’s dismissal of this case and remanded the case back to the lower court for further proceedings.
On January 10th, 2008, the defendant companies petitioned the US Supreme Court for certiorari, asking the court to hear their appeal of the October 2007 decision of the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. In May 2008, the US Supreme Court declared that it could not intervene in this case because four of the nine justices had to recuse themselves for apparent conflicts. Lacking the required quorum, the Supreme Court had no option but to uphold the decision of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals allowing the lawsuit to proceed. The April 9, 2009 decision by judge Scheindlin was viewed by many as a significant step forward in the quest to hold businesses accountable for their role in human rights violations.
To read the decision, please see: www.nylj.com/nylawyer/adgifs/decisions/040909scheindlin.pdf
About our Speaker:
Dr. Sabine Michalowski is Reader in Law at the University of Essex and a staff member of its Human Rights Centre. She graduated from Hamburg, qualified as a lawyer in Berlin, and holds a Diploma in Comparative Law awarded by the University of Paris II and a PhD from Sheffield. Linked to her research in the area of business and human rights, with a particular focus on Latin America, she is working on economic dimensions of transitional justice, especially the link between transitional justice and corporate complicity, and transitional justice and sovereign debt.
Her relevant publications include: Unconstitutional Regimes and the Validity of Sovereign Debt: A Legal Perspective, Ashgate, Aldershot 2007; 'Trazando paralelos entre la responsabilidad de bancos por complicidad y las deudas odiosas', (2009) Revista Jurídica de la Universidad de Palermo 279-288; ‘Sovereign Debt and Social Rights-Legal Reflections on a Difficult Relationship’ (2008) 8 Human Rights Law Review 35-68; ‘El estado de necesidad como defensa contra el pago de la deuda externa’ (Necessity as a defence against the repayment of sovereign debt), Jurisprudencia Argentina, 28 November 2007, 3-22; ‘Human rights in times of economic crises: the example of Argentina’, in: Global Governance and the Search for Justice, Volume 4: Human Rights, Roger Brownsword (ed.), Hart Publishing, Oxford 2004, pp.3-51; ‘Ius cogens, Transitional Justice and Other Trends of the Debate on Odious Debts: A Response to the World Bank Discussion Paper on Odious Debts’, 48(1) COLUMBIA JOURNAL OF TRANSNATIONAL LAW 2010, 61-120 (co-authored with Juan Pablo Bohoslavsky, forthcoming).
Rebuilding Haiti: The Challenges Ahead (February 24, 2010)
5:00 - 7:00 PM/ Furman Hall, room 216
Click here to hear the audio recording of the event
About the Event
CHRGJ and a coalition of student groups at NYU School of Law welcomed William O’Neill, Program Director for the Conflict Prevention and Peace Forum at the Social Science Research Council, as he discussed his recent work in Haiti and assesses both the short and long-term challenges of rebuilding Haiti in a sustainable, rights-based way.
CHRGJ’s Fellow, Liz Sepper, moderated the discussion. She has been leading the Center’s work on the Right to Food in Haiti since August 2009.
The event was co-sponsored by the following student groups: African Law Association (ALA), Coalition for Legal Recruiting (CoLR), Latino Law Student Association (LaLSA), Law Students for Economic Justice (LawSEJ), Law Students for Human Rights (LSHR), and the National Lawyers Guild (NLG).
About our Speaker
William O’Neill is a lawyer specializing in humanitarian, human rights and refugee law. He was Senior Advisor on Human Rights in the UN Mission in Kosovo, Chief of the UN Human Rights Field Operation in Rwanda and led the Legal Department of the UN/OAS Mission in Haiti. He has worked on judicial, police and prison reform in Burundi, Liberia, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Timor Leste, Nepal and Bosnia-Herzegovina. He investigated mass killings in Afghanistan for the High Commissioner for Human Rights. He also conducted an assessment of the human rights situation in Darfur and trained the UN’s human rights monitors stationed there.
At the request of the UN’s Executive Committee on Peace and Security, he chaired a Task Force on Developing Rule of Law Strategies in Peace Operation. He has created and delivered courses on human rights, rule of law and peacekeeping for several peacekeeping training centers whose participants have included senior military, police and humanitarian officials from dozens of countries. He has published widely on rule of law, human rights and peacekeeping, including, Kosovo: An Unfinished Peace and Protecting Two Million Displaced: The Successes and Shortcomings of the African Union in Darfur. In the spring of 2008, O’Neill was visiting professor of law and international relations at the Scuola Sant’Anna in Pisa, Italy.
Policing Sexuality: Law, Society, and Homosexuality in sub-Saharan Africa (February 17, 2010)
6:00 - 8:00 PM/ Furman Hall, room 216
Click here to hear the audio recording of the event
This event was a collaboration between the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC), the NYU School of Law Dean's Series on LGBT Rights, and the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice (CHRGJ). The panelists discussed the alarming trend of increased targeting and criminalization of LGBT individuals in several countries in sub-Saharan Africa, from a global and multi-disciplinary perspective.
Speakers:
Codou Bop, Senegalese journalist and activist; Coordinator for the Groupe de Recherche sur les Femmes ET les Lois au Senegal (GREFELS)
Ryan Thoreson, IGLHRC, Scott Hitt Research Fellow
Reverend Kapya Koma, Project Director at Political Research Associates and author of "Globalizing the Culture Wars"
Moderated by Smita Narula, Faculty Director, CHRGJ; Professor, International Human Rights Clinic, NYU School of Law
Opening remarks by Kenji Yoshino, Chief Justice Earl Warren Professor of Constitutional Law, NYU School of Law
Haiti in Context: Film & Discussion (February 11, 2010)
6:30 PM/ Vanderbilt Hall, room 202
ALA, BALSA, CHRGJ, LaLSA, LawSEJ, LSHR, MELSA, NLG, & WOCC hosted a presentation of the film Aristide and the Endless Revolution followed by a discussion with Ray LaForest, NYC Haitian community leader featured in the film, and Ellie Happel, NYU Law student who provided post-earthquake medical assistance.
The earthquake in Haiti has received much attention and people here at NYU, throughout the US, and around the world have responded with compassion and financial assistance. The media frequently mentions that Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and that this extreme poverty increased its vulnerability to natural disaster. However, there has been very little talk about why Haiti is so poor and how policies toward Haiti could be changed to prevent the perpetuation of poverty and vulnerability in the future.
Aristide and the Endless Revolution examines the 2004 coup against President Aristide within the historical context of how U.S./international social, economic, and military policies have impacted the country since it became the first Black nation to win independence over two hundred years ago. Ray LaForest discussed how Haiti’s history, and the U.S. in particular, have impacted the conditions that Haiti faces today and multiplied the effect of the recent Earthquake. Ellie Happel discussed the conditions she observed firsthand while in Haiti immediately following the earthquake.
Watch the film’s trailer at www.aristidethefilm.com.
CHRGJ Fundraiser for Partner's in Health/Zanmi Lasante (February 3, 2010)
6:00 - 8:00 PM/ Location TBA
In response to the enormous crisis in Haiti, the CHRGJ hosted a fundraiser for our partner organization, Partners In Health/Zanmi Lasante at the Soho loft of a generous friend of the Center's, who is also a longtime supporter and friend of Paul Farmer's, the founder of PIH.
The evening featured a performance by acclaimed Haitian artist and anthropologist, Gina Athena Ulysse, as well as traditional Haitian food and beverages. We also provided information about the current aid efforts and recommendations on supporting Haiti's long-term needs from a rights-based perspective, including through commentary from the Center's Faculty Director Meg Satterthwaite and Angela Comeau, the National Representative for PIH/ZL.
Minimum recommended donation: $50
Why PIH/Zanmi Lasante?
Since 2004, the Center has worked closely with PIH/Zanmi Lasante--alongside the RFK Center for Justice and Human Rights--on the right to food and water in Haiti (see, Woch Nan Soley, The Denial of the Right to Water in Haiti and also see our recent press release with these and other partners, urging a rights-based approach to the current crisis: http://www.chrgj.org/press/docs/100114HaitiRelease.pdf) The Center believes PIH/ZL's model of care--which employs a holistic and rights-based approach focused on serving the poor both through community partnerships and the public sector--is one of the most effective models for carrying out the vast immediate and long-term relief and rebuilding needs following the earthquake. For those who cannot attend the fundraiser, we encourage you to support PIH and other rights-based organizations providing relief efforts.
Managing Trauma II: Skills for Interviewing Victims of Human Rights Violations (February 3, 2010)
9:30 AM-12:30 PM/ Furman Hall, Room 608
By invitation only
This seminar is the second in CHRGJ's Managing Trauma series. While the first session focused broadly on secondary trauma associated with working with trauma as human rights students and professionals, this seminar addressed skills for interviewing victims of human rights abuses. The seminar provided hands-on training, resources, and discussion led by Dr. Leanh Nguyen, a trauma specialist and psychologist who has worked with victims of torture and other traumas. She was joined by Anwen Hughes, Senior Counsel and Deputy Director of the Refugee Protection Program at Human Rights First, who shared her experience with interviewing trauma survivors as a human rights lawyer working in the United States.
CHRGJ Reception and Photo Opening (January 22, 2010)
5:00-6:30 PM/ Center Office, 110 west Third street, 2nd floor
CHRGJ hosted a casual reception celebrating our human rights community. In attendance were colleagues, students, as well as our staff and Faculty Directors, who all helped to inaugurate a new photo exhibit in our space--featuring the photography of our own Sarah Knuckey, taken on her recent trip to the DRC with the Center's Project on Extrajudicial Executions.
Haiti in Context: Perspectives on the Current Crisis (January 20, 2010)
5:00-7:00 PM/ KJCC Auditorium, 53 Washington Square South
with:
Michael Dash (NYU, French)
Ada Ferrer (NYU, CLACS, History)
Sibylle Fischer (NYU, Spanish)
Karen Greenberg (NYU Law, Center on Law and Security)
Millery Polyné (NYU, Gallatin)
Meg Satterthwaite (NYU Law, Center for Human Rights and Global Justice)
Gina Ulysse (Wesleyan, Anthropology)
