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Audrey Kim, Editor
Staff writers: Jillian Carson, Frances Hogan, Peter Chang Yup Kim, Catherine Mullin, Mariangels de Planell-Saguer, Yonghak Roh
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May, 2013 - Volume 31, no. 3
2013 Human Rights Essay Contest Colloquium
Peter Chang Yup Kim
On March 28, 2013, the ISHR hosted its annual Human Rights Essay Contest Colloquium. Every year, the Human Rights Essay Contest recognizes exceptional papers addressing human rights issues written by graduate and undergraduate students currently enrolled at Columbia University. Two graduate winners, one undergraduate winner, and one undergraduate finalist of…
ICC President Song Addresses “Fight Against Impunity” at Columbia’s World Leaders Forum
Catherine Mullin
Judge Sang-Hyun Song, President of the International Criminal Court (ICC), spoke on “The International Criminal Court and the Fight Against Impunity for Atrocity Crimes” on February 12, 2013 at Columbia University’s World Leaders Forum. Throughout his talk, in which he spoke from a personal perspective about his own experience in…
Opinion: A Convention worth Adopting (and Ratifying)
Frances Hogan
It is a story at once familiar and then so tragic of a life extinguished too early by parental negligence. Left strapped for hours into his car seat on a hot summer’s day, Russian-born toddler, Dima Yakovlev, died in Virginia on July 8, 2008, under the care of his American…
Human Rights Professionals Share Insights from the Field
Sally Gao
For students studying human rights, it is impossible to forget that practical application is one of the most valuable aspects of the field. On April 4, 2013 undergraduate and graduate students gathered for the ISHR Education Program’s annual career panel, “Careers in Human Rights: Insights from the Field.” Five experienced…
Myanmar: A Nation at the Crossroads
Mariangels de Planell-Saguer, PhD
On April 9, 2013, David L. Phillips, Director of ISHR’s Program on Peace-building and Rights, Wafaa El-Sadr, Director of the Global Health Initiative, and Joan Kaufman, Director of Columbia Global Centers in East Asia, spoke at the Mailman School of Public Health about Myanmar’s present political status and health care…
Campaigning for the DREAM
Yonghak Roh
Along College Walk stood rows of pictures of students holding signs that read “Do I Look Undocumented?” Held on April 4, April 11, and April 18, the “We Are DREAMers Image Campaign” was launched by Chicano Caucus, Coalition of Latino/a Scholars of Teachers College, CU SEWA, and SIPA’s Migration Working…
Coming Together to Promote Access to Justice for Indigenous Peoples
Jillian Carson
From February 27 to March 1, ISHR, in partnership with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the International Center for Transitional Justice, hosted the “International Expert Seminar on Access of Indigenous Peoples to Justice, including Truth and Reconciliation Processes.” The seminar was convened to make a…
March, 2013 - Volume 31, no. 2
ISHR 2012 Human Rights Advocate Highlight: Kemal Pervanic
Yonghak Roh
Kemal Pervanic, a survivor of the Omarska concentration camp in Bosnia and Herzegovina, was one of nine human rights activists in the 2012 Human Rights Advocates Program (HRAP) at ISHR. As a part of HRAP, Pervanic engaged in workshops on ethics and compliance, effective organization management, and professional fundraising; audited…
“Building Comprehensive Peace through Artistic Reflection”
Tatiana Suridis
On November 27, 2012 the Teachers College Peace Education Network hosted a panel titled “Building Comprehensive Peace through Artistic Reflection” that shed light on the innovative crossroads between human rights advocacy and artistic expression. Representatives from four organizations, Global Arts Corps, NYC Theatre of the Oppressed, Kids Creative, and Creative…
Opinion: Mirror, Mirror, on the Prison Wall...
Pushkar Sharma
On May 2012, The Pyongyang Times published a scathing article that instructed the US to “mind its own human rights abuses.” Published by the Korean Central News Agency, the article condemned the US as having “the most shameful human rights record in the world” and demanded that the US “make…
Panel Discussion: Women in the US Military
Sally Gao
On November 30, 2012, Tanya Domi, Jennifer Hogg, Megan Gingrich and Kristen Slesar convened for a panel discussion titled “Women in the US Military.” The discussion was part of the “Women in Conflict” conference coordinated by a number of student groups at SIPA and co-sponsored by ISHR. The panelists’ wide…
AHDA Fellow Highlights: Bijoyeta Das, Justice through Visual Narrative
Chloe Oppenheim
The Alliance for Historical Dialogue and Accountability (AHDA) welcomed seven fellows to ISHR as part of its new fellowship program in Fall 2012. AHDA is dedicated to promoting historical dialogue, protecting human rights, and connecting scholars and practitioners dedicated to the discussion of past conflicts and conservation of historical memory.…
AHDA Conference: “Local Memory, Global Ethics, Justice: The Politics of Historical Dialogue in Contemporary Society”
Ella Wagner
From December 11 to 14, 2012, more than one hundred scholars and human rights practitioners arrived in Columbia University to discuss questions related to historical dialogue and collective memory. The conference, entitled “Local Memory, Global Ethics, Justice: The Politics of Historical Dialogue in Contemporary Society,” was sponsored by ISHR’s Alliance…
Cross Your Arms, Show Your Face
Valerie D. Comenencia Ortiz, President CUSHR
“I could hear the women crying for help, but there was no one to help them.” This statement from a witness of an attack in Chad, reported to Amnesty International, is just one of many harrowing testimonies posted by the “Stop Rape Now” campaign of the UN Action Against Sexual…
Responsible Advocacy with Children Affected by Armed Conflict Behind Compelling Narratives Stand Complex Individuals
Andrea Canepa and Ishmael Beah
We see it again—this time in Syria: both the disruption that conflict causes in children’s lives and the attempts of local and international NGOs, media professionals and citizen journalists to show us the critical degree of the situation by involving children in their campaigns and media reports. “Last week, my…
Deconstructing and Reconstructing ‘Mother’
Mariangels de Planell Saguer
On April 19, 2012 and November 30, 2012, Professor Yasmine Ergas of ISHR chaired two one-day meetings on “Deconstructing and Reconstructing ‘Mother’: Regulating Motherhood in International and Comparative Perspective.” Bringing together an interdisciplinary group of scholars from around the world, the workshop explored the transformation of definitions of motherhood…
November, 2012 - Volume 31, no. 1
ISHR Welcomes 2012 Human Rights Advocates: Participant Highlights
Tatiana Suridis
From mid-August to mid-December 2012, nine human rights activists join the Institute for the Study of Human Rights (ISHR) for the Human Rights Advocates Program (HRAP). HRAP is a rigorous four month program that provides participants with the opportunity to access the tools and resources necessary to strengthen their ability…
Brown Bag Lecture: “Close Encounters with the Chinese Public Security Bureau”
Yonghak Roh
On October 8, 2012, Hua Ze and Gu Chuan, visiting scholars at ISHR, discussed their collaborative compilation of accounts and commentaries on the Jasmine Revolution in China and shared their individual experiences as prisoners and detainees under the Chinese security bureau. The discussion was moderated and translated by Professor…
World Leaders Forum: Daw Aung San Suu Kyi visits Columbia University
Audrey Kim
On September 22, the World Leaders Forum and the Institute for the Study of Human Rights welcomed Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Chair of the National League for Democracy in Burma (also known as Myanmar), Member of Parliament representing the Kawmhu constituency, and recipient of the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize,…
AHDA Fellow Highlights: Today’s Leaders in Transitional Justice
Chloe Oppenheim
The Alliance for Historical Dialogue and Accountability (AHDA) welcomed seven fellows to ISHR for the fall semester. AHDA is dedicated to promoting historical dialogue, protecting human rights, and connecting scholars and practitioners dedicated to the discussion of past conflicts and conservation of historical memory. This August, AHDA launched its new…
Opinion: The Path to Marriage Equality: A Conversation with Bob Garon
Rachelle Cano
Since it was posted in December 2011, the YouTube video featuring presidential candidate Mitt Romney in conversation with gay Vietnam veteran Bob Garon has been viewed over 3.3 million times. In the video, a candid and unapologetic Romney says to the polite and unassuming veteran’s face that marriage is “between…
Women Human Rights Defenders Tour: Women with “Coraggio”
Mariangels de Planell Saguer, PhD
On Friday, October 5, Columbia University hosted an Amnesty International event entitled “Ginetta Sagan Women Human Rights Defenders Tour.” Jenni Williams and Beatrice Mukansinga, winners of the Ginetta Sagan Award for Women’s and Children’s Rights in 2012 and 1998 respectively, spoke at the event. Both of them exemplify courageous…
ISHR Welcomes Nina Schneider, Visiting Scholar
Sally Gao
Nina Schneider is a current visiting scholar at the Institute for the Study of Human Rights (ISHR). She specializes in contemporary Brazilian processes of historical redress in the wake of the violence committed during its former dictatorship. She will be at Columbia University during this fall semester. On October 3,…
May, 2012 - Volume 30, no. 3
2012 Human Rights Essay Contest Colloquium
Ashley Brandenburg
Two undergraduate student winners and one graduate student finalist of the Institute for the Study of Human Rights (ISHR) Essay Contest presented their work in a colloquium on March 23, 2012. Elizabeth Fisher of Columbia College, Allison Grossman of Barnard College, and Carla Hung of the Human Rights Studies M.A.…
American Coalition for the International Criminal Court
Audrey Kim
On March 26, Convener Josh Washburn and Deputy Convener Matthew Heaphy of the American Non-Governmental Organizations Coalition for the International Criminal Court (AMICC) discussed with students the role of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and its work advocating for the United States’ support of the Rome Statute of the ICC.…
Paradise Lost: The Consequences of Convicting Bradley Manning
Jacob Shiflett
Jacob Shiflett served as a sergeant in the United States Army and graduated from the Columbia School of General Studies in 2011. The views reflected in this article are his own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Institute for the Study of Human Rights or Columbia University.…
Schooling for Social Change
Ashley Brandenburg
Dr. Monisha Bajaj, Assistant Professor of Education in the Department of International and Transcultural Studies at Teachers College (TC), delivered the 2012 Lawrence Cremin Lecture at TC on February 7, 2012. Bajaj discussed her most recent work, Schooling For Social Change: The Rise and Impact of Human Rights Education in…
A Political War in the Womb
Ivy Rook
Political clashes between religious proponents and reproductive rights advocates have intensified as the 2012 presidential primaries unfold. Following the House’s attempt to cut back funds for Planned Parenthood, numerous pieces of legislation attacking both abortion rights and access to birth control have been introduced at the state and national level.…
Better Late than Never: Human Rights Trials in Argentina
Rosario Figari Layús
Rosario Figari Layús is a visiting scholar at ISHR. She is a researcher at the University of Konstanz, Germany. Her research addresses the role of criminal trials in Argentina by considering state policy and its meaning for victims. The outcomes presented are the result of data gathered during her research…
Amnesty International’s Campaign to Abolish Capital Punishment
Mariangels de Planell Saguer, PhD
“The death penalty violates the individual’s right to life as proclaimed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It states that one shall be free from cruel or degrading treatment and punishment.” With this introduction, Amnesty International’s Northeast Region Field Officer, Thenjiwe McHarris, captivated his audience. Thenijwe spoke at “The…
The Guantánamo Public Memory Project: Explaining the Present and Understanding Atrocities of the Past
Krisztian Simon
The Guantánamo Public Memory Project plans to raise awareness of the history of the U.S. base Guantánamo Bay detention camp on the southeastern end of Cuba, also referred to as GTMO and Gitmo. Several American universities are partners of the project, including Columbia University, which is also host of the…
A New Frontier of Human Rights Learning: Elsa Stamatopoulou’s Decades of Committed Work on Indigenous Peoples’ Rights
Sarah Flatto
Elsa Stamatopoulou is the current Director of Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Program at the Institute for the Study of Human Rights at Columbia University and Adjunct Professor with the Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Race and the Department of Anthropology, and former Chief of the Secretariat of the United…
Professor Belinda Cooper: Discussion on Women’s Rights and International Human Rights
Ivy Rook
On Monday, March 26th Professor Belinda Cooper addressed students in the first event of a speaker series organized by Columbia University Students for Human Rights. Professor Cooper described her experience researching women’s rights in Uzbekistan with the organization Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights. Her research was funded by a grant…
February, 2012 - Volume 30, no. 2
ISHR Works to Build Trust Among Students in Post-Conflict Sri Lanka
Krisztian Simon
The international human rights and peace-building program of the Institute for the Study of Human seeks to address the root causes of conflict. Its projects use applied research through humanitarian assistance, human rights training, economic development, and political participation. The program provides direct services of education, capacity building and dialogue.…
The InterAmerican Commission and Human Rights Protection in Brazil
Audrey Kim
Ms. Daniela Ikawa, a human rights attorney from Brazil and Program Officer at ESCR-net, spoke at the Institute for the Study of Human Rights on November 22, 2011. She discussed her experience bringing the Lazihno vs. Brazil case to the InterAmerican Commission on Human Rights in 2005. The InterAmerican System…
Opinion: Reopening Investigations of Campaign of Forced Sterilization in Peru
Laura Cools
Ollanta Humala, the current president of Peru, pledged to end the prevailing impunity for forced sterilizations performed under President Fujimori’s authoritarian regime. During his electoral campaign, he declared that there can be “no democracy in a country where amnesia and an absence of justice are promoted.” The government of Peru…
Journey of Alan R. Fleischman: from Neonatologist to Patients’ Rights Advocate
Mariangels de Planell Saguer
In November 2011, Columbia Master of Science in Bioethics program organized a seminar presented by Dr. Alan R. Fleischman entitled “A Bioethical Journey from Clinical and Research Ethics to Policy and Public Health.” Dr. Fleischman is senior vice-president and medical director of the March of Dimes Foundation, as well as…
Student Research: Peacebuilding Processes and Problematic Service Provision in Northwest Pakistan
Sarah Flatto
The following research brief is based on Sarah Flatto’s Masters integrative project research, which was funded by the Advanced Consortium in Cooperation, Complexity, and Conflict at the Earth Institute, Columbia University. She conducted qualitative interviews in Pakistan and India to examine the efficacy of international educational interventions in complex emergencies,…
Panel: Occupy Wall Street—The Next Human Rights Movement?
Andrea Canepa
We have come to a clear realization of the fact that true individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence. Necessitous men are not free men.” President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, State of the Union Address of 1944 Is Occupy Wall Street purely about the state of the economy? Is…
Alliance for Historical Dialogue and Accountability
Audrey Kim
Founded in 2011 by Professor Elazar Barkan and Veronika Burget, the Alliance for Historical Dialogue and Accountability (AHDA) aims to connect scholars and practitioners and facilitate historical dialogue. Based at the Institute for the Study of Human Rights, AHDA connects journalists, scholars, artists and film directors, activists, and NGOs who…
November, 2011 - Volume 30, no. 1
Welcoming 2011 Human Rights Advocates: Participant Highlights
Sarah Flatto, TC ‘12
ISHR warmly welcomed fourteen outstanding individuals to the 2011 Human Rights Advocate Program. This unique opportunity provides skill-building and experiential learning for leaders and enables them to participate in dialogues on human rights issues with members of the academic, NGO, policy, and corporate communities. Here is a selection of…
ISHR Launches New Undergraduate Human Rights Major
Audrey Kim, CC ‘13
The Institute for the Study of Human Rights (ISHR) launched its new undergraduate human rights major this fall semester, providing an opportunity for undergraduates to focus and deepen their knowledge in human rights. The new major and concentration is a shift from the previously offered special concentration, which was only…
The Uncertain Future of Human Rights in the Arab Spring
Faith Lemon, GSAS ‘11
“The people want the fall of the regime,” echoed for weeks last December on Avenue Habib Bourguiba in Tunis, and the Arab World was irreparably altered. The slogan has since spread infectiously throughout the streets of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), bringing with it the hope of democracy…
World Leaders reflect on hopes and needs of their people at UNGA
Andrea Canepa, GSAS ‘13
The General Debate of the 66th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) took place in New York from September 21 to September 27 of 2011. The current GA Session, presided over by H.E. Mr. Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser from Qatar, centered on the theme: “The role of mediation in…
Clinton Global Initiative 2011—Invitation to the Age of Participation
Krisztian Simon, SIPA ‘13
“It has been said that no power on earth can stop an idea whose time has come. CGI was an idea whose time has come,” stated President Barack Obama at the Clinton Global Initiative’s (CGI) annual conference. This year’s conference addressed three main topics: employment, sustainable economies, and the rights…
Give Peace Another Chance
Audrey Kim, CC ‘13
On September 14, the United Nations Academic Impact organized a symposium in observance of the annual International Day of Peace at the UN Headquarters. The theme of the symposium was “Give Peace Another Chance” and was organized with Kyung Hee University (KHU) in the Republic of Korea. 3,500 KHU students…
Bioethics in Historical Context: The Other Syphilis Experiment
Mariangels de Planell Saguer, GSAS ‘12
A syphilis study conducted in Guatemala by the United States Public Health Services was kept secret for more than sixty years until Susan Reverby, a professor of medical history at Wellesley College in Massachusetts discovered records while she was conducting research on the Tuskegee Syphilis Study. The Tuskegee study is…
Student-Advocate Partnership in Sierra Leone: Summer 2011
Margaret Yukins, BC ‘12
Jennifer Wilmore, a student at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs, exemplifies the increasingly global scope of the Institute for the Study of Human Rights. During summer 2011, she completed an international internship with a nongovernmental organization coordinated by a Human Rights Advocate Program alumnus, Agnes Tamba. Jennifer is…
May, 2011 - Volume 29, no. 3
SIPA Welcomes Michelle Bachelet for International Women’s Day
Christine Heckman
In celebration of International Women’s Day and the launch of UN Women, a new United Nations agency for women’s empowerment and equality, the School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) hosted a March 2 event with former President of Chile and Executive Director of UN Women, Michelle Bachelet. “A Conversation…
Sex Trafficking and the Super Bowl
Christine Heckman
Our meeting in Arlington, Texas, began with the reading of a heart-wrenching letter. Its author was a mother who last year, as well as the year before that, had been standing among the group of people that currently surrounded us. However, as we listened to her words being read aloud,…
Human Rights in the Post-Communist World
Rachel Boehr
The Harriman Institute has organized a year-long lecture series on “Human Rights and the Post-Communist World.” Professors Jack Snyder and Alexander Cooley, both faculty of Harriman Institute and of Columbia and Barnard’s political science departments, respectively, spoke with RightsNews about the series. Q: How did this series come about? Cooley:…
Transitional justice from the Berlin Wall to the Arab spring
Tim Shenk
Since the end of the Cold War, countries transitioning to democracy have faced many dilemmas related to human rights abuses committed by their former regimes. From Poland 20 years ago to Egypt today, new leaders must decide whether to prosecute former officials or grant them amnesty for political reasons. Leading…
Stopping the illegal trade in weapons
Tim Shenk
“The arms trade is out of control at the moment.” So said Anna MacDonald, one of four experts who spoke about the prospects for a global treaty on conventional weapons in a February 22 panel discussion at the School of International and Public Affairs. MacDonald is the head of Oxfam’s…
A dissident of the human rights establishment
Erica Mac Donald
Freedom of expression is a human right, but employees of human rights organizations are not always free to exercise it. Last year, Gita Sahgal was suspended from her position as head of Amnesty International’s Gender, Sexuality and Identity unit shortly after publicly criticizing the organization for its work with a…
Opinion: Debating social media and revolution
Tanya O’Carroll
Were the recent uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt “Twitter Revolutions”? This debate has echoed back and forth across Columbia in the past six weeks. No less than five panel discussions have taken place on campus, with leading academics, journalists and activists offering their insights on the potential and the limitations…
Henkin the teacher
Tim Shenk
The legacy of Columbia University Professor Louis Henkin, who pioneered the study of human rights, has shaped the field of human rights advocacy as we know it today. One contribution that should not be overlooked is his role as a teacher to some of today’s leading advocates. In a March…
February, 2011 - Volume 29, no. 2
Aiding asylum seekers in NYC
Eve Warburton and Tanya O’Carroll
Four months ago, a middle-aged man from West Africa arrived at JFK airport having escaped political persecution in his home country. With no English or contacts in the United States, Michel searched for someone who looked African and might speak French. He approached a taxi driver outside the airport who…
40 years of workers’ rights
Anjali Dixit
On Nov. 4, students and faculty at the Mailman School of Public Health celebrated the 40th anniversary of the establishment of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) as part of the federal government. Dr. David Michaels, a graduate of Columbia University and current Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA,…
16 days of activism against gender violence
Eleanor O. Rosseau
In 1991, the first participants of the Women’s Global Leadership Institute (WGLI) at the Rutgers Center for Women’s Global Leadership launched the inaugural 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence Campaign. By spanning from Nov. 25, International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, to Dec. 10, International Human…
The unfinished business of Africa’s longest wars
Erica Mac Donald and Tim Shenk
Southern Sudan and northern Uganda have both experienced decades of war with grave humanitarian consequences, spurring international involvement at many levels. Unfortunately, it will be difficult to achieve a lasting peace in either region due to unresolved political conflicts, according to Mareike Schomerus, a fellow with the Global Public Policy…
Understanding children’s rights violations in eastern Congo
Ihotu Ali
“Jambo!” and other words of welcome greeted our research team in each new village as we conducted a population-based survey of human rights abuses committed against children in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). This past summer, I joined a team of Columbia University public health students, staff and…
Evaluating corruption
Christine Heckman
On Nov. 11, Columbia University’s Harriman Institute of Russian, Eurasian and Eastern European Studies hosted a panel discussion entitled “The Politics of International Corruption Ratings” as part of its series Human Rights in the Post-Communist World, co-convened by Professors Jack Snyder and Alexander Cooley. The panel consisted of Mlada Bukovansky,…
Opinion: Controversy over Angelina Jolie’s directorial debut in Bosnia
Dragana Kaurin
Over the past decade we have seen a rise of young, talented filmmakers in Bosnia. Films such as Welcome to Bosnia, The Days and Hours, Fraulein and Grbavica address the social and political issues facing Bosnia in post-war life. These films approach the issues of families separated by war, lost…
Louis Henkin’s legacy
Dorothy Lovell and Tim Shenk
Louis Henkin, a pioneering international lawyer and scholar who established human rights as an academic discipline, died on October 14, 2010, at the age of 92. Professor Henkin was born in 1917 in present-day Belarus and emigrated with his family to the United States in 1923. He went on…
October, 2010 - Volume 29, no. 1
ISHR welcomes 2010 human rights advocates
Dorothy Lovell
The Institute for the Study of Human Rights (ISHR) introduced its 2010 Human Rights Advocates to students, faculty and the wider Columbia University community at a Sept. 22 reception. The 10 advocates, chosen from 170 applicants, represent eight different countries and work on a wide range of issues from union…
Students kick off year with weekend retreat
Christine Heckman
Thirty-five students of human rights and humanitarian affairs from Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) and the School of Social Work embarked on SIPA’s annual weekend retreat in the Catskill Mountains on Sept. 24. While the retreat may sound much like a weekend at summer camp to some,…
After 62 years, Nuremberg documentary debuts
Erica Mac Donald
Sixty-two years after the production of “Nuremberg: Its Lessons for Today,” the documentary made its U.S. premier at the New York City Film Festival on Sept. 28. The film, originally directed by Stuart Schulberg and completed in 1948 under the auspices of the Office of Strategic Services within the United…
Measuring the impact of human rights
Tim Shenk
The human rights movement is under increasing scrutiny as activists, donors and policymakers ask how human rights work can be measured and evaluated. Can human rights conditions be quantified and compared between different places and times? What can such measurements tell us, for example, about the practical effects…
Opinion: Confronting the ethical dilemmas of advocacy
Anjali Dixit
Western human rights advocates who speak on behalf of individuals in developing countries are often criticized for reinforcing existing East-West power dynamics. Critics argue that human rights advocates create and perpetuate an image of a homogenous “Third World” populated by oppressed people who have no variety, thought or agency. These…
A victory for domestic workers
Dorothy Lovell
Joycelyn Gill-Campbell, organiz-ing director for Domestic Workers United (DWU), experienced trials and triumphs along the road to the passage of New York’s Bill of Rights for Domestic Workers. The bill, which was signed into New York state law on Aug. 31, 2010, grants labor rights to domestic workers (workers in…
One for the books
Eve Warburton
Columbia University’s Center for Human Rights Documentation and Research (CHRDR) is home to a critical mass of human rights documents. Much of the collection consists of archives dating back to the 1970s from leading international organizations, including Amnesty International-USA, Human Rights Watch and, most recently, the Committee to Protect Journalists.…
From conflict zones to summer school
Eleanor Rousseau Oxholm
Many American students spend their last weeks of summer dreading the beginning of another grueling semester of research papers and final exams—but when fall rolls around, at least we know what to expect. For newly arrived refugee youths in New York City, many of whom have spent years in…
April, 2010 - Volume 28, no. 2
Announcing the Institute for the Study of Human Rights
Tim Shenk
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…
Historical commissions: successes and failures
Daniel Mahla
The view that scholarship can and in fact should be separated from politics is a fairly common notion. This idea, however, is severely flawed. Historians and other scholars cannot and must not ignore the political dimension of their work. This, at least, was the central message that Elazar Barkan, co-director…
Environmental migration and the dilemmas of displacement
Rebecca Chao
Representatives from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the governments of Australia and Bangladesh presented their views on climate change migration at the April 5 panel discussion, “Migration and Climate Change: Managing the Displaced.” “Migration is the most disruptive aspect of climate change,” said Alex de Sherbinin,…
“Sexual terrorism” in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Melissa Kemp
“Raise Hope for Congo” is the name of the Enough Project’s campaign to protect and empower women and girls in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Those who attended an April 7 “Raise Hope for Congo” panel discussion at the School for International and Public Affairs gained a better…
Opinion: Time for pragmatism on women’s rights treaty
Anjali Dixit
The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), adopted in 1979 by the United Nations General Assembly, is also known as the international bill of rights for women. CEDAW compels its signatories to create a normative framework of nondiscrimination and equality for women. In so…
Global award goes to Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumna
Prof. Jenik Radon
Margo Drakos (GSAS ‘08), Chief Operating Officer of InstantEncore.com, has been honored by the Forum of Young Global Leaders, a community of extraordinary achievers under the age of 40, led by the World Economic Forum and headed by Queen Rania of Jordan. Each year the Forum recognizes and acknowledges up…
Opinion: Haiti’s broken promises
Ihotu Ali
In 1804, Haiti experienced its first broken promise. After winning a hard-fought war for independence, France refused freedom to Haitian slaves unless they paid 150 million francs (the modern day equivalent of $21 billion) and plunged Haiti into debt and crippled governance for generations. Now, with government buildings devastated and…
Opinion: Rage against virtual rape: the Japanese video game controversy
Kei Hiruta
Japan’s sex industry and alleged sexism have again become a source of international concern after a recent CNN report on Japanese rape simulation video games. The coverage attracted a wide audience beyond feminists, women’s rights activists, and specialists in Japanese politics and culture. The specific software featured on CNN was…
Russian activists go to jail to defend their constitutional rights
Tim Shenk
On the 31st day of every month that has 31 days, Russian human rights activists stage a silent demonstration in a public square in Moscow. They stand quietly and peacefully, each wearing a badge that says “31” — the number of the article in the Russian constitution that guarantees the…
February, 2010 - Volume 28, no. 1
Students and faculty return from Haiti following earthquake
Tessa Hager-Holson and Heather Hansen
On Jan. 20, Dean Coatsworth and other members of the School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) administration held a welcome home reception for Professor Lindenmayer and six SIPA students as well as two faculty members from the Earth Institute who were in Haiti during the recent earthquake. As part…
Welcome to RightsNews
Elazar Barkan
The wrenching images from Haiti have dominated public discussion since the horrific earthquake last month. Several of our students who were working in Haiti were lucky to escape harm and have returned after spending the first few days in Port-au-Prince aiding and surviving at the same time. …
Event focuses on children in war
Tim Shenk
Ishmael Beah, a children’s rights activist and former child soldier, headlined a Nov. 18 panel discussion on child soldiers, “Children on the Front Line.” Beah wrote an acclaimed memoir, A Long Way Gone, about his experiences as a child soldier in Sierra Leone’s civil war. Beah and other panelists spoke…
Human Rights Advocate brings Mexico’s “Dirty War” to light
Tim Shenk
Rosendo Radilla Pacheco, a former mayor in Mexico’s Guerrero state, was riding a bus with his 11-year-old son on Aug. 25, 1974, when soldiers stopped the bus at a checkpoint. They recognized Radilla and accused him of writing corridos — Mexican folksongs that sometimes celebrated left-wing causes. Radilla asked, “Is…
The long road to indigenous rights
Tim Shenk
After decades of advocacy by indigenous groups, the U.N. General Assembly adopted a Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in 2007. Robert T. Coulter, executive director of the Indian Law Resource Center, spoke about his role in creating the declaration during a Nov. 23 lecture at SIPA. “It was…
Conflict and compromise in the Middle East
Tim Shenk
Hanna Ziadeh, a visiting scholar at the Center for the Study of Human Rights, discussed his research topic, “The Trail of Blood: The search for an intercommunal national system in Lebanon and Iraq,” in an Oct. 28 presentation at the School of International and Public Affairs. Ziadeh’s work stems in…
Human Rights Advocates Program: Building leaders
Alex Burnett
Every fall semester, respected human rights leaders from around the world make New York City and Columbia University their home, immersing themselves in policy debates, networking and advanced training. Their goal is to build on their skills, knowledge and contacts to return home ready to resume the fight for human…
Free Kian Tajbakhsh, Columbia faculty member imprisoned in Iran
Twenty Columbia faculty members and officers signed a letter requesting that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton help secure the release of Kian Tajbakhsh from an Iranian prison. Dr. Tajbakhsh was found guilty of “political crimes” by an Iranian court on Oct. 20, 2009, following his support of the Iranian…
Developing incentives for peace in Darfur
Tim Shenk
Seven years after violence erupted in Sudan’s Darfur region, the conflict has stubbornly continued despite all attempts at international mediation. The Center for the Study of Human Rights is carrying out a program called the Darfur Development Initiative to promote peace in the troubled region. The goal is to identify…
