Human Rights Events Calendar

See: CICS web at http://www.ii.umich.edu/cics

Archived Events at the bottom of the page

 

Archived Events 2008-2009:

September 26, 2008, 12:00 PM - 1:30 PM, Institute for the Humanities, Room 2022
Allen Feldman, from NYU's Media, Culture & Communications department, will speak on his ethnographic work in Northern Ireland and South Africa
Rackham Distinguished Human Rights Lecture

September 29, 2008, 3pm, Lane Family Auditorium, Rm. 1690 SPH Tower
Menopause, and women's health-findings from cross-sectional and longitudinal studies
Lorraine Dennerstein AO, MBBS, PHD, DPM, FRANZCP
Department of Psychiatry, The University of Melbourne
Victoria, Australia
Department of Epidemiology Seminar Series

Monday, September 22, 2008, 12-1:00 pm, 2239 Lane Hall
James Gruber: Sexual Harassment, Bullying, and Health Outcomes: Does Race Matter?
James Gruber (UM-Dearborn) discusses his work with Susan Fineran, based on survey results from secondary school students. The talk addresses two questions: Are there race differences in victimization from bullying and sexual harassment? And, is one group (white or African-American) harmed more as a result of victimization. Theories and research methodologies on bullying and sexual harassment have followed separate paths for three decades even though they often focus on similar outcomes. Consequently, there is little basis for directly comparing their adverse effects. And, while there is a substantial research literature on bullying and sexual harassment, only a few studies analyze race differences. We focus on race and gender differences in health outcomes (self esteem, mental and physical health, and post-traumatic stress symptoms).

September 22, 2008, 4-5:15pm, Hutchins Hall (first floor), Room 116
ICTY and ICJ in the Conflict and Post-Conflict in the Former Yugoslavia:  An Appraisal
Vladimir Djeric, Former Advisor to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Serbia and Montenegro/FRY, 2000-2004; currently private practitioner of international law, Mikijelj Jankovic & Bogdanovic, Belgrade

Tuesday September 30, 2008, 3-4:30pm, Michigan League, Vandenberg Room
When Does a Problem Become a Human Rights Issue? Personal Reflection on the Evolution of the Human Rights Movement
Susan Waltz, Professor of Public Poicy, is a 2008-2009 Human Rights Fellow at University of Michigan. more
CICS 2008 Human Rights Lecture, co-sponsored by the Insititute for the Humanities

October 6, 2008, 12-1, Room 6050 at the Institute for Social Research
School Quality, Attitudes about the Family, and Contraceptive Use in Nepal
Sara Brauner-Otto, Carolina Population Center, University of North Carolina
Population Studies Center Brown Bag Seminar Series

October 6, 2008, 4-5:15pm, Hutchins Hall (first floor), Room 116
The Law Governing Non-Occupied Gaza: In Search of a New International Law Doctrine
Yuval Shany The Hersch Lauterpacht Chair in International Law and Academic Director of the Minerva Center for Human Rights at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem

October 15, 2008, 3pm Lane Family Auditorium, Rm. 1690 School of Public Health Tower
Carlos F. Cáceres, MD, PhD
Professor Principal de Salud Pública
Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia

October 17, 2008, 8:00-1:00pm, International Institute Rm 1636, School of Social Work Building
Gender, Sexuality, Health and Human Rights in Latin America and the Caribbean
Sponsored by UM SPH Health Behavior Health Education & Latin American and Caribbean Studies more.

October 17, 2008, 12-1:30pm
The Indian Uprising and the Haunting of Justice in Malaysia
Andrew Willford, Department of Anthropology, Cornell University
This paper examines the cultural, historical, and psychological forces that contributed to a dramatic and unprecedented public demonstration of up to 40,000 Malaysian Tamils directed against the Malaysian government, as spearheaded by the “Hindu Rights Action Force” (HINDRAF) in November, 2007. It is argued here that only in an excess in and of the law, or in its relative transgression, a notion of justice is being made explicable to Tamils who perceive themselves to be victims, betrayed by an emergent force of Islamization wedded to ethnic politics. This is understood in terms of an emergent sense of historicity and through the incalculable demands for recognition that blur, and thereby, confound, legalistic definitions of identification in Malaysia.

October 23, 2008, 4-5:30pm, 3240 Weill Hall
An Empirical Model of Illegal Work
Frank McIntyre, Brigham Young University
Economic Development and Transition Seminar (EDTS)
FRANK McINTYRE is an assistant professor of Economics at BYU.  He has conducted research in wage inequality, minimum wages, and illegal work in Brazil, the EITC and the minimum wage in the U.S.
Co-sponsored by the International Policy Center at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, the Department of Economics and the Business Economics Department at the Ross School of Business.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008, 12-1:00pm, 2239 Lane Hall
Enhancing Women's Political Participation in Postconflict Settings: The Pursuit of Human Security to Foster "Voice". Natsuko Hayashi Nicholls, IRWG Visiting Scholar, discusses her research.

October 29, 2008, 7:30pm, Hill Auditorium
Novel Prize winner and South African cleric Archbishop Desmond Tutu will be awarded the 18th University of Michigan Wallenberg Medal by UM President Mary Sue Coleman. more For more on the Wallenberg Endowment click here

Thursday, November 06, 2008, 12-1:00pm, 2239 Lane Hall
Laura McCloskey, IRWG Visiting Scholar, discusses her current research in this brown-bag discussion.

November 10 , 2008, 4-5:15pm, Hutchins Hall (first floor), Room 116
'Fragmentation' of International Law and 'Proliferation' of International Courts and Tribunals: Two Buzzwords Viewed by a Practitioner
H. E . Judge Bruno Simma, International Court of Justice; Affiliated Overseas Faculty, University of Michigan Law School

 

November 21, 2008, 12:00 PM - 1:30 PM, Institute for the Humanities 202 S Thayer St Room 2022
African Renaissance and Human Rights: Thabo Mbeki's Certainty
Danny Herwitz -Danny Herwitz, Director of the Institute for Humanities, will speak at the Rackham Distinguished Human Rights Lecture Series. Thabo Mbeki’s decade of HIV/AIDS denialism gave rise to a decade of amazement and questioning, the question being why he and his government held to this position and policy so tenaciously in a country wracked by disease, and in desperate need of medication. The government was succesfully sued in the constitutional court for its refusal to roll out anti-retrovirals, making it a (constitutionally defined) human rights violation. In 2002-3, when the court case was being heard, Mbeki’s Minister of Health, Manto Tsabalala Msimang, called for an alternative “therapy” of “indigenous” African beet root, lemon, garlic and potato for persons ill with full blown AIDS. Her call was widely received as a cynical joke, but in this paper I consider it a key to the entire position, which is about the return to an heritage understood as African indigeneity, and posed against a perceived threat of international/neo-colonial systems. The real story is about the misuse of heritage at a moment of postcolonial state emergence, even though heritage is critical for the reclaiming of identities and the celebration of liberty. Free and open to the public

November 20, 7-9pm, 1437 Mason Hall
Southwest Solutions: Community Building as an Approach to Human Rights
Bill O'Brien, Director of Community Partnerships for Southwest Solutions, will be discussing his work as a community organizer for Southwest Solutions and the intersections between social service work and international campaigns for human rights. Southwest Solutions is a nationally recognized holistic community building organization in Southwest Detroit that provides human services, housing and economic development to its local and metropolitan communities. The event will be in a dialogue form and students are encouraged to bring friends and ask questions!
Sponsored by the Office of Multiethnic Student Affairs

Thursday, December 04, 2008, 5:30-7pm, Location TBD
Meredith Turshen (Rutgers University) discusses her current research as part of the speaker series on Gender, African Development and Human Security.

January 15, 2009, 4:00-5:00pm, Vandenberg Room, Michigan League
Julie Chavez Rodriguez,
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Symposium Opening Lecture
The granddaughter of civil and labor rights activist Cesar Chavez, human rights activist and diversity speaker Julie Chavez Rodriguez was introduced to the farm worker movement at an early age. Throughout her life, she has played an active role in the fight for social justice, human rights, and the rights of working people. Chavez Rodriguez is currently the programs director for the Cesar E. Chavez Foundation, where she spearheads the National Youth Leadership Initiative, an effort which addresses academic and civic engagement among today’s youth.

Thursday, January 22, 2009, 2:30pm, Michigan League, Vandenberg Rm
Security Challenges Facing the U.S.
James Morrow, U-M Political Science
2009 International Security and Development Fellow Lecture

Monday, January 26, 2009, 4:00-5:15pm, 116 Hutchins Hall
Terror/Torture
Karima Bennounce, Professor of Law and Arthur L. Dickson Scholar, Rutgers University School of Law--Neward: Visting Professor, University of Michigan Law School; Former Legal Advisor, Amnesty International in London.
The International Law Workshop introduces today's most debated issues in international and comparative law. The Workshop is intended for non-specialists; you are encouraged to attend any or all of the sessions. Speakers will talk for 25 minutes, followed by discussion and questions. More

Monday, January 26th, 2009, 5:30pm, Haven Hall, Room 4701
Whose Human Security? Gender, Neo-liberalisma nd the Informal Economy in Sub Saharan Africa.
Zo Randriamaro, Women's Environment and Development Organization (WEDO), Madagascar.
This event is co-sponsored by African Development and Human Security Project

Tuesday, January 27, 2009, 6:30 pm, Room 2690 Crossroads, School of Public Health
Peace Corps Information Session
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor

Friday, Jan 30, noon, Institute for the Humanities, 202 S Thayer, Rm 2022
Critical Code-switching of Violence in Postwar El Salvador
Ellen Moodie, University of Illinois
Rackham Distinguished Human Rights Lecture Series

February 9, 4-5:15pm, 116 Hutchins Hall
"Persecution/Destitution--Reworking the Relationship Between Employment and Asylum"
Penelope Mathew
Visiting Professor and Interim Director, Program in Refguee & Asylum Law, University of Michigan Law School; Professor, Australian National University College of Law

Wednesday, February 10, 3:30, Kuenzel Room, Michigan Union
Child Soldiers: Root Causes and UN Inititatives
Radhika Coomaraswamy, Esq. is the United Nations Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict. In this capacity, she serves as a moral voice and independent advocate to build awareness and give prominence to the rights and protection of girls and boys affected by armed conflict. Formerly the Chairpoerson of the Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission, Ms. Coomaraswamy is an internationally known human rights advocate who has done outstanding work as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women. More biographical information is available at the following website: http://www.un.org/children/conflict/english/radhikacoomaraswamy.html

Thursday, February 12, 7-8:30pm, Kalamazoo Room, Michigan League
Workers Speak Out
Union Organizers from the Jerzees de Honduras Clothing Factory Owned by Russell.
Russell, a clothing producer for UM, recently shut down the facotry Jerzees de Honduras-in direct opposition to a report released by the Workers Rights Consortium (WRC).
Co-sponsored by the MSA Peace and Justice Commission and UM President's Advisory Committee on Labor Standards and Human Rights.

Thursday, February 12, 2009, 7:00 pm, International Center, Room 9
Peace Corps Information Session

Friday, February 13, 2009, 12-1:30 Room 3816, School of Social Work Building
Monitoring International Labor Standards: Evaluating a Proposed Method
Larry Root (School of Social Work and IRLEE) and Ada Verloren (Center for Afroamerican and African studies and IRLEE)
Labor conditions have become a part of many trade agreements, but there has been little attention to how to monitor compliance with international
standards.  In 2003, the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB) engaged the National Research Council of the National
Academy of Sciences (NAS) to recommend a method to monitor and evaluate labor conditions at the country level.  Over the last year, Larry Root and
Ada Verloren have been evaluating that approach and are presenting their findings in Washington later in February.  This brownbag will present an
overview of this evaluation, highlighting issues such as assessment and integration of data sources, operationalization of criteria for judgments,
and the dynamics of group decision-making.

Friday Feb 13, noon, Institute for the Humanities, 202 S Thayer, Rm 2022
The Case of The Homicidal Entrepreneur: Reading Literature and Economic Human Rights Through Aravind Adiga's The White Tiger
Elizabeth Goldberg, Babson College

Wednesday, March 4, 2009, 4:00 - 5:30pm, Center for the Education of Women, 330 E. Liberty
Human Rights vs. Women's Rights: Assessing their Intersection Through a Different Lens
Mallika Dutt, Breakthrough, 2008-2009 Twink Frey Visiting Social Activist
There are currently two major forms of discourse on the intersection of human rights and culture. One form sees certain cultures as being in opposition to women's human rights. The other, as identified by the United Nations, asserts that people have a human right to maintain their own culture rather than be subsumed by the culture of the majority. Mallika Dutt believes that human rights should be seen in a third way, as a part of a culture. Through this lens, she will discuss how a culture and its values may be supportive of women's human rights in some respects and restrictive of them in others. Her presentation will address some of the misconceptions about women's rights and culture that exist between different religions and ethnicities. Ms. Mallika Dutt directs Breakthrough, an international human rights organization that uses media, education and pop culture to promote values of dignity, equality, and justice. Breakthrough themes include women's rights, sexual and reproductive rights, immigrant rights, racial, ethnic and caste equality and religion and peace. Please register online at www.cew.umich.edu or by calling 734-764-6005. Deadline to register: Friday, February 27th. CEW web link

March 9, 4-5:15pm, 116 Hutchins Hall
US-China Relations and International Human Rights
Sharon Hom, Executive Director of Human Rights in China; Professor of Law Emerita; City University of New York School of Law

Wednesday, March 11, 2009, 6:30 pm, International Center, Room 9
Peace Corps Information Session

Thursday, March 12, 2009, 4pm, Hatcher Graduate Library Gallery
Notes on Peace, Conflict and Justice
Joao Honwana, Director, Africa 1 Division, United Nations
During his tenure at the United Nations, Honwana has served as Chief of Staff of the United Nations Mission in Sudan; Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General; Head of UN Peace-Building Support Office in Guinea-Bissau; and Chief of the Conventional Arms Branch in the UN department for Disarmament Affairs.  Honwana will draw on his extensive experiences as a liberation fighter then military officer in Mozambique, a scholar at the University of Cape Town’s Centre for Conflict Resolution, and a tireless proponent of peace in Guinea-Bissau and Sudan.
Co-Sponsored by: Office of the President · Office of the Senior Vice Provost for Academic Affairs· International Institute· Center for Afroamerican and African Studies · Rackham Graduate School · Graham Environmental Sustainability Institute · Center for International Comparative Studies · Center for Global Health

Monday March 16, 2009, 12-1:30pm, Dana Building, 1028
Legislating Harmony? New Trends in Chinese Labor Legislation and Enforcement
Mary Gallagher, UM, Department of Political Science
Erb Colloquium

Wednesday March 18, 1pm, Michigan League-Hussey Room
Darfur, Politics and the War on Terror
Mahmood Mamdani, Herbert Lehman Professor of Government
Departments of Anthropology and Political Science, Columbia University
Ugandan born Mamdani was Director of Columbia's Institute of African Studies and former President of the Council for Development of Social Research in Africa (CODESRIA) Dakar, Senegal. Mamdani's reputation as an expert in African history, politics and international relations has made him an important voice in contemporary debates about Africa. His book Citizen and Subject: Contemporary Africa and the Legacy of Late Colonialism won the 1998
Herskovits Award of the African Studies Association of the USA. In 2001, he was one of nine scholars to present at the Nobel Peace Prize Centennial Symposium. He has been named as one of the top 100 public intellectuals in the world by the US magazine Foreign Policy in May 2008 and the UK magazine Prospect in July 2008. Sponsored by The Center for Afroamerican and African Studies

Thursday, March 19, 2009, 12-1:30pm, 100 Hatcher (Gallery and Exhibition Space), Hatcher Graduate Library
University Licensing and International Labor Standards: Reflections on the First Decade and Challenges for the Next
Auret van Heerden, President and CEO of the Fair Labor Association; Heeral Coleman, FLA University Liaison and Program Manager; Scott Nova, Workers Rights Consortium
Auret van Heerden is the President and CEO of the Fair Labor Association, a non-profit organization which combines the efforts of industry, civil society organizations, and colleges and universities to protect workers’ rights and improve working conditions worldwide by promoting adherence to international labor standards. Van Heerden brings more than 30 years experience in international human and labor rights to the FLA.  He has worked on labor relations issues in 25 zone-operating countries and established a Swiss-funded project to improve labor relations in Special Economic Zones in China
Scott Nova is the Executive Director of the Workers Rights Consortium, a non-profit organization comprised of more than 100 colleges and universities. The WRC's mission is to monitor the working conditions under which college-licensed products are manufactured around the world. The WRC is a collaboration of educational institutions, students and non-governmental organizations, all of whom share the common goal of promoting greater respect for the rights of workers in the global economy.

March 25, 2:30pm International Institute Rm 1636
A Humanity without Humans: On Architecture and Human Rights
Andrew Herscher
2009 HUMAN RIGHTS FELLOW LECTURE

April 1, 2009, 5pm, Deadline for Applications
The Center for International and Comparative Studies (CICS) announces a call for applications for the 2009/2010 Human Rights Fellowship. The fellowship is a one year appointment that provides salary and/or research funding in the amount of $16,000. The fellowship is intended to promote undergraduate education on human rights at UM by developing a new course with significant international content and an interdisciplinary perspective. This course will initially be offered through the International Studies Minor and will subsequently become part of the curriculum of the fellow’s home department. The intention is for the course to become a permanent part of the department’s curriculum. We encourage joint applications from members of two or more departments or units, in which case the applicants will divide the stipend. ELIGIBILITY UM Ann Arbor regular instructional staff, in any department, is eligible to apply. click here for more info

Wednesday, April 8, 2009, 1:00pm, Michigan Union Kuenzel Room
Darfur, Politics and the War on Terror
A Lecture with Booksigning by Mahmood Mamdani, Herbert Lehman Professor of Government, in the Departments of Anthropology and Political Science at Columbia University in the United States
Uganda native Mamdani was also the Director of Columbia's Institute of African Studies. He is a former President of the Council for Development of Social Research in Africa (CODESRIA) Dakar, Senegal. Mamdani's reputation as an expert in African history, politics and international relations has made him an important voice in contemporary debates about Africa. His book Citizen and Subject: Contemporary Africa and the Legacy of Late Colonialism won the 1998 Herskovits Award of the African Studies Association of the USA. In 2001, he was one of nine scholars to present at the Nobel Peace Prize Centennial Symposium. He has been named as one of the top 100 public intellectuals in the world by the US magazine Foreign Policy in May 2008 and the UK magazine Prospect in July 2008.

Thursday, April 09, 2009, 4:00 - 5:30 PM, 2239 Lane Hall
Zeina Zaatari: Advancing a Women's Rights Agenda in a Context of War and Conflict: Possibilities and Challenges
Zeina Zaatari (Global Fund for Women) presents this talk is part of IRWG's Arab Women: Transnational Perspectives series. She will address the possibilities and challenges of putting forward a women's rights agenda in the current climate of increased militarization and ongoing wars particularly in the Middle East and North Africa. She will focus closely on work in Iraq, Palestine/Israel, and Lebanon. Women's Rights Actors face numerous additional challenges during these moments of heightened conflict. They often find themselves stuck between donors, foundations, and international actors on the one hand, and local needs and national agendas on the other hand. Speaking up against discrimination and violation of women's human rights often leads to accusations of 'westernization', 'treason', and 'inauthenticity'; in short they are seen as threatening the national project. Focusing on the immediate needs, or promoting an agenda of resistance, often also leads them to accusations of 'complicity' with the patriarchal order and betrayal to women's rights. The talk will address how women activists have negotiated these spheres in their complexity and what potential strategies are there for feminist agenda in the world we live in to. It will also focus on the role of academics/intellectuals in the pursuit of such agendas.
This event is co-sponsored by Arab American Studies, Center for Middle Eastern and North African Studies, International Institute.