United
Nations Association
of the United States of America
West
Triangle Chapter Wake
County Chapter
Conference on
“Human Rights, An Endangered Concept: The United Nations
and the
Advancement of Human Rights”
McKimmon Center, NC
State University Campus, 1101 Gorman Street, Raleigh, NC
Welcome
On behalf of the Planning
Committee for the Conference, we welcome you to our web site.
Although the Conference was held April 14th, 2007, we
have left the site up because there is so much here that is of
value to those interested in human rights.
There is a Resource link for
each of the eight topical breakout sessions listed below.
Clicking on a button will reveal the text of the handout
Conference participants received during that session. Each
handout includes a brief history of the human rights discussed
in the session, where and how those rights are being violated,
and what we as citizens can do to advance rights here and
abroad. In addition, there are reference materials such as web
sites, books and articles, and several of the Conference
panelists’ and speakers’ presentations. Finally, by clicking on
a speaker’s name you can obtain biographical information about
that speaker.
Behjat Dehghan
Conference Co-Chair,
Wake County Chapter, UNA-USA |
Charles S. Green, III
Conference Co-Chair,
West Triangle Chapter, UNA-USA |
Background
of the Conference
The
Universal
Declaration
of Human Rights was approved by the United Nations General
Assembly in 1948. Eleanor Roosevelt, who headed the
international
committee that drafted it, called it “a magna carta for all
mankind.” The rights defined by the Declaration have become a
standard for human behavior. But they have also been much abused
ever since they were drafted. We therefore believe it is time to
review those rights, the contributions of the United Nations to
advancing them, and their relevance for the 21st
century.
For this reason our Chapters are sponsoring this Conference on
Advancing Human Rights.
Goals
of the Conference
-
To
illuminate for the citizens of the Triangle area the special
importance of human rights and the role of the United
Nations in
advancing them.
-
To provide citizens
with practical ideas on how they, working together, can help
advance human rights here and abroad.
Format
of the Conference
The
conference will be held on Saturday, April 14th, 2007
at
the McKimmon Center on the campus of North Carolina State
University. Our opening keynote speaker will be
David Forsythe,
Charles J. Mach Distinguished Professor, Department of Political
Science, University of Nebraska.
There will be eight breakout
sessions, four in the morning and four in the afternoon, on such
topics as women’s rights, workers’ economic rights, migrants’
and refugees’ rights, religious freedom, children’s rights,
political rights (voting, trial by jury, free speech, humane
treatment of prisoners, etc), and rights of racial and ethnic
minorities and how
other nations have coped with wars on terror.
Luncheon will be
on site. The closing plenary session speaker will be Stephanie
Kleine-Ahlbrandt, International Affairs Fellow in Residence with the
Council on Foreign Relations.
|
 |
Opening Keynote Speaker
“The UN,
the US, and Human Rights”
David
P. Forsythe is University
Professor and Charles J. Mach Distinguished Professor of
Political Science at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln,
USA. |
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Educated at Wake Forest (BA) and Princeton (MA, PHD)
Universities, he has been a consultant to the United Nations
Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees and to the
International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, He served as
President of the Human Rights Committee of the International
Political Science Association. His more than 75 publications on
different aspects of International Relations include: Human
Rights in International Relations, ( 2006), translated into
Arabic, Chinese, Turkish, Korean, and Bulgarian; Human Rights
and Comparative Foreign Policy (2000) and The United
States and Human Rights, (2000). Recently, he also published
The Humanitarians: The International Committee of the Red
Cross, (Cambridge University Press: 2005), and he is also
the general editor of Routledge’s new edition of The
Encyclopedia of Human Rights. |
Expert in human rights
and
rule of law; specializes in China and sub-Saharan Africa. Work
focuses on researching the human rights implications of China's
deepening engagement with the African continent.
- Expertise:
- Human rights; rule of law;
United Nations; China; Sub-saharan Africa.
- Experience:
- Programme Manager and
Officer-in-Charge, Asia Division, Office of the United Nations
High
Commissioner for Human Rights (2002-2006); UN National Human
Rights
Institutions Officer (2000-2001); Human Rights Officer assigned
to
UN Special Rapporteurs on Human Rights in Nigeria, Rwanda and
the
Islamic Republic of Iran (1997-2000); Organization for Security
and
Cooperation in Europe Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina
(seconded by
Dept. of State, 1996); UN Human Rights Field Operation in Rwanda
(1994-1995); Directorate of Legal Affairs, Council of Europe
(1992-1993).
- Languages:
French (fluent); Chinese
(familiar).
Recent publications about China:
China Jumps In
China, the Unlikely Human Rights Champion
Breakout
Sessions
- Economic
Rights
The session focuses on the impact of economic globalization on
workers' rights: safety, health, housing, unemployment
compensation, an adequate standard of living, etc.
Presenters:
- Moderator:
Ajamu Dillahunt, Community Outreach
Coordinator, NC Justice Center
-
Joost Pauwelyn,
JD, Professor of
Law, Duke University, will address the legal aspects of
economic rights, including how economic rights are defined by
international law, especially World Trade Organization
law.
-
Evelyne Huber,
Chair, Department of Political Science, UNC-CH, will address the state of
economic rights (wages, hours, working conditions) throughout
the world.
-
Debra Tyler-Horton,
Deputy Director of the North Carolina Justice Center, will address the
situation in North Carolina and what ordinary citizens can do to
advance economic rights.
RESOURCES
- Religion: Rights in
Conflict
The session focuses on several issues: (1) How and to what
extent is freedom of religious expression being advanced across
the globe? (2) to what extent do religious rights conflict with
the rights of atheists and agnostics and with other rights such
as those of women and children? (3) Under what conditions does
religion, either alone or in combination with other factors,
lead to violent conflict? Under what conditions can religion be
a force for peace? (4) How can ordinary North Carolina citizens
help advance religious rights and the role of religion in
peacekeeping?
Presenters:
-
Moderator: The Rev. Dr. Samuel A. Mason, Episcopal Priest,
Retired
- Tina Ramirez,
Foreign
Affairs
Advisor, Office of Congressman Trent Franks.
-
Neamatollah Nojumi,
Senior Fellow,
Center for World
Religions, Diplomacy and Conflict Resolution, Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, George Mason
University, Fairfax, VA.
-
Donna
M. Hughes, Professor, Women's Studies Program, University of
Rhode Island.
RESOURCES
- Status of Children's Rights Around the World
Notwithstanding a well-publicized emphasis on the
rights of children, led by the United Nations Children's Fund
(UNICEF), they continue to be abused and discriminated against
in many ways throughout the world. Using a global overview and
selected national examples, this panel seeks to explore the
status of children throughout the world and what can be done to
ensure
that their rights are respected.
|
Panelists for the Children's Rights Session, l to r:
Jerry Berke (Moderator), Hala El Taher, Kate Weber,
and Jonathan Kotch
|
Presenters:
-
Moderator:
Jerry Berke, Vice
President, West Triangle Chapter, UNA
- Kate Weber, Director, NGO's,
US Fund for UNICEF.
The State of Children's Rights Globally
- Hala el Taher, Hubert H. Humphrey
Fellow, UNC; Senior Vocational Training Specialist,
Ministry of Manpower and Migration, Government of Egypt
Children's Rights in a Developing Country
-
Dr. Jonathan Kotch, Professor and Associate Chair
for Graduate Studies, Department of Maternal and Child Health,
School of Public Health, UNC-CH
Children's Rights in North Carolina
RESOURCES
-
Political Rights in the 21st
Century
While political systems
differ greatly through the world, the UN’s Universal Declaration
of Human Rights defines basic standards that protect citizens in
a civil society. Among the most important are the right of free
expression and speech, the right to elect representatives and
leaders in an honest and fair election process and the rights of
civil and criminal detainees and prisoners and prisoners of
war. Often these rights have not been upheld in countries
around the globe, including the United States. Violations of
these rights strike at the heart of democratic societies. This
workshop will put these issues in an international context and
address the historical perspectives in the US and in North
Carolina as well.
Presenters:
-
David
Pottie, PhD, Associate Director,
Democracy Program at the Carter Center, Atlanta,
GA, will address the rights of the citizen’s voice to be heard
in the electoral process and how this voice can be
advanced or attenuated.
-
Julia Tarver Mason, JD,
partner, Paul Weiss law firm, New
York, NY, pro bono attorney for many terror suspects held in
the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. She will speak
to the rights of the accused under the Declaration of Human
Rights and to such issues as the legality of renditions,
torture and the death penalty.
-
Cheryl Bishop,
Roy H. Park
Fellow and PhD Candidate, School of Journalism & Mass
Communication, UNC-CH
Freedom of Expression as a Human Right: Current Issues and
Debates
RESOURCES
- Women’s Human Rights Workshop
| There is no more
significant human rights issue than the issue of women’s
rights. In the last decade, efforts to mainstream the
rights of women with human rights, peace, and development
have resulted in impressive gains as well as staggering
failure. It is our hope that, through open discussions,
this conference will thrust us always forward into the
future. The contribution of our panelists in this workshop
will insure that progress. |
Panelists
for the Women's Rights session, l to r:
Donna M. Hughes, Elaine H. Yarborough,
Donna M. Bickford and Carolyn Hannan, Moderator. |
Presenters:
- Moderator:
Donna M.
Bickford, Director, Carolina Women's Center, UNC-CH.
-
Carolyn Hannan, Director, Division for the Advancement
of Women, United Nations.
Complete text of
presentation
-
Donna
M. Hughes, Professor, Women's
Studies Program, University of Rhode Island.
- Elaine H. Yarborough, Associate
Professor, Political Science; Coordinator, Political Science;
Coordinator, Political Science/International Relations programs,
Shaw University, Raleigh, NC.
RESOURCES
- Racial and Ethnic Human Rights Issues
| This session focuses on a very traditional area of human rights concerns
– racism and ethnic discrimination. What are the major international developments and issues facing this area of human rights? How have the issues changed as a result of recent international developments, e.g, the end of the Cold War, globalization, increasing terrorism, and the spread of democratization? What major efforts have been undertaken recently to strengthen human rights in these issue areas? |
Panelists for the Race and Ethnic Human Rights
session,
l to r: Kay Reibold, David P. Forsythe,
Richard Butler,
and Maurice ‘Mickey’ East (Moderator)
|
Presenters:
-
David
P. Forsythe,
Distinguished Professor, Political Science, University of Nebraska; author of several widely used texts on international human rights.
- Kay Reibold,
Montagnard Human Rights Organization in Raleigh; recipient of Presidential “Points of Light” award
-
Richard J. Butler, US Department of Homeland Security,
Atlanta; formerly UN senior analyst for the Prosecutor at the
International War Crimes Tribunal - Yugoslavia (ICTY)
RESOURCES
- Migrant Rights: War,
Terrorism, and National Boundaries
This workshop
will put migration in a broad historical and international
context. It will cover the human rights challenges of people
displaced by war, refugees, and asylum-seekers. Workshop
presenters will then focus on a post-9/11 United States and the
human rights violations and the fears of migrants from middle
eastern countries. Finally, the workshop will take on the issues
of our border with Mexico, new and pending legislation, and how
all this affects North Carolina.
Presenters:
RESOURCES
- War(s) On
Terror: How Other Nations Have Coped
Presenters:
- Moderator:
Robin Kirk, Director,
Duke Human
Rights Initiative, Duke University
- Altha J. Cravey, Associate
Professor, Department of Geography, UNC-Chapel Hill
The Revival of Mexico's Dirty Wars
-
Dawn
Peebles, PhD Candidate, Department of Cultural
Anthropology, Duke University
A Model for Success? Nepal's War and The Future of A Negotiated
End to Conflict
-
Marty Rosenbluth, Country Specialist for Israel, the Occupied
Territories and the Palestinian Authority,
Amnesty International
Learning from the Mistakes of Others: Lessons From the
Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
RESOURCES
Interns
who prepared the resource materials, l to r: University
of North Carolina-Chapel Hill students, Lindsay Wall, Megan
Niemczyk, Tuoyang Mu, and Nina Bernardo. |
Award
to SLATER NEWMAN,
Human Rights Coalition of North Carolina, for a lifetime
of efforts in the cause human rights.
Photo:
Honoree Slater Newman with Conference Planning Committee
Co-Chairs Beth Dehghan and Tuck Green
|
External Links
For further information, contact Beth
Dehghan
or Charles Green:
Behjat
Dehghan
Co-Chair, Planning Committee
Wake County Chapter, UNA-USA |
Dr.
Charles S. Green, III
Co-Chair, Planning Committee
West Triangle Chapter, UNA-USA |
1161
Fearrington Post, Pittsboro, NC 27312 919-545-0941
|
