To submit an events listing related to human rights and/or humanitarian studies, e-mail humanrights@webster.edu.

2012-2013 Events:

Monte Reel will speak at Webster University on September 10th in Sunnen Lounge at 7pm.

A book signing and reception will follow. The event will be globally webcast and available online for our overseas campuses at www. webster.edu/live



Tuesdays in September: Indigenous Rights Film Festival will be held in the Winnie Moore Auditorium at 7pm.




September 4 Reel Injun by Cree Filmmaker Neil Diamond

September 11 Smoke Signals by Chris Eyre

Sept 18 Rabbit Proof Fence by Phillip Noyce

Sept 25 Thick Dark Fog by Randy Vasquez




September 26- Corporate Social Responsibility and Human Rights: Achieving Peace Through Economic Development, Charlotte Walker-Said, Lentz Fellow in Peace Studies and Human Rights

 




 

 

October 29 Michel Agier, "Humanitarian Government as the Postcolonial and the Compassionate Side of Globalization" Library Conference Room, noon. Co-sponsored by the Department of Lanugages and Cultures.

 

 

 

 



November 16-18 Saint Louis Cinema Human Rights Sidebar. Click here for schedule and description of films.

November 29 at 7pm in the University Center Sunnen Lounge we will be welcoming educator, writer, speaker, and social/cultural critic Professor Andrew Jolivette.

His lecture, Indian Blood: Mixed Race Identity, Indigenous People, and HIV/AIDS, explores issues of inter-generational trauma, Native American cultural resilience, stress coping mechanisms, and identity politics within the context of public health disparities—ranging from mental health in urban environments to political activism, and the sacred role of two-spirit, same-gender loving indigenous populations throughout the United States.

Dr. Jolivette's talk will draw from his recent research study at the Native American AIDS Project in San Francisco conducted in partnership with the Indigenous Wellness Research Institute at the University of Washington. In this talk the audience will learn about ways to address best practices in health and wellness among indigenous populations. An Indigenous stressing coping model (Intergenerational Healing and Cultural Leadership Model) will be introduced to explore new ways to reduce rates of HIV/AIDS among Native American people who continue to fight for decolonization and sovereignty.

 

Andrew Jolivette: Indian Blood: Mixed Race Identity, Indigenous People, and HIV/AIDS
Thursday, November 29, 2012
7pm, University Center Sunnen Lounge

Link to information on the program:
http://blogs.webster.edu/mcisa/blog/2012/11/14/indian-blood-mixed-race-identity-indigenous-people-and-hivaids/

More information on Professor Andrew Jolivette:
http://speakoutnow.org/userdata_display.php?modin=50&uid=424

April 18 and 19 Annual Human Rights Conference: The Rights of Indigenous Peoples and Stateless Persons



All other events will be announced on our website at www.webster.edu/humanrights. For questions, please contact humanrights@webster.edu .


* All events and times are subject to change.

 

Past Events

2011-2012 Events

Screening of the film "Persepolis" in coordination with the South Grand Community Improvement District (Co-sponsored with Residential Life). September 13, 7:30pm. See flier for more information.

Five Thursdays in September Film Festival:

• September 1st Gran Torino (2008, Warner Bros.)
• September 8th God Grew Tired of Us. (2006, New Market Films)
• September 15th The Visitor (2007, Groundswell Productions)
• September 22nd New Year Baby (2006, Broken English Productions)
• September 29th District 9 (2009, TriStar Pictures)

Award-winning British journalist Jack Shenker speaks: "Changing Realities in the Arab Spring: Migrants & a Voyage to Europe," 7 p.m. Monday, Oct. 3, Moore Auditorium

Webster Works Worldwide (Oct. 5).

UDHR/Human Rights Day (December 10) Celebration "Cake and Letters" in Sunnen Lounge on December 7th. 12:30-2:30. Co-sponsored by the Amnesty International Webster Group.

.Dance Department Performance (Date TBD, coordinated by Beckah Reed, Chair, Department of Dance).

Refugee Photograph Exhibit by Bill Barrett (January 1-31, Emerson Library).

Institute for Human Rights & Humanitarian Studies Spring Conference, April 19-20th, University Center. Refugee & Migrant Rights.

*All dates and times are tenative, check back for updates or contact humanrights@webster.edu for more information.

 

US Secretary of State in Geneva (click here to watch video of speech)

Geneva, 6 December 2011 - United States Secretary of State, Hillary Rodham Clinton, strode the stage with confidence at the United Nations to give her address on human rights. This was specifically tailored for the progression of equality for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.

“Some have suggested that gay rights and human rights are different things” said Clinton, “but in fact, they are one in the same”.  She referenced this movement to be as important as the historical moments of racial equality and women rights.

The LBGT community has become the new focus for the Obama administration as they have begun endorsement for this equality campaign through use of foreign aid. Clinton discussed many issues she believed to be the problem for the stagnation of this movement, including religious and cultural claims against lesbian and gay people, and the idea that gay is a “Western invention”.

“Being gay does not make you any less human, said Clinton. “Because we are human, we have rights and because we have rights, governments are responsible to protect them”. She also challenged countries that use violence and discrimination against the LBGT community. Clinton mentioned Colombia and Argentina as pillars for equal rights as they have instituted laws to protect all citizens including those of LBGT orientation.

Geneva was Clinton’s third stop in Europe to discuss Human Rights issues. Wednesday she was scheduled to be in Belgium and finish her rounds in the Netherlands.

Deyja Charles, Global MA in International Relations

63 Years of UDHR

Hillary Rodham Clinton, the US Secretary of State, came to Geneva on a day of major significance, the Day of Human Rights. She spoke of another powerful woman, Eleanor Roosevelt, who was instrumental in the signing of the Declaration of Human Rights sixty-three years ago. A herald of motivation to the current generation of students, the news was to remember past achievements since World War II as a tool to promote further strides to humankind.

She mentioned how the history of the United States shows how progress in the field of Human Rights can be challenging and slow. But by acknowledging the problems that the US still has to deal with, Mrs. Clinton brought the conversation to a more personal level.  Her passionate speech spoke of a group who is still being stigmatized and mistreated: the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transvestite community. 

Hillary Clinton's voice carried throughout the hall as she broke down every argument against treating LGBT persons differently. Religion should not be used for exclusion; indeed it safeguards human rights. We need to treat all people equally and with love, instead of denying fellow humans the same rights as everyone else. This is one of the final barriers that our generation needs to break. The Declaration of Human Rights was not for a few, but for all, and so it shall remain.

Stefan Johnsson, Global MA in International Relations

“It is because the human experience is universal that human rights are universal.”
- Hillary Rodham Clinton

Geneva, December 6 - the U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Rodham Clinton, assertively approached the podium overlooking a pool of diplomats, UN staffers, professionals and students. This December 10th marks the sixty-three years of the United Nation’s adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UNDHR). Although many countries have made efforts and progress in their commitments and in the promotion of Human Rights -especially in areas such as racism and gender equality-, some individuals are still stigmatized as an “invisible minority” deprived of their rights as humans. This invisible minority is the the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community.

Hillary Clinton combated the idea that homosexuality was just a Western concept. Some of the argumentation for discrimination may stem from culture, tradition and religion. But “no practice or tradition trumps the rights of all humans”, she stated. The Secretary of State also gave the example of the United States, having struggled through and overcoming many injustices. She announced that the Obama administration has launched the first ever agenda to combat the criminalization of LGBT.

Chinwendu Erondu, Global MA in International Relations

 

The Center for Interdisciplinary Studies Brown Bag Series Presents:

Alejandra Juarez of the Emergency Labor Network to speak on immigrant and workers rights

Sunnen Lounge 12-1:30

November 10, 2011

Sponsored by the Institute for Human Rights and Humanitarian Studies, the Multi-Cultural Studies Committee and the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies

 

Miriam Miranda to speak on human rights issues in the Honduran countryside
Emerson Library Conference Room
Thursday, November 10, 7-8:30 p.m.

Sponsored by the Institute for Human Rights and Humanitarian Studies and the Saint Louis Inter-Faith Committee on Latin America

In the Bajo Aguán region, more than 40 members of peasant associations have been killed between January 2010 and October 2011 as a result of land conflicts. Community organizations have been attempting to reclaim land assigned to them through previous agrarian reform initiatives, which they assert they lost through pressure and fraud to large landholders, including oil palm producers.  Campesino and Afro-Honduran communities are being harshly affected by the militarization of the area.

Miriam Miranda is general coordinator of the National Black Fraternal Organization of Honduras (OFRANEH) and an important leader in the Garifuna community of Afro-descendant peoples.  Miriam and OFRANEH are leaders in the wide-spread non-violent movement rejecting the 2009 military coup and the repression and violence of post-coup regimes.  Miriam has been targeted and threatened, arrested during a Garifuna demonstration and treated for injuries suffered during the incident, and will speak about her experiences and human rights issues in Honduras.

 

 

Andrew Cayley, International Co-Prosecutor of the ECCC, to speak at Washington University Thursday, October 27, 2011-Noon

Anheuser-Busch Hall No. 309 Trial courtroom

Mr. Cayley was appointed as international Co-Prosecutor of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) on November 27th, 2009.  He earned his L.L.B and L.L.M. from University College London and worked in private practice following his graduation, before completing an Officer’s Course and working as a Legal officer for the British Army.

Prior to joining ECCC, Mr. Cayley held a private practice, defending Charles Taylor before the Special Court for Sierra Leone and Ivan Cermak before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.  From 2005-2007 he served as Senior Prosecuting Counsel at the International Criminal Court and in that capacity was responsible for the Darfur investigation and subsequently for the first Darfur case against Ahmed Harun and Ali Kushayb.  From 2001-2005 he served as Senior Prosecuting Counsel at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) where he was responsible for the continuing investigation against Colonel General Ratko Mladic and led the first international prosecution of members of the Kosovo Liberation Army.  Prior to this he served as Prosecuting Counsel at ICTY from 1995-2001, the first three years being seconded from the British army by the Foreign & Commonwealth Office to the ICTY.  Subsequently, being permanently recruited by the ICTY in 1998, he appeared as Prosecuting Counsel in five trials over six years including the first trial for events in Srebrenica in July 1995.

 

Webster Vienna Partners with International Organizations to Help Refugee Children

The international Community of English Speaking Women in Austria – also known as AWA – organized a collection of school supplies for refugee children. The idea was inspired by the 9/11 Day of Service commemoration of the tenth anniversary of September 11 in the U.S. and in the spirit of the 2011 European Year of Volunteering.

AWA Vienna’s plan was to bring together the American and international communities in Vienna for a month of giving, learning, sharing and service. This project served to promote greater involvement by the international community in helping people in need in the Vienna community. AWA partnered with the American International School, Vienna International School, Danube International School, International Christian School of Vienna, Webster University, associations of U.S. university alumni in Vienna, and Democrats Abroad, among others.

Webster University Vienna’s students, staff and faculty were able to bring together a collection of two large boxes filled with school supplies, board games, dictionaries, books and puzzles. Jutta Pedigo, student affairs coordinator and organizer of the collection at Webster University Vienna’s campus was proud to hand these over to the AWA on Thursday, Sept. 29.
The beneficiaries of this project are refugee children and all donations were handed over to the refugee assistance offices of the Diakonie, Caritas and Menschen.Leben.

(Taken from Webster Today 10/06/2011).

It’s WebsterWarmth time!

WebsterWarmth is a group of University faculty, staff, students, alumni, and friends that craft for a purpose.  Over the past few years we’ve shared the things we’ve produced with the homeless, veterans, students entering college out of the foster care system, and babies born to marines on active duty. 

This year in support of the College of Arts and Sciences’ Year of International Human Rights: Refugees, we will be knitting, crocheting, quilting, and sewing for refugees resettling into the St. Louis area.  We will be making hats and scarves for adults and children and items for babies.  The agency we are working with is the International Institute.

How can you help?

• Stitch something up for a refugee and deliver it to the Library by Monday, December 12. 
• Share this message with anyone you know who fiber-crafts and might want to contribute.  We always welcome contributions from our extended campus Webster family, or if your campus chooses to donate to an agency in your area, let us know.
• Sign up to craft with us during WebsterWorksWorldwide (we’ll be a drop-in activity in the Library on WWW Day, October 5.)
• Watch for information about a collection of personal-care items in November which will be delivered to the International Institute with our hand-crafted items.

Direct your questions to Holly Hubenschmidt (hollyh@webster.edu) or Kathy Gaynor (kgaynor@webster.edu), your WebsterWarmth co-chairs.