Human Rights Center | Past Events

October 28, 5:30-7:30 PM
Columbian Paramilitaries in the United States: A Victim's Quest for Truth and Accountability
Goldberg Room, Boalt Hall

In 2001, paramilitary commander Hernan Giraldo forcefully disappeared and
murdered Julio Henriquez, an environmentalist, for interfering with his drug
trafficking empire. Though convicted of this crime in Colombia, Giraldo’s 2008 extradition to the U.S. for drug trafficking blocked redress for the victims of one of this hemisphere’s most violent criminals. Along with 14 other extradited Colombian paramilitaries in U.S. custody, Giraldo may never be held accountable for human rights abuses.

The International Human Rights Law Clinic and Wilson, Sonsini,Goodrich &
Rosati are using the Crime Victims Rights Act tointervene on behalf of
Bela Henriquez, the slain environmentalist’s daughter, in the U.S. drug
prosecution against her father’s murderer.

Sponsored by: International Human Rights Law Clinic, Human Rights Center, Miller Institute of Global Challenges and Law, La Raza Law Students Association, Boalt Hall Committee on Human Rights, International Law Society and Berkeley Journal of International Law.

October 27, 3-5 PM, Reception to follow
Human Rights Advocacy: Mobilizing Action in the Visual Age
Seaborg Room, Faculty Club

Human rights advocates and political communicators have long used a “shame and blame” strategy to shape public opinion, affect policy or legal issues and steer public life. The tremendous impact of imagery in this media-saturated world is not in dispute, but how modern photography, film, Internet, YouTube and 24-hour news channels have changed human rights documentation and advocacy is ripe for discussion. In this participatory dialogue three presenters will trace the impact of imagery and media on public events and pose questions for small group discussions among those in attendance. A reception will follow the dialogue.

This event is co-sponsored by the Townsend Center, Berkeley Center for New Media, Goldman School of Public Policy, and the RockRose Institute. It is free and open to the public, but registration is encouraged. To RSVP, please visit the event's registration page.

Not Yet Rain, a short film by Lisa Russell, produced in association with the international NGO Ipas, explores abortion in Ethiopia through the voices of women who have faced the challenge of trying to find safe reproductive health care. Through their stories, we see the important role that safe abortion care plays in the overall health of women and their families.

Anu Kumar ’85, executive vice president of Ipas, will lead a discussion following the film about the global need for safe abortion care to achieve women’s rights. Ipas is a nonprofit organization that works around the world to increase women’s ability to exercise their sexual and reproductive rights, and to reduce abortion-related deaths and injuries.

Sponsored by Center for African Studies, International House, and the School of Public Health

October 12, 4 PM
UCSF School of Medicine and Global Strategies for AIDS Prevention Roundtable
UCSF, Room 225-N, Nursing School
Stephen Lewis

UCSF School of Medicine and Global Strategies for AIDS Prevention are hosting a presentation, roundtable and individual conversations with Stephen Lewis, the UN’s first Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa. Professor Lewis will speak at 4:00 pm, followed by a roundtable and Q&A at 4:50, to conclude at 5:30.

September 14, 4 PM
Cambodian Democracy and Human Rights Under Siege: One Woman's Fight
Goldberg Room, Boalt Hall
Mu Sochua, Member of the Cambodian Parliament

Opposition leader, pro-democracy campaigner, social worker, and women's rights advocate Mu Sochua (MSW alumna '81) will discuss her years battling sex trafficking, domestic violence against women, government corruption and land grabs in Cambodia, as well as the court case that has now attracted the attention of the UN High Commission on Human Rights. As one of the most outspoken members of the Cambodian parliament, Mu Sochua has taken on the Prime Minister in a test of her country’s legal system. In a series of events that began last year, Mu Sochua recently had her parliamentary immunity stripped and will now face a defamation suit brought against her by Prime Minister Hun Sen. Hers is one of at least six cases in which the Cambodian government is currently using the courts to silence opposition leaders, journalists and human rights groups, reports the Asian Human Rights Commission.

This event is sponsored by the School of Social Welfare, and co-sponsored by the University of California, Berkeley Human Rights Center, the Boalt Hall School of Law International Human Rights Law Clinic and the Miller Institute for Global Challenges and the Law. It is open to the public and refreshments will be served.

September 12, 8:30am-5:30pm
Gender Based Violence: Our Duty to Protect and Heal
UC Hastings School of Law
200 McAllister Street, San Francisco

Keynote Speaker
Dr. Jorge Bustamante, U.N. Special Rapporteur on Migrants

Featured Speakers and Presenters:

A suggested donation of $15 is encouraged. To learn more and register for the conference, visit the conference's Eventbrite page.

August 18, 12:30 PM
The United Nations Experience with the Guatemalan Conflict: Understanding the Past, Preparing for the Future
120 Boalt Hall
Dr. Christian Tomuschat, Former U.N. Commissioner, United Nations Commission on Clarification of the Past, Guatemala

June 12, 3 PM to 5 PM
Health and Human Rights in Gaza: Evidence from the Frontlines CGPH Seminar Series
Stephens Lounge, MLK Student Union
Dr. Mads Gilbert, hosted by Professor Jess Ghannam (UCSF)

A professor and physician based in Tromsø, Norway, Dr. Mads Gilbert has participated in numerous international emergency medical missions and training projects in war and post-conflict zones in Lebanon, West Bank, Gaza, Iran, Burma, Cambodia, Afghanistan, and Angola. During the most recent conflict in Gaza, Dr. Gilbert was one of a few foreign physicians on the ground, in a period when foreign journalists were barred from entry. Dr. Gilbert has published several articles in The Lancet about his experience and has been interviewed extensively by the international media, including CNN, BBC and Al-Jazeera.

Co-sponsored by the Center for Global Public Health, Human Rights Center, Institute of International Studies, and the Center for Middle Eastern Studies.

April 23, 1 PM, Keynote address, 5 PM
Boalt Hall, Room 110 2009
Stefan A. Riesenfeld Symposium
Beyond the Bush Era: International Human Rights Law Looking Forward

The 2009 Riesenfeld Symposium will examine the current status of human rights law, with a focus on how the framework of this legal system has been affected by the Bush Administration's approach to international human rights law. The Symposium will bring together students, scholars, and legal practitioners in a discussion that aims to refine and expand our understanding of how human rights norms operate in both the domestic and international contexts. Symposium speakers include Martha Davis, John Bellinger, Constance de la Vega, Steven Watt, Dinah Shelton, and Elise Keppler, and will each speak on a panel discussing either the development of using human rights norms in the US domestic sphere, or the impact and legacy of the past administration's often controversial stances on international human rights law. Philip Alston, world-renowned scholar in international human rights law, is keynote speaker and recipient of this year's Riesenfeld award for outstanding contribution to the field of international law.

Co-sponsored by the Boalt Hall Committee for Human Rights, Berkeley Journal of International Law, and the Human Rights Center.

April 23, 12 PM
2223 Fulton St., 6th floor conference room
David Trim, Pacific Union College; Visiting Scholar, Canadian Studies Program

April 22, 7 PM
Lecture on the Armenian Genocide
Maude Fife Room, 315 Wheeler Hall
Dr. Roger W. Smith, Professor Emeritus, College of William and Mary

Dr. Smith has received the "Movses Khorenatsi Medal" which was awarded by the President of Armenia to individuals "for their prominent contributions in the fields of culture, arts, literature, education, and humanities.” It is the highest award given by the President of Armenia. He has served as
President of the International Association for Genocide Scholars, chairman of the Zoryan Institute's Academic Board of Directors, and as a council
member of the Institute on the Holocaust.

Co-sponsored with the Armenian Students Association and ASUC

April 20, 6 PM
Rwanda, Congo and The Great Lakes Region: A Tribute to Alison Des Forges
Geballe Room
Townsend Center for the Humanities, 220 Stephens Hall

This panel discussion is dedicated to Alison Des Forges, a historian and
human rights activist, who was senior adviser in the Africa Division
of Human Rights Watch for nearly 15 years. She had warned of a
possible genocide in early 1993, helped mobilize policymakers and the
public against the genocide in 1994, and later, as an expert witness,
helped convict many génocidaires at the International Criminal
Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) and in Belgian and Swiss courts. Her
magisterial account of the Rwandan genocide, Leave None to Tell the
Story (1999) earned her the MacArthur "genius" award.

NYTimes Obituary
Tribute by Human Rights Watch

Panelists
Sarah Freedman, Professor, Graduate School of Education
Georgette Gagnon, Director, Africa Division, Human Rights Watch
Timothy Longman, Associate Professor of Political Science and Africana Studies, Vassar College
Michael Watts, Professor, Geography Department
Adam Hochschild, moderator, Graduate School of Journalism

With opening remarks by Darian Swig, Member of the Human Rights Watch Board of Directors and the Human Rights Center’s Advisory Board

Co-sponsored with Human Rights Watch and Center for African Studies

April 8-9
Bearing Witness to Atrocity: A MacArthur Symposium on International Criminal Justice
Please join us for three public events that will explore the international justice mechanisms currently at work and highlight the role of victims and witnesses.

Two panel discussions will take place in the Geballe Room of the Townsend Center for the Humanities, Stephens Hall. They are free and open to the public.

April 9, 7 PM
Liberia's Struggle for Peace and Justice
A Lecture by Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, President of Liberia and Author of This Child Will Be Great: Memoir of a Remarkable Life by Africa's First Woman President
Moderated by Adam Hochschild
International House, Chevron Auditorium

The International Criminal Court has been heralded as a "victim's court" but how will the Court make good on this promise? This panel will explore the challenges faced in bringing the voices of victims into criminal proceedings and what international courts and tribunals have done to meet some of these challenges. Audio (mp3)

April 8, 4 PM to 6 PM
Giving Voice to the Voiceless: Bringing Stories of Atrocity to the World

Journalists from Africa will discuss the critical need to bring Africa's evolving story of atrocities and justice to the world at large. They will provide first-hand accounts of the impact on families of the terror campaign waged by the Lord's Resistance Army rebels in northern Uganda, and the devastating consequences of the sexual violence against women by all sides in the conflicts in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Trained by the Institute for War and Peace Reporting, they investigate the work of the International Criminal Court in the field. Audio (mp3)

April 2, 4 PM
Weak States and Transnational Threats
Seaborg Room, Faculty Club
Dr. Stewart Patrick, Senior Fellow and Director of the Program on International Institutions and Global Governance at the Council on Foreign Relations

Dr. Stewart Patrick is senior fellow and director of the program on international institutions and global governance at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). His areas of expertise include multilateral cooperation in the management of global issues; U.S. policy toward international institutions, including the United Nations; the challenges posed by fragile, failing, and post-conflict states; and the integration of U.S. defense, development, and diplomatic instruments in U.S. foreign and national security policy.

March 18, 4 PM
Understanding Islamist Politics: Internal Debates and Electoral Opposition
Seaborg Room, Berkeley Faculty Club (Map)
Professor Nathan Brown, George Washington University and Professor Mohammed Hafez, Naval Postgraduate School

RSVPs appreciated but not required: 510-642-2474 or ojessie@berkeley.edu

Islamist political parties are flourishing across the Arab world, and their increasingly mainstream influence appears unlikely to diminish in the near future. To explore the myriad dimensions of Islamist politics, Professor Nathan Brown of George Washington University and Professor Mohammed Hafez of the Naval Postgraduate School will hold a public discussion focused on these influential religio-political movements. Professor Brown will examine Islamist movements in the Arab world and how the decision to participate in the electoral process affects them organizationally and ideologically, and Professor Hafez will discuss takfir (excommunication in Islam) and the internal debates over Muslim against Muslim violence.

March 16th, 11 AM
Facing Genocide: Education and Peace through Image
4529 Tolman Hall, Graduate School of Education
Professor Sonia Fournier

Sonia Fournier is a Professor of Education at the University of Quebec at Rimouski, Canada and Visiting Scholar at the Human Rights Center, UC Berkeley. She has authored two books on Multiple Intelligences and several articles including “Le génocide des Tutsi de 1994: éducation et témoignage par l’image” and “Évocation du génocide des Tutsi: architecture de la mémoire et image.”

The specific context of the genocide of the Tutsi in Rwanda in 1994 led us to reflect on how children whose parents are perpetrators or survivors of the genocide act within their scholastic environment. Perpetrators and victims have lived together for fifteen years, and some children were not born during the genocide. This development obliges the Rwandans to invent a culture of peace in schools in line with the reconciliation politics. What’s more, Rwandan teachers question themselves when faced with the transmission of an exemplary memory that fully respects the child’s development and the avoidance of possible traumas. This research aims, therefore, to elaborate upon, construct, and describe pedagogical tools with image across the history of the genocide.

Co-sponsored by the Language, Literacy, Society and Culture area, Graduate School of Education

March 13, 12:45 PM
Genocide & The International Criminal Court: Challenges and
Strategies for Justice
Boalt Hall, Room 110
Mark Hanis, Genocide Intervention Network

In this lecture, Hanis will explore options for action in two cases: the recent Burmese military attacks against civilians and the ICC indictment of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir for violence in Darfur.

Hanis is the executive director of the Genocide Intervention Network,
an organization empowering communities to stop genocide. He founded
the organization in 2005. It now boasts 10,000 members, a $3 million
budget, and has hired female police officers to protect Darfur women
from rape. Hanis graduated from Swarthmore College in 2005. Hanis is
the the grandchild of four Holocaust survivors and was raised in
Quito, Ecuador.

Lunch will be served. Contact: Lauren Groth, groth.lauren@gmail.com

March 12, 5:30 PM
Northgate Hall
Peter Eichstaedt, Africa Editor, Institute for War and Peace Reporting

Eichstaedt will be discussing his book, First Kill Your Family: Child Soldiers of Uganda and the Lord's Resistance Army, which focuses on Uganda's 20-year war with rebels of the LRA and its extensive use of child soldiers. The war is one of Africa's largest, yet most under-reported tragedies.

Co-sponsored with the Graduate School of Journalism

February 23, 7 to 9 PM
Ida and Robert Sproul Room, International House
Mario Sanchez, Director of Asociación Pro-Búsqueda
Lecture: In Search for El Salvador's Disappeared Children

Asociación Pro-Búsqueda is an NGO in San Salvador that aims to reunite families torn apart by the armed conflict in El Salvador (1980-1992) and seeks to hold the Salvadoran government accountable for the abduction of children from families who resided in villages where the fighting occurred.
From the 787 registered cases to date, 464 children are still missing. While some of these children were raised in orphanages and by military families in El Salvador, it is suspected that hundreds of other children were adopted in North America and Europe. Pro-Búsqueda's work is supported by UC Berkeley's Human Rights Center and a California-based Alliance of Forensic Scientists who provide technical assistance regarding DNA analysis.

Before Mr. Sanchez's presentation of Pro-Búsqueda's work, we will show a short documentary about a family reunification of an American-Salvadorian Berkeley alum.

Sponsored by the Human Rights Center and International House

February 11, 2009
Guantanamo and Its Aftermath
Eric Stover and Laurel Fletcher discuss their recent report on former Guantanamo detainees.
Listen to the recording of this event.
Co-sponsored by the World Affairs Council

February 5, 3 PM
Wars in the Congo, Part II
Patrick Vinck, Human Rights Center
Dan Fahey, College of Natural Resources
Geballe Room, Townsend Center, Stephens Hall

January 22, 4 PM
Transforming Afghanistan from a Failed to a Viable State
Arif Z. Lalani, Senior Visiting Fellow, Munk Centre for International Studies; Former Canadian Ambassador to Afghanistan, Iraq, and Jordan

Sponsored by The Institute of International Studies, The Religion, Politics and Globalization Program, The Human Rights Center, International House, Canadian Studies Program. Ambassador Lalani's lecture has been made possible by the generous support of the Office of the Consulate General of Canada, San Francisco | Silicon Valley.

December 10, Noon to 2 PM
Human Rights Day: Celebrating the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

December 1, 7 PM
Film screening, The Judge and the General
Directed by Elizabeth Farnsworth and Patricio Lanfranco (2008)

November 20, 12 Noon
Perspectives on Wars in Congo
Dan Fahey, Environmental Science, Policy and Management
Patrick Vinck, Director of the Initiative on Vulnerable Populations

November 18, 5 PM
Torture Team: Lawyers, Interrogations, Responsibilities
Philippe Sands, author of Torture Team: Rumsfeld's Memo and the Betrayal of American Values

October 30, 4 PM
Fixing Failed States: A View From the Field
Clare Lockhart, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Institute for State Effectiveness

October 20, 12:30 PM
From Army Chaplain to Prisoner: A Personal Account from the Front Lines of Guantanamo
James Yee, author of For God and Country: Faith and Patriotism Under Fire

October 6, 4 PM
Taxi to the Dark Side and the U.S. War on Terror
Maude Fife Room, 315 Wheeler Hall
*Podcast available for download. Program begins about 10 minutes into the recording.*

Alex Gibney, Director of the Academy Award–winning documentary Taxi to the Dark Side, will discuss his film, military detentions, and the U.S. war on terror, with Lowell Bergman, UCB School of Journalism.

September 23, 12:45 PM
Recent Developments in International Criminal Justice
Beth Van Schaak, Professor at Santa Clara University School of Law

September 22, 12:45 PM
Human Rights and BIGLAW?
Kathleen Kelly, Founder and Co-President of SPARK, Fellow at the Stanford International Human Rights Clinic

September 12, 4 PM
"Justice, Forgiveness, and the Khmer Rouge Tribunals"
Sophal Ear, Associate Professor, Naval Postgraduate School

In Spring 2008, the Human Rights Center, along with the School of Law's International Human Rights Law Clinic and Berkeley Project on Law and Terrorism, presented a colloquium on "The 'War on Terror' and Human Rights," a thought-provoking discussion about the methods used to pursue the “war on terror” and its impact on America’s reputation at home and abroad.

April 3, 5 PM
A Question of Conscience: Military Perspectives on the “War on Terror”
Maude Fife Room, 315 Wheeler Hall
Col. (Ret.) Lawrence B. Wilkerson, U.S. Army
Lt. Col. V. Stuart Couch, U.S. Marine Corps
Lt. Col. (Ret.) Stephen E. Abraham, U.S. Army Reserve
Moderator: Adam Hochschild, Graduate School of Journalism

American practices in pursuing the “war on terror” have compelled some military officers to speak out in defense of Constitutional protections and international law. They have raised objections to abusive interrogations and unfair court proceedings of detainees at Guantánamo Bay, Abu Ghraib, and other U.S. military installations.

February 28, 5 PM
Does TV Persuade Us That Torture’s OK?
Room 110, Boalt Hall School of Law
Richard Walter, UCLA School of Film, Television, and Digital Media
Spc. (Ret.) Tony Lagouranis, U.S. Army Interrogator
Margaret Stock, Department of Law, U.S. Military Academy (West Point)
David Danzig, Primetime Torture Project, Human Rights First

With soldiers reportedly employing brutal interrogation techniques specifically imitating what they have seen on episodes of “24” and similar shows, this panel considers how popular culture since 9/11 has affected wartime military practice.

February 7, 7 PM
Keynote Address: Major General (Ret.) Antonio M. Taguba
International House, Chevron Auditorium
Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba led an inquiry into conditions at the military’s Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and is the author of a highly critical report that detailed the abusive interrogatory practices to which inmates were subjected. As a result of his efforts to expose these practices, he was encouraged to retire, which he did in January 2007 after 34 years of active duty. Maj. Gen. Taguba will discuss his investigation of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal and the cost of the U.S.’s “war on terror” to our democratic values, national security and international reputation.

General Taguba was interviewed while on campus as part of the series "Conversations with History," now available online.

May 5, 1 PM
"A Voice from the Burmese Grassroots"
Aung Kyaw Soe, Human Rights Defenders and Promoters

April 10, 12:45 PM
"The First Lawyer Inside Guantanamo"
Gitanjali Gutierrez, Staff Attorney, Center for Constitutional Rights

March 18, 12:45 PM
"The Khmer Rouge Tribunal: Cambodia's Best Hope for Justice"
Heather Ryan, Court Monitor, Open Society Justice Initiative

March 12, Noon
"Living with Fear: Unresolved Conflicts in Eastern Congo"
Patrick Vinck, Director, Vulnerable Population Initiative for Vulnerable Populations

Regents Lecturer Peter Maass
In October and November 2007 the Human Rights Center hosted Regents Lecturer Peter Maass for a two-week residency and three public lectures. An award-winning journalist, Maass has covered armed conflict in the Balkans and Iraq, as well as other international topics, for The Washington Post, The New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, The New Republic, and other publications. His book, Love Thy Neighbor: A Story of War (1996), was honored with the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and the Overseas Press Club Book Prize. His next book focuses on oil and globalization. While at Berkeley, he spoke on:

"From Saddam to Moqtada: A Writer's Odyssey Through Wartime Iraq"

"In the Shadow of Armies: From Iraq to Bosnia, the Tactics and Perils of Reporting on War Crimes"

In March 2007, the Human Rights Center presented “Stopping Mass Atrocities: An International Conference on the Responsibility to Protect.” The conference was launched with a keynote address by Lt. General Roméo Dallaire, force commander of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Rwanda during the 1994 genocide. It continued with a series of speeches and panel discussions, including remarks by the Hon. Gareth Evans, President of International Crisis Group, and Juan Méndez, President of the International Center for Transitional Justice. Visit the conference website for details and links to the webcasts. The conference was co-sponsored by Human Rights Watch and Genocide Intervention Network and was made possible by a grant from Humanity United.

As follow-up to the conference, the Human Rights Center led a research project resulting in the report "The Responsibility to Protect (R2P): Moving the Campaign Forward," published in October 2007.

2001

A 2001 conference on “DNA and Human Rights” brought together researchers, practitioners and activists from the fields of genetics, biotechnology, forensic sciences, criminal law, human rights and ethics to discuss the potential of DNA to address the extraordinary needs of victims of human rights violations. Visit the conference website to read more about the presentations and reports resulting from the event.

1997

Reporting from the Killing Fields: A Conference on Genocide, Crimes Against Humanity, and War (April 1997) addressed historical and legal perspectives of mass atrocities in the American West, Armenia, Southeast Asia, Yugoslavia, and Rwanda. The conference opened with an address by Justice Richard Goldstone, and included participation by legal experts and leading journalists. The conference was co-sponsored by the Graduate School of Journalism, the Institute of International Studies, and the School of Law.