Subject: HUMAN RIGHTS SEMINAR SERIES
Kingston University is pleased to announce its human rights seminar series, details of which follow below. Please circulate to colleagues and friends who may be interested.
Human Rights seminar series
Kingston University
Jean Monnet Programme
‘Reflecting upon Crimes against Humanity and Human Rights:
a European Agenda for the 21st century’
(Funded by the European Commission, DG X for Education and Culture)
28 April 2006 (Friday)
4.00-6.00 pm
Room: TH102
Roberto Ricci
The UN investigating Human Rights violations: why? Is it worth it?
Roberto Ricci is Senior Human Rights Officer at the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). From 2003 to 2005 he was head of the Human Rights section in the biggest peacekeeping operation currently run by the UN (MONUC, Congo). He has extensive experience in human rights and transitional justice issues related to peace processes, conflict and post conflict situations.
3 May 2006 (Wednesday)
4.30-6.30pm
Room TH10
Monica McWilliams
The impact and import of national human rights institutions in defending and protecting human rights in the 21st century: lessons from Northern Ireland
Monica McWilliams was appointed full-time Chief Commissioner for Human Rights in Northern Ireland in June 2005. Previously, she was Professor of Women’s Studies and Social Policy at the University of Ulster and served as a Member of the Legislative Assembly in Northern Ireland from 1996 to 2003. She was the co-founder of the Northern Ireland Women’s Coalition, a political party involved in the Northern Ireland Forum from 1996 to 1998. She was an elected member of the Multi-Party Peace Negotiations and a signatory to the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement in 1998. During the negotiations following the Agreement, she was the Chairperson of the Human Rights Sub-Committee until 2003. She is an Associate Researcher with the Institute for Transitional Justice and INCORE, a United Nations Research Centre for the Study of Conflict, at the University of Ulster. She has published two books: Bringing It Out in the Open: Domestic Violence in Northern Ireland (1993) and Taking Domestic Violence Seriously: Issues for the Civil and Criminal Justice System (1996) and numerous articles on the impact of political conflict.
12 May 2006 (Friday)
4.00-6.00 pm
Room TH10
Linda Melvern
The future of the United Nations Genocide convention
Linda Melvern is an Honorary Fellow of the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, and was a consultant to the Military One prosecution team at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda ICTR. Her publications include, Conspiracy to Murder. The Rwandan Genocide, Verso, April 2004 and A People Betrayed. The Role of the West in Rwanda’s Genocide, Zed Books, September 2000.
17 May 2006 (Wednesday)
1.00-3.00 pm
Room TH113
Marta Foresti
Are human rights useful for improving development policies and practice? Why is it (still) a relevant debate?
Marta Foresti is Rights in Action Programme Manager and Research fellow at ODI - Overseas Development Institute. She has a background in development policy, human rights and social research methodology. Before joining ODI in January 2006, she worked as a senior policy advisor in the Department of Development Policy of the Italian Treasury and was the former Head of the Learning and Impact Assessment team at Save the Children UK. Her current research interests include: the implementation and feasibility of economic, social and cultural rights; accountability and governance of development and human rights agencies; social exclusion and inequality. Marta Foresti has a particular interest in the methodological dimensions of development and human rights research. She was responsible for developing impact assessment frameworks for Save the Children UK and Amnesty International and has undertaken research and evaluation studies of several UK and European social policies and programmes.
All events will be held at Kingston University, Penrhyn Road campus (http://www.kingston.ac.uk/~kuweb/about_ku/directions_pr2.htm). Entry is free. Pre-registration is not required.