Look here for past events sponsored by the Center for International Human Rights, including the "Policing Across Borders: The Role of Law Enforcement in Global Governance" Project, The Human Rights Seminar Series with five to six sessions every academic year, and lectures by notable speakers. In addition, a link is included to the Columbia Seminar on Human Rights, of which Prof. George Andreopoulos is a co-director.
CIHR Presents Dorota Gierycz, Author of "The Mysteries of Caucasus" Thursday, May 5, 2011, 12:00-1:30 PM.
UNHCR Commemorate 60th Anniversary of the UN Refugee Convention at John Jay College
The Center for International Human Rights (CIHR), John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York and the New York Liaison Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) are organizing an event commemorating the 60th Anniversary of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and the 50th Anniversary of the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness. The focus of this event is a discussion of the gaps in the implementation of the international protection framework for displaced and stateless persons. The event will take place at John Jay College on Wednesday, April 27, 2011, 5:00-7:00 p.m. The event will take place at John Jay College of Criminal Justice at 555 W 57th Street, Room 615/616, New York, NY. Click here for more information.
WELCOMING REMARKS: Jeremy Travis, President, John Jay College of Criminal Justice
Anne-Christine Eriksson, Deputy Director, UNHCR Liaison in New York
PANELISTS:
Susana B. Adamo, Associate Research Scientist, Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN), The Earth Institute, Columbia University
Bill Frelick, Director, Refugee Program, Human Rights Watch
Janice Marshall, Deputy Director, Policy and Law Pillar, Division of International Protection, UNHCR
Lori Nessel, Professor of Law & Director, Center for Social Justice, Seton Hall University School of Law
MODERATOR:
George Andreopoulos, Director, Center for International Human Rights & Professor of Political Science, John Jay College & The Graduate Center, CUNY
HUMAN RIGHTS SEMINAR SERIES
FALL 2010 – SPRING 2011
The Center for International Human Rights
John Jay College of Criminal Justice,
The Ph.D./M.A. Program in Political Science,
and The Global Studies Collective
present
Assessing Compliance: The Role of Human Rights Monitoring Mechanism
The purpose of this year's seminar is to study how monitoring mechanisms are utilized to assess compliance with international human rights norms and standards. This subject is especially pertinent in light of the recent report submitted by the US government to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights as part of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) procedures of the UN Human Rights Council, and of the near completion of the first four-year cycle of the UPR process (2008-2011). In addition, the seminar will explore how these monitoring mechanisms can be used more effectively for accountability and advocacy purposes. The seminar will examine monitoring mechanisms of charter and treaty-based bodies, as well as extra-conventional mechanisms and the supplemental monitoring of non-governmental organizations. Our seminar meets approximately once a month and attracts a diverse audience that includes faculty, students, NGO representatives, and UN officials.
PLACE: Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY),
365 Fifth Ave. New York, NY
TIME: 6:00-8:00 PM
SPEAKERS:
Thursday, October 28, 2010, Room C197 Rainer Braun, Research Analyst for Governance Metrics International (GMI); Adjunct Associate Professor of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University, School of International and Public Affairs Program, A Comparison of Private Sector Labor Rights Monitoring and Traditional State-Based Human Rights Monitoring within the UN Context
Thursday, November 4, 2010, Room C204 Yasmeen Hassan, Deputy Director/Program Director, Equality Now, The Monitoring of Women's Rights: An Evaluation of CEDAW, CSW, the Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women, and the New Working Group on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women
Thursday, February 10, 2011, Room C203 Sarah Paoletti, Senior Coordinator, US Human Rights Network Universal Periodic Review Project; Practice Associate Professor of Law & Director, Transnational Legal Clinic, University of Pennsylvania Law School, The US UPR and an Assessment of the UPR Process
Thursday, April 7, 2011, Room C197 Richard Culp, Associate Professor of Public Administration, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York, The Sentence Enforcement Monitoring Mechanisms of the Ad Hoc and Hybrid International Criminal Tribunals. Click here for his presentation.
Elsa Stamatopoulou, Columbia University, School of International and Public Affairs Program; Former Chief of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues for the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, The Monitoring of Cultural Human Rights (postponed to fall 2012 semester)
On the evening of Tuesday, March 8, 2011, the CIHR will hold an event celebrating International Women's Day. IWD is celebrated to recognize the fact that securing peace and social progress and the full enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms require the active participation, equality, and development of women; and to acknowledge the contribution of women to the strengthening of international peace and security. Celebration of this event and a reflection of women's rights in the global arena are especially important in light of the creation of the new UN body in July 2010--UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. The UN designated theme for this year's IWD is: "Equal access to education, training and science and technology: Pathway to decent work for women." The event will take place from 6:30-8:30 PM at 899 Tenth Ave., Room 630T NY, NY. Click here for more information
September 21, 2010: Talk by Ambassador Shashank, Former Foreign Secretary for India, Visiting Professor, Jawaharlal University, Ambassador Shashank, who retired in 2004 as the Foreign Secretary for India, addressed the College on Self-Determination and Human Rights. The event was co-sponsored by the Office of the President.
The Center for International Human Rights together with the Gerald Lynch Theater, the Epic Theater Ensemble, the Rising Circle Theater Collective, The Culture Project, and the LarkPlayDevelopmentCenter, is organizing a reading of GRACE, a play written by Sanjit De Silva and Deepa Purohit. This is part of our Center's efforts to reach out to the artistic community and explore ways in which different art forms can provide us with important insights into ways for promoting human dignity and empowerment, as well as with powerful tools for effective human rights advocacy. The reading will be followed by a panel discussion that will include human rights scholars, artists, and representatives from the United Nations and humanitarian NGOs.
In a singular collaboration between the Center for International Human Rights at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and practitioners in the arts world, the one day Arts and Human Rights workshop held on Tuesday May 25th 2010 provided an experience that many of the participants will not forget.
Centered on the play “Grace” written by Sanjit DeSilva and Deepa Purohit, the workshop consisted of three sessions which took place in the cavernous Irondale Center in historic Fort Greene, Brooklyn. The first two sessions involved interactive sessions with participants in the human rights world, practitioners in the field of humanitarian aid work and artists working in a variety of media. The workshop culminated with a moving reading of “Grace” directed by Nandita Shenoy.
The first session involved representatives from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Medecins Sans Frontiers, the Sierra Leonean Mission to the United Nations, NGOs, and academics. Several issues were highlighted in a provocative three-hour discussion that focused on some of the more contentious issues raised in “Grace”. Representatives from UNHCR focused on the many psychological traumas that are the result of being in the field of humanitarian aid work, and particularly on the difficult issue of empathy with respect to those in need. While one voice noted that it is nearly impossible to have true empathy with individuals in such dire need, others noted that the most mundane situations can bring out moments of true empathetic clarity, where power relations and uneven relationships dissipate and an equal bond based can be felt. However, while it was agreed that those moments were few and far between three stories were chosen to be passed along to the art creation second session.
The first story focused on a “heroic” event. A life saved, at great risk and danger of one’s own, and the tensions between individuality and the collective were some of the deeper philosophical issues that were explored by a group of artists and practitioners who created a moving set piece based around the experience of one of our workshop participants who, many years ago in Mostar, protected at great personal risk a Bosnian Muslim under attack by Bosnian Serbs. As the other participants took part in the set piece, it became apparent that even those with the purest intentions can unwittingly and unconsciously become part of some of the most destructive forces that man is capable of creating. At the end of the piece many of the participants had to jolt themselves back to their normal selves as they cast off the evil intentions that the astute organizers of that piece created in them.
The second story focused around the notion of mental boundaries, and how as a practitioner it may be necessary to deal with some of the most horrific abusers of human rights out of a need to provide aid to the victims of those very abusers. This group created a piece focusing on the idea of three dimensional space as an embodiment of the hierarchical nature of bureaucracy and the UN. The piece displayed how one of our UN participants navigated a simulated maze of bureaucratic obstacles to provide aid for a refugee; as she progresses her life becomes part and parcel of the maze and eventually she becomes part of it, motivated by the need to do what one can to provide aid to those in need. In essence this presentation produced a melancholic picture of the progression of one’s morals as we learn to navigate the channels of bureaucracy to do our work most effectively.
The final group created an unorthodox theatrical piece focusing on the story of one of our participants’ experience with a young Sierra Leonean refugee girl. This group created a piece where each member represented the interviewer at a refugee camp and their very presence elicited a variety of ad hoc improvised responses from the women in the group. From those who were moved to share some of their most innermost secrets to those who felt anger at having to tell their story, this group’s presentation displayed the wide variety of feelings any one individual would have at the imposition of an interview where one has to, in the words of the heroine of “Grace,” ‘tell one’s life.’ When at the end of the day the reading of “Grace” took place those in the audience were presented with a moving representation of some of the difficult issues raised in the previous sessions and those who took part in the previous two sessions came away with a deeply cathartic and moving experience.
_____________________
A Panel Discussion on
SEXUAL VIOLENCE IN CONFLICT SITUATION
Chair
George Andreopoulos
Panelists
Letitia Anderson
Advocacy and Women's Rights Speacialist, UN Action Against Sexual Violence in Conflict
Lorena Bilbao
Program Officer, Medecins Sans Frontieres
Mabel Kartusche
Secretary Genral of the ManoRiver Women's Peace Network-Sierra Leone
Cecile Van de Voorde
Assistant Professor- Department of Law and Police Science
JohnJayCollege of Criminal Justice, CUNY
Date: April 15, 2010
Location: Gerald W. Lynch Theater Lobby
Time: 5:00- 7:30pm
... Reception to follow…
___________________________
HUMAN RIGHTS SEMINAR SERIES
SPRING 2010
The Center for International Human Rights
John Jay College of Criminal Justice,
The Ph.D./M.A. Program in Political Science,
and The Global Studies Collective
present
THEME: RELIGION AND HUMAN RIGHTS
Despite the numerous references, in international human rights instruments, to the right to freedom of religion, the relation between human rights and religion has been problematic. On the one hand, religious communities and advocates have often criticized the human rights discourse for its "secular bias;" on the other hand, human rights activists have often criticized religion as a force of reaction and as a source of inter as well as intra-societal tensions. Our series will seek to go beyond facile designations and explore the dynamics of this relation in light of the growing role of religious ideas and actors in the global arena and of the initiatives undertaken by faith-based institutions in a whole set of critical issue areas, including peace and security, sustainable development, accountability and empowerment.
Location: Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY), 365 Fifth Avenue in the student lounge, Political Science Program room 5200.
DATE: February 25, 2010
TIME: 6:00-8:00 pm
SPEAKER: Jacqueline Ogega
The second seminar is scheduled for March 25, 2010 at 6:00- 8:00pm. Please stay posted for further details on the location and speaker.
Check our "Past Events" section for past lectures and papers!
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The Center for International Human Rights sponsors and co-sponsors events relevant to international human rights throughout the metropolitan area. Other events related to Human Rights discourse throughout the New York metropolitan area are also listed below.
Workshop on
THE ETHICS OF INTERVENTION/PROTECTION: CONTENDING APPROACHES PURPOSE AND ISSUES January 21 and 22, 2010
The Center for International Human Rights and the Institute for Criminal Justice Ethics, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, The City University of New York are organizing a workshop on “The Ethics of Intervention/Protection: Contending Approaches,” which will take place at John Jay College on January 21 and 22, 2010. The purpose of the workshop is to discuss the ethical dimensions of humanitarian intervention and of its latest variation, the responsibility to protect (R2P). For that purpose the workshop will cover the following three topics: (1) Humanitarian Intervention (HI) and Responsibility to Protect (R2P), (2) The Interplay between the Global and the Local in Intervention/ Protection, and (3) Accountability for Intervention/Protection-Related Activities Original contributions will be published in Criminal Justice Ethics (CJE). CJE is a semi-annual journal designed to focus greater attention on ethical issues in criminal justice (broadly defined) by philosophers, criminal justice professionals, lawyers and judges, and the general public. The Journal is published by Routledge.
LIST OF PARTICIPANTS
SESSION 1, Humanitarian Intervention and the Responsibility to Protect
Paper Presenters:
Prof. FRANCIS KOFI ABIEW, Department of Political Science, Kwantlen Polytechnic University, Canada.
Dr. DOROTA GIERYCZ, Consultant, Ludwig Boltzman Institute of Human Rights, University of Vienna, Austria.
Discussant:
Prof. CATHERINE LU,Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, McGill University, Canada.
SESSION 2, The Interplay between the Global and the Local in Intervention/Protection
Paper Presenters:
Dr. MIREILLE AFFA’A MINDZIE,Senior Project Officer, Centre for Conflict Resolution, South Africa.
Prof. GEORGE ANDREOPOULOS,John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York.
Discussant:
Ms. KAREN KONING ABUZAYD, Commissioner-General (until 12/31/09), UNRWA, Headquarters Gaza, Gamal Abdul Nasser Street, Gaza City.
SESSION 3,Accountability for Intervention/Protection-related Activities
Paper Presenters:
Dr. MARTIN L. COOK,Admiral James Bond Stockdale Professor of Professional Military Ethics, College of Operational and Strategic Leadership, Newport, RI.
Dr. KWESI ANING, Head, The Conflict Prevention and Resolution Department, Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre, Ghana.
Discussant:
Mr. FABIEN DUBUET,United Nations Liaison Officer, Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors without Borders, New York.
Xabier Agirre, Senior Analyst, Office of the Prosecutor, Interntional Criminal Court, The Hague, The Netherlands,"The Darfur Investigation of the International Criminal Court," co-sponsored by The Center for International Human Rigths, The International Criminal Justice Major, The Criminal Justice PhD Program and the International Criminal Justice Club.
Thursday, February 26, 2:00-3:30 pm, Room 636-T, John Jay College of Criminal Justice.
“Policing Across Borders: the Role of Law Enforcement in Global Governance” Project
The Center for International Human Rights, as part of its “Policing Across Borders: the Role of Law Enforcement in Global Governance” Project, has organized three international workshops involving law enforcement officers from Greece, Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Romania, and Turkey, as well as academics and representatives of intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations. The Project is funded by a generous grant by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation.
The first workshop, Strengthening Cooperation in the Fight against Terrorism: Legislation, Institutions, and Proposals, took place on December 13 and 14 at John Jay College. It was co-sponsored by the Center for Security Studies (KE.ME.A.) and the Center and the Institute for Central-Eastern Europe and the Balkans of the University of Bologna of the University of Bologna. The goal of the workshop was to explore key challenges confronting law enforcement in dealing with the transnational threat of terrorism while upholding international standards. For that purpose, the participants presented papers and engaged in a stimulating series of exchanges in the following issue areas: the nature of the terrorist threat, the international/regional legal framework and institutions, cooperation, rule of law and human rights issues, and best practices. In addition, the participants were addressed by H.E. Mike Smith, the Assistant Secretary-General and Executive Director of the Counter-Terrorism Executive Directorate of the United Nations, who delivered a keynote address entitled “The Role of the United Nations in Counter-Terrorism,”and by Roland Tricot, Principal Lawyer, Delegation of the European Union Commission to the UN, who spoke on the “Cooperation Strategies to Combat Terrorist Activities while Adhering to International Standards.” See below four photos from the workshop.
(1) Keynote address by H.E. Mike Smith,
Assistant Secretary-General, Executive Director,
Counter-Terrorism Executive Directorate,
United Nations Counter-Terrorism Committee (Dec. 13).
(2) Presentation by Mr. Brian Gorlick, Senior Policy Advisor, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, New York Office, 'The Challenge of Refugee Protection in the Post 9/11 World.'
(3) Presentation by Ms. Cristina Gheorghe Tranca,
Chief of mission, International Organization for
Migration (IOM), Romania.
(4) Workshop Director, Prof. George Andreopoulos,
and workshop participants meet with President
Jeremy Travis for a reception on December 14.
The second workshop, on Strengthening Cooperation in the Fight against Human Trafficking and Migrant Smuggling: Legislation, Institutions, and Proposals, took place on May 2 and 3, 2008 at John Jay College. It was co-sponsored by the Center for Security Studies (KE.ME.A.). See below four photos from the workshop.
(1) Welcoming Remarks.
(2) Workshop Participants.
(3) Workshop Participants.
(4) Presentation by Mr. Bogdan Budeanu,
Head of Service for Combating Trafficking in
Human Beings, General Inspectorate of
Romanian Border Police, Romania
The third workshop, on Strengthening Cooperation in the Fight against Drug Trafficking: Legislation, Institutions, and Proposals, took place on December 12 and 13, 2008 at John Jay College. It was co-sponsored by the Center for Security Studies (KE.ME.A.). See below three photos from the workshop.
(1) Workshop participants.
(2) Professor of Anthropology Ric Curtis.
(3) Doroteya Kehayova, Judge, Criminal Department, Sofia Regional Court, Bulgaria, addressed Cross-Border Cooperation against Drug Trafficking on December 12, 2008.
The fourth workshop, took place on November 13 and 14, 2008 at John Jay College. It was co-sponsored by the Center for Security Studies (KE.ME.A.). A Summary of the Deliberations and Photos of the Event will be coming soon . . .
The Center for International Human Rights, John Jay College of Criminal Justice,
The Ph.D./M.A. Program in Political Science, and Global Studies Collective
Place: Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY), 365 Fifth Ave.
Time: 6:00 - 8:00 pm
FALL 2008-SPRING 2009
Between the Global and the Local:
Understanding Human Rights Processes
The purpose of this year’s seminar is to examine how international human rights norms and standards operate in practice. In particular, the seminar will focus on how groups and organizations use the international human rights discourse as a mobilizational tool in a variety of issue areas to achieve human rights-sensitive outcomes in local settings.
Speakers and dates (all sessions will be held 6:00-8:00 p.m. at the Graduate Center, 365 Fifth Avenue, NYC).
Monday, April 27: George Andreopoulos, Professor of Political Science, John Jay College of Criminal Justice & the Graduate Center, CUNY; Edward Flynn, Senior Human Rights Officer, United Nations Counter-Terrorism Executive Directorate; and Yvonne Terlingen, Head, Amnesty International Office at the United Nations; Roundtable on "UN Counterterrorist Policies and Human Rights: A Reassessment.”
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Marnia Lazreg, Professor of Sociology, Hunter College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, “Torture and Anti-Subversive War: A Lesser or Greater Evil?”
Thursday, March 13, 2008 (John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY)
Darius Rejali, Professor of Political Science, Reed College, “Torture, Democracy and Our Future.”
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Shayana Kadidal, Senior Managing Attorney, Guantánamo Global Justice Initiative, The Center for Constitutional Rights, New York City, “Lessons from Guantánamo.”
FALL 2007
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Marty Rouse, National Field Director, Human Rights Campaign (HRC), “Discrimination? That's So Gay.” Daniel R. Pinello, Prof. of Government, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, "Lobbying Legislatures for Social Reform: The Case of Same-Sex Marriage in New York State," Room: 9206
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Steve Nave, State/Regional Death Penalty Abolition Coordinator and National Steering Committee Vice-Chairperson, Amnesty International, “The Death Penalty in the United States: Why Capital Punishment Should Be Abolished,” Room: 9205
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Jeremy Perelman, Skirball Fellow, Human Rights Program, Harvard Law School,“Right to Health Advocacy: Comparative and Critical Perspectives from the Ground,” Room: 9204
SPRING 2007: Room: DSC Lounge, Room 5414
March 12, 2007
Time: 5:00 - 6:30 pm
Nancy Foner, Distinguished Professor of Sociology at Hunter College and the Graduate Center of CUNY, “How Exceptional is New York as an Immigrant City?”
April 17, 2007
Lisa Reiner-Sotelo, Esq., Associate Director of the Community Legal Resource Network (CLRN), CUNY School of Law, “Asylum after 9/11: How the Material Support to Terrorists Bar Affects Refugees.”
FALL 2006: Room: DSC Lounge, Room 5414
October 11, 2006 (6:00-8:00 pm)
Mary Hawkesworth, Prof. of Political Science and Women’s and Gender Studies, Rutgers University, “Outsiders, Insiders, and Outsiders Within; Feminist Strategies for Global Transformation." Commentator: Joyce Gelb, Prof. of Political Science, City College and Graduate Center
November 8, 2006
Donna M. Hughes, University of Rhode Island, Prof. Eleanor M. and Oscar M. Carlson Endowed Chair, Women’s Studies Program, "Trafficking and Slavery in the 21st Century."
December 13, 2006
Nadia Hijab, Senior Fellow, Institute for Palestine Studies, “Palestinian Women and the Hundred Year Struggle for Personal and National Rights.”
Symposium on Guantánamo Bay, March 23, 2007. The symposium will focus on the legal issues stemming from the detention of individuals by the United States government in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. The Guantánamo detainees have had a considerable impact on American and international jurisprudence. They have sparked a debate in the wider legal community about the fairness and legality of their detention and treatment: Do they have a right to seek relief from American courts? If so, can such a right be affected by Congress? Do they have any status under international humanitarian law, and if so, what? Should they have protections against torture and coercion? Should they be tried, and, if so, for what crimes, and under what procedures? If tried, would they then have a right to appeal and, if so, to whom? Should they be released and, if so, when? Will they be tortured by their governments when they are released? What are the powers and proper roles of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of the United States government in dealing with the detainees? What is the legal status of detainees being held at locations other than Guantánamo Bay during the "War on Terror?"
The symposium brings together scholars, practitioners, and students of diverse legal backgrounds and interests to address these issues and participate in the symposium. The symposium touches upon a variety of fields including, but not limited to, constitutional law, criminal procedure and criminal law, international humanitarian and human rights law, and military law. The symposium will also host a "Litigation in Progress" panel, which will allow scholars and practitioners to briefly introduce their current Guantánamo caseload and receive valuable feedback, discussion, and advice from the symposium audience.
The New York City Law Review will dedicate Volume 10, Issue 2 entirely to issues covered at the symposium and publish various articles on Guantánamo-related issues.
The symposium is organized by the New York City Law Review at the City University of New York (CUNY) School of Law, and sponsored by the Center for International Human Rights (CUNY-John Jay College of Criminal Justice), and the Center for Constitutional Rights. The symposium will also commemorate the Center for Constitutional Rights' 40th year anniversary and honor the organization's leading role in protecting and promoting constitutional and human rights. The symposium is free to the public and offers Continuing Legal Education credits (7) for $25. For registration and information, please visit www.nyclawreview.org. (Conference Program) (To Register for the Conference)
Laws of War Lecture Series: March 15th
"Killing with Distinction: On Categorizing Victims and Targets in the Laws of War." The Center for International Human Rights in collaboration with the Office for the Advancement of Research and the Ph.D. Program in Criminal Justice at John Jay College invites the public to a lecture by DR. RENÉ PROVOST ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, FACULTY OF LAW and DIRECTOR of the CENTRE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS AND LEGAL PLURALISM at McGILL UNIVERSITY. The lecture will be held on the John Jay campus in room 630T, from 5:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. A reception will follow the lecture. For further information regarding this event, contact M. Victoria Pérez-Ríos mvprios@jjay.cuny.edu.
Conference on Human Rights
Thinking and Acting in an Emergency: the Role of Human Rights After 9/11
Sponsored by: Center for International Human Rights, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York; College of Continuing Studies, University of Connecticut; Human Rights Review.
Several critical issues were raised during this conference, including the need to address the nature of the human rights discourse, and the importance of moving beyond identifying the problems posed by 9/11 and its aftermath. Concerning the first issue, the post-9/11 context has rendered more acute the ambiguities inherent in the concepts invoked by the language of human rights; as a result, we have often witnessed contradictory actions taken and decisions made by those involved in human rights, actions which have been considered, at one time or another, to be justified or justifiable. The now familiar, and increasingly frequent condemnation of the human rights framework as a tool of Western moral and cultural imperialism make a return to these foundational questions mandatory. Concerning the second issue, our discussions were not confined to the nature and extent of normative erosion resulting from the ongoing “war on terror.” Instead the conference, by examining domestic and international responses, including the responses of international institutions, explored ways in which this trend can be reversed. In this context, the role of civil society, and in particular the contribution of social movements, professional associations, religious and spiritual organizations, academe and public benefit non-governmental organizations is deemed critical in this effort.
Panel I
Thinking in an emergency: the language of human rights
This panel concerned itself with the foundational concepts necessary for the global realization of coexistent freedom and the normative basis needed for engaging in meaningful discourse on terrorism. What must human rights be to be able to support thinking that resolves rather than complicates or aggravates the current crisis?
Panel II
Fighting a perpetual war: measures, responses, lessons
This panel examine fsome of the key legislative and administrative measures adopted in the United States and in other countries as part of the ongoing “war on terror;” analyzed and assessed supportive and critical responses to these measures; and set both measures and responses within a wider historical context by comparing and contrasting the current situation with previous periods of national emergency.
Panel III
Responding to the challenges: what can/should international institutions do?
This panel analyzed and assessed the range of measures that international and regional organizations have undertaken in response to the global “war on terror.” In particular it critically examined initiatives in the United Nations System (like the work of the Counter-Terrorism Committee, the 1267 Sanctions Committee), the Organization of American States (Inter-American Convention Against Terrorism, the Inter-American Committee Against Terrorism), the African Union, the European Union, and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
Panel IV
Fighting back: the role of civil society
This panel examined the potential role of civil society in the development of strategies for defending the relevant human rights and humanitarian standards, and expanding the political space within which alternative visions of global order can be sustained.
The Center for International Human Rights sponsored a workshop of human rights experts on the newly created United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC). The workshop took place at John Jay College on June 12, 2006 and addressed issues relating to the potential, as well as to the opportunities and the challenges facing this new institution. The workshop was organized under the direction of Professors George Andreopoulos of John Jay College, Zehra Arat of SUNY Purchase, and Julie Mertus of American University. The participants drafted a statement which was sent to the UNHCR, which was holding its first meeting in Geneva. In addition, the statement was distributed among UN agencies and professional associations. To view the statement, click here.
The University Seminar on Human Rights was founded upon the initiative of the Center for the Study of Human Rights at Columbia University. The Seminar is chaired by George Andreopoulos, Professor of Political Science, John Jay College of Criminal Justice and the Graduate Center, CUNY, and Director of the Center for International Human Rights; Peter Juviler, Professor Emeritus, Barnard College and SIPA, Columbia University, and co-Director of the Center for the Study of Human Rights; and Zehra Arat, Prof. of Political Science and Women's Studies, SUNY Purchase.
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