UHRP students are engaged in a range of social and academic initiatives on campus. ISHR and its students organize regular events that allow students to deepen their understanding of human rights issues and expand their professional and academic networks:
- "Pizza with your Prof" Series
- Human Rights Research Series
- HRSMA Alumni Speaker Series
- Human Rights Students Networking Series
- Lectures and brownbags with human rights practitioners and academics
- Career and internship panel discussions
- Film screenings
Visit the ISHR and CU Calendars to get up to date information on upcoming seminars, workshops and brownbag sessions on a range of human rights topics.
To receive email announcements about upcoming events and opportunities, students can sign up for our listserves.
Student Groups
Involvement in student groups and extracurricular activities provides UHRP students the opportunity to engage in human rights issues of interest, get to know other students, and expand their networks. There are a range of student groups on campus that focus on issues pertaining to human rights.
The Columbia University Students for Human Rights (CUSHR) organizes a number of human rights-related events on campus. Established in collaboration with the Institute for the Study of Human Rights and its Undergraduate Human Rights Program, CUSHR fosters communication, facilitates networking, and promotes awareness, within the Columbia community for learning, activism, and involvement in human rights. For more information, contact CUSHR President
Fall 2010 Films
©2005 Think Film Company Inc.
Born Into Brothels: Calcutta's Red Light Kids
A tribute to the resiliency of childhood and the restorative power of art, Born into Brothels is a portrait of several unforgettable children who live in the red light district of Calcutta, where their mothers work as prostitutes. Zana Briski, a New York-based photographer, gives each of the children a camera and teaches them to look at the world with new eyes. 2004, 85 min.
Death Squadrons: The French School
In the 1970s and 1980s, many Latin American countries were under the control of brutal military regimes. This film recounts how French veterans of the wars in Indochina and Algeria provided the inspiration, the training, and some of the intelligence that allowed Latin American dictators to torture and kill thousands of their own citizens. Directed by Marie-Monique Robin, 2003, 60 min.
Michele Stéphenson
Faces of Change
Activists from five different countries document their struggles to overcome social, racial, ethnic and gender gaps in their native countries over a three-year period.
The screening of this film was followed by a discussion and Q&A with the filmmaker Michele Stephenson and Bakary Tandia, Whitney M. Young, Jr. Advocate 2010 Human Rights Advocate Program, Columbia University.
©2011, Simon Wiesenthal Center
Pushing the Elephant
Pushing the Elephant chronicles the story of Rose Mapendo and how she escaped from the ethnic violence of the Democratic Republic of Congo to become a vital voice to help mend her divided country. She has assisted dozens of survivors to recover and rebuild their lives. But there is still one person Rose must teach to forgive – her daughter Nangabire. Arts Engine and Big Mouth Films. Directed by Beth Davenport and Elizabeth Mandel 84 min., USA 2010.
The film screening was followed by discussion and Q&A with co-director and Columbia alumna, Elizabeth Mandel. Co-sponsored by UHRP and the Human Rights Working Group.
Susan Meiselas/Magnum Photos
The Reckoning: The Battle for the International Criminal Court
The film follows ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo and his team for 3 years across 4 continents in their efforts to prosecute perpatrators of crimes against humanity, war crimes, and genocide.
Statement 710299
A film about the legacy of war crimes in Bosnia 15 years after the Dayton Peace Accords. The film screening was followed by a presentation and Q&A with Azra Smailkadic-Brkic, Whitney M. Young, Jr. fellow in the 2010 Human Rights Advocates Program at Columbia University. Special guest Muhamed Sacirbey, Bosnia’s first ambassador to the United Nations and member of the Bosnian delegation to the peace negotiations. Directed by Refik Hodzic. 2009, 95min.
Fall 2010 Presentations and Discussions
Deviant Globalization
Discussion with Dr. Nils Gilman on the dark sides of transnational integration, including human trafficking, gun running, international drug trade, global computer hacking networks and money laundering.
How Not to Help
Accounts of human rights and humanitarian aid interventions gone wrong and a discussion of how we can do better with Kate Cronin-Furman and Amanda Taub, human rights lawyers and co-editors of the blog Wronging Rights.
Implementing International Standards in NYC
Panel discussion with members from the New York City Human Rights Initiative about utilizing international documents to institutionalize international standards in the United States, specifically in New York City.
Rethinking Education: Conflict & Peacebuilding in Rwanda
Dr. Elisabeth King, postdoctoral research fellow at the Earth Institute at Columbia University, discusses politics in Rwanda, shares her experiences conducting research in this post-genocide context, and explains how education in Rwanda is not only a human right, but also an important contributor to both conflict and peacebuilding.
