Columbia Human Rights News

David L. Phillips' "Linking Development and Peace in Darfur—A Note" was published in American Foreign Policy Interests 32 (March 2010)

Abstract
Can postconflict activities take place amid a conflict situation? The author explains how in his note on the peace process in Darfur.

Japan's sex industry has again become a source of international concern after a recent CNN report on Japanese rape simulation video games. ISHR visiting scholar Kei Hiruta explains what is missing in the current controversy. Read his article.

New York, NY - April 2, 2010

The Trustees of Columbia University have approved a proposal for the Center for the Study of Human Rights to become an institute in order to coordinate human rights studies throughout the university and connect with scholars and practitioners around the world.

The change is effective immediately, and the center is now the Institute for the Study of Human Rights (ISHR).

Full Press Release

Mikheil Mirziashvili (HRAP 1999) is the Senior Project Manager in Peace, Mediation and Dialogue with the Brussels office of Crisis Management Initiative. Martti Ahtisaari founded CMI in Finland in 2000.

The February 2010 issue of RightsNews, ISHR's newsletter is online (1.54mb PDF)

Dr. Kian Tajbakhsh, a Columbia University faculty member detained in Iran since July 2009, has been transferred from prison to house arrest, according to a family representative.
 
Dr. Tajbakhsh was scheduled to assume duties as an associate professor of urban studies last fall at Columbia’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation.  He was arrested while working in Iran as a consultant, providing nonpolitical urban technical advice with explicit permission from the Iranian government.
 
Dr. Tajbakhsh was found guilty of “political crimes” by an Iranian court on Oct. 20, 2009.  He appealed his sentence only to then be accused of new espionage charges on Nov. 23.
 
Twenty Columbia faculty members sent a letter on Jan. 11, 2010, to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, asking her to work for Dr. Tajbakhsh’s release.
 
According to news reports, Dr. Tajbakhsh’s sentence was recently reduced from 15 years to five years.  He was transferred out of Iran’s Evin Prison and placed under house arrest, according to a Tajbakhsh family representative.

Dr. Alejandro Rivera (HRAP 2008) reports that he has been promoted to a position with the National Center for AIDS Prevention and Control with the Health Institute of Chiapas (Mexico). He has also been elected General Director of the Collective for Family Health (CIFAM), where he has been advocating for communities of people marginalized for their age, sex, gender identify, sexual orientation, or HIV/AIDS status since he co-founded the organization. Finally, he wrote that CIFAM was recently awarded a grant from the Human Rights Small Grant Scheme of the Australian Agency for International Development.

Nazibrola Janezashvili (HRAP 2009) has been accepted in the PhD Program at the Caucasus School of Law. She was also recently elected chairperson of Article 42 of the Constitution.

CSHR congratulates Professor Andrew Nathan, Chair of CSHR's Board, for his election to the Board of Directors of the National Endowment for Democracy.  Prof. Nathan was elected to a three-year term on January 15, 2010.

SIPA News interviewed 2009 Columbia University Human Rights Advocate and Co-Founder of Thai AIDS Treatment Action Group Karyn Kaplan.

Both text and audio versions of the interview are available.

SIPA News interviewed 2009 Columbia University Human Rights Advocate and >Co-Founder of Thai AIDS Treatment Action Group Karyn Kaplan.

Both text and audio versions of the interview are available.

2008 Advocate Peter Mulbah of Liberia hosted a Fellow from the Advocacy Project (AP) in the summer of 2009. A DC-based non-governmental organization, AP works with community-based advocacy around the club. Every year, AP recruits graduate students from North America and Europe to volunteer as Fellows with community-based organizations. Most serve for three months in the field where they provide valuable support for their hosts. The Fellows publicize the work of their hosts and advise them on developing information tools such as websites and newsletters. Many Fellows also continue to promote the work of their host after they return, through events at their university and outreach to local schools and civic associations. This builds cross-cultural bridges and a constituency of support for their host’s advocacy.

Watch a brief interview that the AP Fellow conducted with Peter

CIHRS' 2009 Annual Report on Human Rights in the Arab Region: "Bastion of Impunity, Mirage of Reform" is now online.  The full English version is at http://www.cihrs.org/Images/ArticleFiles/Original/485.pd

Twenty Columbia faculty members and officers signed a letter requesting that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton help secure the release of Kian Tajbakhsh from Iranian prison.  Dr. Tajbakhsh was found guilty of “political crimes” by an Iranian court on October 20, following his support of the Iranian uprising against the government in the aftermath of the disputed election last summer.  He appealed his sentence only to then be accused of new espionage charges on November 23, 2009.

Dr. Tajbakhsh, who earned a doctorate from Columbia in urban studies, was providing nonpolitical urban technical advice as a consultant with explicit permission from the Iranian government. He was scheduled to assume duties as an associate professor of urban studies last fall at Columbia’s Morningside Heights campus at the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation.

More information about Dr. Tajbakhsh's situation is available at http://www.freekian09.org/. A copy of the letter to Secretary Clinton is available as a PDF.

Recent HRAP participant Mary Akrami of Afghanistan was interviewed recently by the editor of WeNews. Please see http://www.womensenews.org/story/the-world/091127/afghan-women-would-rather-talk-about-recovery