Events
2010 Events
Personal Stories of Preemptive Prosecution Part II: A Call to Action! (December 16, 2010)
7:00 PM/ Furman Hall, NYU, 245 Sullivan Street, Room 216
Free Admission ID required RSVP greatly appreciated for attendance, childcare or access needs. Contact: dan_vea@yahoo.com
The time for speeches is over! Join us for the 1st ever Town Hall meeting with family members of wrongly convicted terror-suspects post-9-11. Justice is still needed for these cases and this event will be for individuals wanting to learn what they can do to assist these families in receiving their constitutional rights. Each family will briefly discuss the current status of their loved one's case. As a grassroots coalition of affected families, solidarity activists/organizations, and concerned community members, we will then determine what efforts are needed for each case, and set action items to work as a community to respond to the injustice that comes with preemptive prosecutions, often perpetuated by FBI agent provocateurs.
This event is for you, your rights, your freedoms...
The time for feeling helpless is over,
it’s time to act,
get involved,
share resources,
and work to bring justice for all!
This will be a forum where all are welcome to collaborate and contribute to develop solutions.
Attendees will include:
El-Hajj Mauri’ Saalakhan, Director of Operations for The Peace and Justice Foundation - a Muslim led grassroots human rights organization based in Metropolitan Washington, DC Alicia Mc Williams, aunt of David Williams, one of the Newburgh Four, the men charged with the attempted bombing of the Riverdale Temple.
Lejla Duka, 12 year old family member of the Fort Dix Five.
Faisal Hashmi, brother of Fahad Hashmi, who has been charged with providing material aid to Al-Qaeda Lynne Jackson, a volunteer and one of the founders of Project Salam, an internet group that believes many innocent Muslims were targeted, prosecuted, and convicted in the hysteria following 9/11 and the Bush Administration’s violations of the US Constitution. The organization’s mission is to identify as many of these cases as possible, to advocate for their release, and to make sure that their names and the injustices against them are not forgotten.
Noor Elashi, Daughter of Ghassan Elashi of the Holy Land 5.
Siana Kaziu, Sister of Betim Kaziu
Dominick Calsolaro, Albany Common Council Member sponsored and help pass a resolution in the Albany, NY City Council entitled “Resolution Urging The U.S. Department Of Justice To Review The Convictions Of Muslims Who Were “Preemptively Prosecuted” To Ensure Their Fair Treatment Under The U.S. Constitution And Bill Of Rights.”
Marlene Jenkins, mother of Tarik Shaw
Elizabeth McWilliams, mother of David Williams Laila Yaghi, mother of Ziyad Yaghi from the Raleigh 7 case in North Carolina Sharmin Sadequee, sister of Shifa Sadequee Shaheena Parveen, mother of Siraj Matin Other family members and lawyers from these entrapment cases will be present.
Please RSVP for childcare or access needs. Contact: dan_vea@yahoo.com
Sponsored by: WESPAC, Malcom X grassroots, DRUM, Project Salam, Justice for the Newburgh 4 Committee, Center for Human Rights and Global Justice at NYU Law School, Pakistan Solidarity Network, Preemptive Prosecution Coalition
Sites of interest:
Project SALAM: Support and Legal Advocacy for Muslims, www.projectsalam.org
WESPAC Foundation, www.wespac.org
Democracy Now!, 'Entrapment or Foiling Terror? FBI's Reliance on Paid Informants Raises Questions about Validity of Terrorism Cases'
FBI engineers terror plot, creates terrorist
Law Alumni Association Annual Fall Lecture (November 15, 2010)
6:00 PM/ Vanderbilt Hall
The NYU School of Law Office of Alumni Relations cordially invites you to attend the Law Alumni Association Annual Fall Lecture, "Sharpening the Cutting Edge: NYU Law Alumni at the Forefront of Human Rights Scholarship, Lawyering, and Advocacy." The lecture, co-sponsored by the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice (CHRGJ) and the Law Alumni Association, will be followed by a reception. Two CLE credits are available to attendees.
This event will spotlight the activities of the Law School's Center for Human Rights and Global Justice and the work of alumni who are making extraordinary contributions in the field. Speakers will explore topics such as accountability for abuses committed in the name of U.S. national security; the intersection between development and human trafficking; the future of international criminal tribunals; and violence against women.
Moderator: Ryan Goodman, Faculty Director and Co-chair, CHRGJ; Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Professor of Law, NYU School of Law
Panelists:
Taina Bien-Aime '91, Executive Director, Equality Now
Widney Brown '94, Senior Director, International Law and Policy, Amnesty International
Carole Corcoran '83, General Counsel and Director of Special Projects, International Crisis Group
Jayne Huckerby (LL.M. '04), Research Director, CHRGJ; Assistant Adjunct Faculty, Global Justice Clinic, NYU School of Law
Margaret Satterthwaite '99, Faculty Director, CHRGJ; Professor, Global Justice Clinic, NYU School of Law
The Center for Human Rights and Global Justice
New York University School of Law has long been at the forefront of scholarly work on civil liberties and human rights. In 2002, the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice was established to bring together and expand the rich array of teaching, research, clinical, internship, and publishing activities undertaken within the Law School on issues of international human rights law.
To RSVP online, please click here or copy and paste this link: http://nyulaw.imodules.com/falllecture
Experiments in Social Isolation: Communications Management Units and the Expansion of Unconstitutional Detention Policies in the Post-9/11 Federal Prison System (November 11, 2010)
7:00 – 8:30 PM/ The Unitarian Community Church of New York City (Assembly Hall) – 40 East 35th Street (6-train to 33rd Street, BDFMNQR-trains to 34th Street)
“Experiments in Social Isolation” Panel on Communications Management Units
Jenny Synan and Noor Elashi, family members of CMU prisoner; and Alexis Agathocleous, Rachel Meeropol and Nahal Zamani from the Center for Constitutional Rights. The event will be moderated by Suzanne Adely of DRUM.
***This event is FREE and open to the public***
Sponsored by: The Center for Constitutional Rights, South Asian Americans Leading Together; The Arab American Association of New York; Support Daniel McGowan; CUNY Law School National Lawyers Guild Chapter; Brooklyn Law School’s Student Animal Legal Defense Fund; the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice at NYU; NY Chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, and the National Lawyers Guild- NYC Chapter.
The Fifth Annual Emilio Mignone Lecture on Transitional Justice: “The Dilemmas of Human Rights Fact Finding" (November 10, 2010)
6-8 PM/ Tishman Auditorium, Vanderbilt Hall
Click here to watch the video recording of the event
Please RSVP by October 27 to Kelly Ryan, ryank@exchange.law.nyu.edu
Launch of New Report on Foreign Land Deals and Human Rights (October 28, 2010)
6:30-8:30 PM/ Furman Hall, Room 212
The Center for Human Rights and Global Justice (CHRGJ) and the Institute for International Law and Justice (IILJ) invite you to the launch of a new CHRGJ report on foreign land deals and human rights. The launch will include a panel discussion featuring Olivier De Schutter, U.N. Special Rapporteur on the right to food, and Professor Smita Narula, Faculty Director of CHRGJ and Associate Professor of Clinical Law. Additional discussants will be announced. A reception will follow the event.
If you intend to attend the event, please R.S.V.P. to Kelly Ryan at kelly.ryan@nyu.edu.
About the Report:
The Global South is experiencing a surge in foreign direct investments in agricultural land. Prompted, in part, by the global food crisis, state and private investors are buying and leasing millions of hectares of farmland in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. As currently conceived and implemented, however, many large-scale land investments do not service the goal of ensuring equitable and sustainable food security, and may in fact be further jeopardizing the rights of host populations.
In support of the mandate of the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the right to food, a new report from the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice (CHRGJ) presents four case studies that examine the human rights impacts of large-scale land investments in African and South Asian nations. This groundbreaking report—which examines investments in biofuel crops, food crops, timber production, and carbon offsets—provides the research necessary to advance a human rights-based approach to monitoring large-scale agricultural investment in developing countries. The report was prepared by the International Human Rights Clinic at NYU School of Law.
Conflict, Security, and Development Series: "International Organizations and Intra-National Crisis: Constraints on Response" (October 28, 2010)
12:30-1:30/ The Puck Building, 2nd Fl (295 Lafayette Street)
Each Thursday, this series will examine new research, discuss creative policy approaches, and highlight recent analytical and practical innovations in responding to the challenges of security and development in the context of conflict and post-conflict situations.
Co-presented by NYU Wagner, the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice at NYU School of Law, NYU Master's Program in Global Public Health, and the Center for Global Affairs at NYU’s School for Continuing and Professional Studies
International Organizations and Intra-National Crisis: Constraints on Response
with Tressa Finerty, political advisor, U.S. Mission to the UN; adjunct instructor, Center for Global Affairs
The 20th-Century creation of international organizations, most notably the United Nations, was an effort by the international community to establish mechanisms in response to trans-national conflict. These systems, however, are poorly suited to conflicts that are primarily intra-national in nature, and as these conflicts grow, international organizations are struggling to formulate effective responses. This discussion focuses on a recent case study that demonstrates the limits of international organizations' responses.
RSVP today at http://wagner.nyu.edu/events/conflictsecurityanddevelopmentseriesfall2010
A Conversation with the Prosecutor of the ICC (October 26, 2010)
6-8 PM/ Greenberg Lounge, Vanderbilt Hall
Click here to watch the video recording of the event
This is a rare event to participate in a candid conversation with Luis Moreno Ocampo, the first prosecutor of the International Criminal Court. Mr. Ocampo has agreed to answer questions from a distinguished panel consisting of NYU Law Professor Jose E. Alvarez , Harvard Law School Assistant Professor Gabriella Blum, NYU Law Professor James Jacobs and President of the International Center for Transitional Justice David Tolbert. The conversation will address the successes and challenges facing the prosecutor and the Court, the purported choice between "peace" and "accountability" in places like Darfur, the day to day difficulty of gathering evidence and protecting witnesses in conflict zones, as well as the wisdom (or folly) of attempting to put high level government officials (including sitting heads of state) on trial. Audience members will also have opportunities to present their own questions as there will be time for Q and A from the floor.
A reception will precede the event (5.30-6.00pm). Please RSVP before Tuesday, October 19, 2010 to: iilj@exchange.law.nyu.edu
Jayne Huckerby Speaks on Torture Awareness Campaign Panel: Torture and Gender (October 21, 2010)
6:30 pm to 8:30 pm Room 1311N, John Jay North Hall Building, 445 West 59th Street, 1st Floor
Faculty presentations
Allison Pease, English/Coordinator, Gender Studies Minor
Katie Gentile, Counseling/Director, Women’s Center
Rosemary Barberet, Sociology, Director, International Crime & Justice
Student/Alumn presentations
Elischia Fludd, JJC Alumn, Executive Director, EOTO World
Crystal Angerville, Forensic Psychology; Vice President, Amnesty International Student Chapter
Guest speakers
Jayne Huckerby, Research Director, NYU, School of Law Center for Human Rights and Global Justice
Special guest speaker
Alice Monthe, torture survivor from Cameroon
Torture Awareness Campaign Program
The Torture Awareness Campaign(TAC) began as a result of outrage and disappointment in the way detainees and prisoners were treated after 9/11 by the United States-particularly the use of torture to illicit information. However the campaign goes beyond what has usually been done to promote awareness on the topic of torture, which is just to focus on torture as a post-9/11 issue-particularly with Guantanamo Bay, extreme rendition sites/practices by US intelligence and soldiers in prisons such as Baghram and Abu Gharib. The TAC is going beyond the conventional discussion on torture and exploring it by looking at the practice of torture within an interdisciplinary lense.
The TAC is using international human rights law to define torture-Convention Against Torture/Geneva Conventions/Universal Declaration of Human Rights-Article 5 that states "No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment." In addition the TAC also abiding by the standards of the United States Bill of Rights-Amendment 8 "no cruel or unusual punishment should be inflicted." However some of the panels will challenge how certain groups that have been excluded from the definition.
Follow the Torture Awareness Campaign on Facebook
Learn about the intersection of violence against women and torture from academics, activists, and researchers contact SarahG.2009@yahoo.com
Conference on Domestic Consequences of Human Rights Treaty Ratification (October 15-16, 2010)
Pollack Colloquium Room, Furman Hall 9th Floor
On October 15-16, the NYU School of Law’s Center for Human Rights and Global Justice will host a conference entitled, The Domestic Consequences of International Human Rights Treaty Ratification, co-organized by Professors Ryan Goodman (NYU) and Beth Simmons (Harvard). A bewildering array of research has recently been devoted to the question of compliance with international human rights law. Political scientists, sociologists, anthropologists and legal scholars have all recently grappled with the question of what effects, if any, international legal norms have had on actual rights practices within countries. This conference will bring together scholars from law and the social sciences working on the consequences of international law in the domestic setting.
While most discussions of “consequences” of international human rights law generally center on questions of compliance or effectiveness, this conference will discuss the specific mechanisms and conditions that make these outcomes more or less likely. Theoretical approaches range from social theories of group identity and mobilization, to rational theories explicating how treaties inform and influence the political attitudes of citizens, to theories of how international norms become relevant in domestic litigation. The conference addresses both the intended and unintended consequences of international human rights law including counter-mobilization and “rights fatigue.” The purpose of the conference is to exchange ideas and further research on the mechanisms through which international law affects human rights practices in domestic law, culture, and politics.
For the conference schedule, please visit: http://www.chrgj.org/events/docs/goodmansimmonsconfagenda.pdf
If you intend to attend the conference, please R.S.V.P. to Kelly Ryan at kelly.ryan@nyu.edu. Papers are available below for download before the conference for individuals who plan to attend any part of the event. You will be sent the necessary password with your confirmation
Session I. Oct 15, 9:15am-11:00am: Domestic Politics and Treaty Ratification
Beth Simmons, ‘Treaties as Resources in the Domestic Politics of Human Rights: A Conceptual Framework’
Discussant: Katerina Linos
Session II. Oct 15, 11:15am-1:00pm: Information and Accountability
Xinyuan Dai, ‘Information and Leverage: The Domestic Effects of International Human Rights Law’
Sally Engle Merry, ‘Human Rights Indicators and Global Governance: Effects on Human Rights Compliance’
Discussant: Paul Stephan
Session III. Oct 15, 2:30pm-4:30pm: Constitutional and National Institutional Consequences
Beth Simmons, Tom Ginsburg, and Zachary Elkins, ‘Getting to Rights: Treaty Ratification, Constitutional Convergence, and Human Rights Practice in the Late Twentieth Century’
Malcolm Langford, ‘Refraction? The Constitutional Regional Variable and the Domestic Effects of International Human Rights Treaties’
Katerina Linos and Thomas Pegram, ‘National Human Rights Institutional Reform: Formal Design Principles and Political Function’
Discussants: David Golove and Ryan Goodman
Session IV. Oct 16, 9:00am-11:00am: Domestic Consequences of Supranational Decision-Making
Laurence Helfer and Erik Voeten, ‘Measuring Judicial Influence: Does the European Court of Human Rights Promote Social and Legal Change?’
Frans Viljoen, ‘Compliance and Enforcement Under the African Human Rights System’
Discussants: Tawanda Mutasah and Geir Ulfstein
Session V. Oct 16, 11:15am-1:15pm: Compliance Politics and Socialization Effects
Ryan Goodman and Derek Jinks, ‘Socialization and the Effects of Treaty Ratification’
Enrique Peruzzotti and Jean Grugel, ‘Human Rights Treaties Have a (Domestic) Life of Their Own: The Politics of Compliance and the Convention on the Rights of the Child in Latin America’
Anne Julie Semb, ‘The Unintended Consequences of Ratification: Norway, Sweden and Finland and the ILO Convention 169 on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples’
Discussants: José Alvarez and Beth Simmons
Lunch Wrap-up Session
CHRGJ co-hosts: "The United States and Gender, National Security, and Counter-terrorism Turkey Workshop" (October 15-16, 2010)
CHRGJ in partnership with the Bilgi University Human Rights Research Center will co-host a workshop to discuss the gender and human rights impacts of U.S. counter-terrorism measures in Istanbul Turkey on October 15-16.
The workshops bring together a range of stakeholders from human rights, gender rights, and women’s rights organizations—as well as counter-terrorism experts—and provide a space for fact-finding, policy dialogue, and capacity-building. Some of the topics to be addressed in the workshops include:
- What have been the gendered impacts of U.S. counter-terrorism measures on asylum, immigration, and immigrant and minority communities?
- What have been the gendered impacts of U.S. material support, listing procedures, and other terrorist financing laws?
- What is, and what should be, the role of gender in U.S. measures aimed at combating conditions (e.g. poverty) that lead to radicalization and terrorism?
- What have been the gendered effects of U.S. counter-terrorism foreign partnerships and presence, from Iraq and Afghanistan to bilateral relationships (such as Pakistan, for example)?
- What are the short-term and long-term gender implications of U.S. detention, rendition and interrogation practices from 2001 onwards?
Information Meeting on International Law and Human Rights Student Fellowships (October 15, 2010)
2:00-3:45PM/ Furman Hall, Room 212
The International Law and Human Rights Student Fellowship Program is designed to provide students with the opportunity to gain education in the theory and practice of international law and human rights law. Persons who are currently enrolled, full-time, first-year JD, second-year JD, LLM and JSD students at NYU School of Law are eligible to apply. It is anticipated that 25-30 student fellows will be selected as Fellows. The ILHR Student Fellowship Program is coordinated by the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice (CHRGJ) in cooperation with the Institute for International Law and Justice and with the support of the Public Interest Law Center. The Fellowship has two major components – a research paper and a summer 2011 internship at one of approximately 25 international organizations, including, international tribunals, UN organizations and international and national NGOs.
On Friday, October 15, there will be an orientation and information session about the ILHR Fellowship Program and other international dedicated summer internships. The Fellowship application will be available at the October 15 meeting and online at CHRGJ’s website. Information about the program in prior years can be found at http://www.chrgj.org/opportunities/fellowships.html.
Conflict, Security, and Development Series: "Reconciling Race, the Church, and Sexual Violence: Canada's Truth-seeking Experience" (October 14, 2010)
12:30-1:30/ The Puck Building, 2nd Fl (295 Lafayette Street)
Each Thursday, this series will examine new research, discuss creative policy approaches, and highlight recent analytical and practical innovations in responding to the challenges of security and development in the context of conflict and post-conflict situations.
Co-presented by NYU Wagner, the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice at NYU School of Law, NYU Master's Program in Global Public Health, and the Center for Global Affairs at NYU’s School for Continuing and Professional Studies
Reconciling Race, the Church, and Sexual Violence: Canada's Truth-seeking Experience
with Paul Van Zyl, professor of Transitional Justice, NYU School of Law and Eduardo Gonzalez, director of Truth-seeking Programs, International Center for Transitional Justice
Beginning in 1874 and for more than a century, state authorities removed indigenous Canadian children from their communities and placed them in church-run Indian Residential Schools to promote assimilation. By 1920 their attendance was compulsory, speaking Aboriginal languages in the schools was prohibited, and indigenous cultural practices were suppressed. Many students suffered abuse in the schools.
In 2006 the federal government agreed to a package of reparations for school survivors, the estimated $2 billion Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement. This discussion examines this agreement, one of the first attempts to comprehensively address legacies of abuse in an established democracy.
RSVP today at http://wagner.nyu.edu/events/conflictsecurityanddevelopmentseriesfall2010
Corporate Accountability at the Crossroads: Human Rights Tools and Tactics to Help Hold Businesses Accountable (October 11, 2010)
6:30-8:00PM/ Room Bungener, Rothschild building, 20 Rue Rothschild, Geneva
A Public Forum hosted by the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies
In the context of the impending close of the mandate of the UN Special Representative on Business and Human Rights, we invite you to join us at a special public forum engaging a diverse range of human rights practitioners, activists, scholars, and policymakers from around the world. This forum will highlight the importance of strengthening the voice and capacity of those whose human rights are affected by business, focusing particularly on the development and utilization of new documentation, advocacy tools, strategies and tactics. Participants will have the opportunity to preview a new educational and advocacy tool—the Business and Human Rights Documentation Project (b-hrd.org). Participants will learn more about a new portal on the human rights impacts of the oil industry in Ecuador, the Gulf Coast, and Nigeria. Human rights advocates from India and Brazil will also discuss ongoing challenges of documenting business-related abuses, and share their experiences creating and utilizing multiple advocacy tools and tactics to hold business actors to account in a globalized world. Confirmed panelists include:
Bhanumathi Kalluri —Director, Dhaatri Resource Centre for Women and Children & Secretariat of International Women and Mining Network, India
Mauricio Lazala —Head of Latin America & Middle East; Senior Researcher, Business and Human Rights Resource Centre, UK
Niko Lusiani —Co-coordinator of the Corporate Accountability Working Group, International Network for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ESCR-Net), USA, Co-founder of BHRD.org
Smita Narula —Faculty Director, Center for Human Rights and Global Justice (CHRGJ), New York University School of Law, USA, Co-founder of BHRD.org
Fernando G. V. Prioste —Legal Advisor, Terra de Direitos, Brazil
The panel will be followed by a lively, open discussion among the many human rights practitioners, activists, scholars, and policymakers working for corporate accountability from around the world.
Conflict, Security, and Development Series: "Gender-based Violence in Complex Emergencies: Issues and Interventions" (October 7, 2010)
12:30-1:30/ The Puck Building, 2nd Fl (295 Lafayette Street)
Each Thursday, this series will examine new research, discuss creative policy approaches, and highlight recent analytical and practical innovations in responding to the challenges of security and development in the context of conflict and post-conflict situations.
Co-presented by NYU Wagner, the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice at NYU School of Law, NYU Master's Program in Global Public Health, and the Center for Global Affairs at NYU’s School for Continuing and Professional Studies
Gender-based Violence in Complex Emergencies: Issues and Interventions
featuring Heidi Lehmann, head of the Gender-Based Violence Technical Unit, International Rescue Committee
Heidi Lehmann is an internationally recognized expert on violence against women and girls in conflict zones. She has over twelve years experience in the US, Africa and Asia. A Public Health professional, her work over the past seven years, has taken her to some of the worst conflict zones in recent history including, Sierra Leone, Darfur, Democratic Republic of Congo and Liberia. Currently, she leads IRC’s work on key policy, programming and advocacy issues related to violence against women and girls, is part of various United Nations working groups and is often called on to brief Members of Congress.
RSVP today at http://wagner.nyu.edu/events/conflictsecurityanddevelopmentseriesfall2010
Information Meeting about the Jean-Pictet Competition on International Humanitarian Law (October 4, 2010)
For students interested in the Jean-Pictet Competition on International Humanitarian Law and the possibility of membership on the NYU Team for the 2011 Competition, there will be an information session on Monday, October 4 from 11:30 to 12:30 in Furman Hall, Room 118. The Jean-Pictet Competition is hosted by the International Committee of the Red Cross and is a unique opportunity to gain in-depth and hands-on knowledge of international humanitarian law (IHL) while at the same time meeting students from around the world. Applications will be due on Monday October 11 by 12 noon. After a review of the applications, finalists will be selected and interviewed, with selection of the NYU Team the week of October 18.
Click here for 2011 Application
Conflict, Security, and Development Series: "Russia and the North Caucasus: A Spreading Conflagration" (September 30, 2010)
12:30pm-1:30pm/ The Puck Building, 2nd Fl (295 Lafayette Street)
Each Thursday, this series will examine new research, discuss creative policy approaches, and highlight recent analytical and practical innovations in responding to the challenges of security and development in the context of conflict and post-conflict situations.
Co-presented by NYU Wagner, the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice at NYU School of Law, NYU Master's Program in Global Public Health, and the Center for Global Affairs at NYU’s School for Continuing and Professional Studies
Russia and the North Caucasus: A Spreading Conflagration
with Dr Mark Galeotti, Clinical Professor and Academic Chair, NYU Center for Global Affairs
The North Caucasus is burning. The war in Chechnya has essentially been won, thanks to a brutal counter-insurgency campaign and the virtual self-destruction of a divided rebel movement, but elsewhere insurgent movements are on the rise. Meanwhile, Moscow tries to grapple with the consequences of its policies, from the willful assertiveness of Chechen president Ramzan Kadyrov to the popular dissatisfaction of North Caucasian peoples alienated by years – decades – of corruption, underdevelopment and prejudice. What are the prospects for this troubled and troublesome region, and how does it matter to the rest of the world?
RSVP today at http://wagner.nyu.edu/events/conflictsecurityanddevelopmentseriesfall2010
CHRGJ and MuBANY host a screening of the short documentary film: "Americans on Hold: Profiling, Prejudice, and National Security" (September 30, 2010)
7:30PM/ Furman Hall, Room 210 (245 Sullivan Street)
Produced by the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice (CHRGJ) at New York University School of Law, Americans on Hold: Profiling, Prejudice, and National Security reveals the harmful effects of prejudicial and ineffective U.S. counter-terrorism and immigration policies.
Screening followed by a Q&A session with
Amna Akbar, Senior Research Scholar and Advocacy Fellow, CHRGJ
Sameer Ahmed, Skadden Fellow, Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF)
Co-Sponsored by CHRGJ and the South Asian Bar Association of New York (SABANY) and held in conjunction with the Rights Working Group's Face the Truth Campaign against racial and religious profiling.
Please RSVP to get on the security list by emailing rsvp@muslimbarny.org. Please also bring a photo ID with you to the event for security purposes.
Conflict, Security, and Development Series Launches Fifth Year with "The Causes of Child Soldiering and Forced Recruitment" (September 23, 2010)
12:30-1:30/ The Puck Building, 2nd Fl (295 Lafayette Street)
Each Thursday, this series will examine new research, discuss creative policy approaches, and highlight recent analytical and practical innovations in responding to the challenges of security and development in the context of conflict and post-conflict situations.
Co-presented by NYU Wagner, the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice at NYU School of Law, NYU Master's Program in Global Public Health, and the Center for Global Affairs at NYU’s School for Continuing and Professional Studies
The Causes of Child Soldiering and Forced Recruitment
with Chris Blattman, Assistant Professor of Political Science & Economics, Yale University; 2009-10 visiting fellow at NYU Wagner and 2010-11 visiting fellow at NYU’s Department of Politics. Visit his popular blog at http://chrisblattman.com/
Theories of child soldiering are as numerous as the theorists. Most theories can be captured with a contract theory that allows punishment as well as rewards. It is never optimal for rebel leaders to coerce adults, but leaders will forcibly recruit lower-ability children under specific circumstances: when punishment and supervision are cheap, when children’s outside options are bad, and when rebel groups are poor. To understand which mechanisms dominate in practice, this Conflict, Security and Development discussion will examine interviews and surveys of former members of Uganda’s Lord’s Resistance Army and the evidence that suggests that children are more easily indoctrinated and disoriented than adults, but are less effective guerrillas; hence the optimal targets of coercion are young adolescents. Chris Blattman’s analysis will confirm the findings on a new “cross-rebel” dataset, and look at results that suggest new strategies for combating child soldiering.
RSVP today at http://wagner.nyu.edu/events/
CHRGJ Presents: “Strategies for Change in Haiti: Tackling the Challenges of Gender Based Violence in Post-earthquake Haiti” (September 13, 2010)
6-8 PM/ Furman Hall 212
Please join CHRGJ in a multi-disciplinary panel discussion about gender based violence in Haiti as the country works to rebuild itself after the devastating earthquake of January 2010. Panelists will discuss the legal obstacles to documenting and prosecuting gender-based violence (“GBV”), the use of new media tools in combating and responding to the incidence of GBV, the role of the Haitian Diaspora in creating a new future for Haitian women, and work being done by grass-roots organizations on the ground who are mobilizing against violence and injustice.
For background on gender-based violence in Haiti, please see Our Bodies are Still Trembling: Haitian Women’s Fight against Rape (July 2010)
Panelists:
Brian Concannon, Director, Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti (IJDH)
Eramithe Delva, Founding member of KOFAVIV (Komisyon Fanm Viktim pou Viktim, The Commission of Women Victims for Victims)
Emily Jacobi, Co-director of Digital Democracy
Margaret Satterthwaite, Faculty Director, CHRGJ; Assistant Professor of Clinical Law of the Global Justice Clinic, NYU School of Law
Margarette Tropnas, Executive Director, Dwa Fanm
About our Moderator:
Margaret Satterthwaite is Associate Professor of Clinical Law at NYU School of Law, where she is a Faculty Director of the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice (CHRGJ) and director of the Global Justice Clinic. She graduated magna cum laude from NYU School of Law and served as a law clerk to Judge Betty B. Fletcher of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in 1999-2000 and to the judges of the International Court of Justice in 2001-2002. Professor Satterthwaite’s research focuses on economic and social rights, human rights and counter-terrorism, gender and human rights, and rights-based approaches to development and emergency. She has worked for a variety of human rights organizations, including Amnesty International and Human Rights First, and has consulted with U.N. agencies. She has served as a member of the Board of Directors of Amnesty International USA, and has held various leadership positions in legal and academic professional organizations. Her connections to Haiti began when she was hired as an investigator for the Commission de Verité et de Justice (Haitian Truth and Justice Commission) in 1995. Since then she has made Haiti a focus of her writing and advocacy. Along with collaborators from CHRGJ, Zanmi Lasante, Partners In Health, and the RFK Center for Justice and Human Rights, she co-authored the human rights report Wòch nan Soley: The Denial of the Right to Water in Haiti (2008) and a journal article with the same title, published in Health and Human Rights (2009). She is Chair of the Haiti Advocacy Committee of RFK Memorial Center for Justice and Human Rights, serves as an Advisory Committee member for the newly-formed service organization HaitiCorps, and is currently engaged in a project on gender-based violence and economic and social rights in Haiti.
About our Panelists
Brian Concannon, Jr., Esq., IJDH Director, co-managed the BAI in Haiti for eight years, from 1996–2004, and worked for the United Nations as a Human Rights Officer in 1995–1996. He founded IJDH, and has been the Director since 2004. He helped prepare the prosecution of the Raboteau Massacre trial in 2000, one of the most significant human rights cases anywhere in the Western Hemisphere. He has represented Haitian political prisoners before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, and represented the plaintiff in Yvon Neptune v. Haiti, the only Haiti case ever tried before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.
Mr. Concannon has received fellowships from Harvard Law School and Brandeis University and has trained international judges, U.S. asylum officers and law students across the U.S. He is a member of the Editorial Board of Health and Human Rights, An International Journal. He speaks and writes frequently about human rights in Haiti. He holds an undergraduate degree from Middlebury College and JD from Georgetown Law. He speaks English, Haitian Creole and French.
Eramithe Delvav is one of the founding members of KOFAVIV (Komisyon Fanm Viktim pou Viktim, The Commission of Women Victims for Victims) a nonprofit Haitian women’s group formed in late 2004 by a group of women from poor neighborhoods in Port-au-Prince who were raped during the 1991-94 military dictatorship. Social, economic, and political insecurity during the military dictatorship created a climate in which grave human rights violations (including gender-specific violations, most notably rape) were committed with impunity.
Delva and her co-founder Malya Villard met in 1993 through the Committee of Women to Fight for Justice, their stories of being brutally abused frighteningly similar. Both had been political activists living in the Martissant neighborhood in Port-au-Prince, and both had been violently raped and assaulted, and seen their husbands beaten to death because of their activism. Motivated not only by their own experiences, but also by the alarming increase in rapes seemingly related directly to the current political instability in the country, the women decided to set up an organization to address the medical and psychological needs of rape victims.
KOFAVIV opened its medical centre in March 2005, partnering with the Organization d'Entraide pour la Promotion Sociale (ODPPS) to provide medical assistance to victims. KOFAVIV staff, called Community Human Rights Workers (CHRWs), reaches out to women in many distressed communities to encourage them to seek medical help and counseling to get through their trauma. In just one year, through 25 active community workers, KOFAVIV has managed to treat more than 350 women.
KOFAVIV'S Community Human Rights Workers reach out to women in many distressed communities to encourage them to seek medical help and counseling to get through their trauma. In just one year, through 25 active community workers, KOFAVIV has managed to treat more than 350 women.
KOFAVIV creates and supports solidarity groups, providing informal social and psychological support for rape survivors. The groups are designed to provide mutual emotional support and to encourage members to begin undertaking collective action to fight gender-based violence.
Emily Jacobi is the Co-Director of Digital Democracy, a New York-based nonprofit organization that she co-founded in 2008 to empower marginalized communities through the use of new technologies. Working globally, Digital Democracy employs digital tools to increase media literacy and amplify the voices of marginalized communities to meaningfully engage in political processes. As Co-Director, Emily manages staff, oversees strategic planning and development and works directly with grassroots partners on project design relating to human rights, digital literacy and community development.
Emily began her career as a youth journalist working to highlight young people's voices in professional media. At the age of 13, she reported from Havana, Cuba on the lives of young Cubans during the Troubled Period in 1996. Since then she has worked on media and research projects in Latin America, West and Southern Africa and Southeast Asia, as well as En Los Campos, a multi-media exhibit highlighting the lives of teenage migrant farm workers in the United States. Prior to founding Digital Democracy she worked at Internews Network, AllAfrica.com, the Center for PeaceBuilding International and as the Y-Press Assistant Bureau Director.
Margarette D. Tropnas is the Executive Director of the Brooklyn-based NGO, Dwa Fanm. Through her career, Ms. Tropnas has dedicated herself to making a difference through social work and her commitment to the Caribbean community. Before becoming the Executive Director of Dwa Fanm, she was the Program Director at Community Counseling and Mediation (CCM) Preventive Services Program, a community-based, non-profit organization with staff dedicated to providing an array of culturally sensitive and highly effective services to immigrant families and individuals since 1982. Ms. Tropnas has also been active in issues pertaining to the Caribbean community, including the advancement of multiculturalism in neighborhood schools and ready access by Creole speakers in social service delivery. Prior to joining CCM in 2008, she had worked at the Flatbush Haitian Center for twenty years providing various services to the Haitian community. She is a former Associate Adjunct Professor at NYU’s School of Social Work. She has earned her certification in such areas as field work instruction, substance abuse, domestic violence, child abuse and neglect prevention, stress management, parenting skills, HIV/AIDS, adolescent pregnancy prevention and cultural diversity. Ms. Tropnas is the recipient of the 100 Haitian Women of Distinction Award and the City of New York Proclamation for her services in the community given by the City Council Office. She graduated from SUNY, Stony Brook, where she was awarded a B.S. in Psychology. In 1989, she earned her Master’s Degree in Social Work from New York University.
CHRGJ co-hosts: "The United States and Gender, National Security, and Counter-terrorism Africa Workshop" (August 26-27, 2010)
CHRGJ in partnership with the Open Society Initiative for East Africa will co-host a workshop to discuss the gender and human rights impacts of U.S. counter-terrorism measures in Nairobi, Kenya on August 26-27. Participants of the Nairobi workshop will consider both the ongoing gendered impacts of U.S. post-9/11 policies that have been discontinued and the gender effects of current U.S. counter-terrorism measures, particularly in the areas of combating violent extremism, U.S. defense strategy in Africa, anti-terrorism financing laws, rendition, secret detention, and torture, and cross-border movement. The discussion will encompass impacts on women and men, as well as the ways in which counter-terrorism measures use and affect gender stereotypes, including those relating to sexual orientation and gender identity.
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)
