RightsViews – Page 29 – Opinion and research from the human rights community at Columbia University

“Not Just a Slogan:” An Interview with Tibi Galis, Executive Director of the Auschwitz Institute for Peace and Reconciliation, on Genocide Prevention

August 1, 2013July 1, 2016 by EditorNo Comments

By Michelle Eberhard, graduate student of human rights at Columbia University _____________________________________________________________________________ Established in 2007, the Auschwitz Institute for Peace and Reconciliation is dedicated to the creation of an international genocide prevention network. To fulfill its mission, the Institute has developed several education programs, most notably its Raphael Lemkin Seminar, as well as a genocide prevention network in Latin America in 2012. Following the signing of an agreement with the African Union in February 2013, the Institute will soon be developing a similar network amongst African countries. Below is an interview with Executive Director of the Auschwitz Institute, Tibi Galis. Michelle Eberhard: How did you become interested in working in genocide prevention? Tibi Galis: I grew up in a transition country, in Romania, so it was very interesting to experience in person the impact political change can have on society, and that is why I started being rather passionate about transition studies. There was a very easy path from transition studies to transitional justice, which...

Notes from the Field: Creating a New Story Through Art in Post-Conflict Bosnia and Herzegovina

August 1, 2013July 1, 2016 by EditorNo Comments

By Janine White, Program Coordinator for the Institute for the Study of Human Rights at Columbia University From May 23-28, 2013, I participated in the Most Mira-Humanity in Action (HIA) International Exchange. Most Mira (Bridge of Peace) is a peacebuilding NGO in northern Bosnia, and its founder, Kemal Pervanic, was a 2012 participant ISHR’s Human Rights Advocates Program. HIA is a human rights education NGO based in the US and with offices in several European countries, including Bosnia. Through this project, HIA Senior Fellows supported Most Mira’s annual youth arts festival, involving children in a drama program that culminated in a rendition of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. During the 5-day festival, Senior Fellows and Most Mira staff, along with other experts in this field, also came together to discuss the challenges and opportunities that this local NGO faces within the current political context in post-conflict Bosnia. This blog post, previously published here, is a summary of my impressions and reflections from this...

ISHR Event: Honoring Indigenous Women at Columbia University

June 11, 2013July 1, 2016 by EditorNo Comments

By Megan Baker, student at Columbia College On May 24, 2013, the Foro Internacional de Mujeres Indigenas (International Indigenous Women’s Forum), or FIMI, honored two indigenous women, an elder and a youth, with the 2013 FIMI Leadership Award at the “Honoring Indigenous Women’s Visions and Creativity” awards ceremony held at Deutsches Haus at Columbia University. The awards ceremony was hosted by the Institute for the Study of Human Rights (ISHR) Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Program in partnership with FIMI. This award marked these women’s demonstrated exceptional leadership and the impact they have had in their communities, countries and at the international level defending and advocating for human rights. The first to be honored was Myrna Cunningham, an indigenous Miskita woman from the community of Waspam in Nicaragua. Ms. Cunningham began her career as a primary education teacher, but left her community to study medicine and surgery. She became the first female Miskita doctor and worked for the Ministry of Public Health, but following...

Notes from the Field: Securing Women’s Land Rights in the Acholi sub-region in Northern Uganda

December 1, 2012July 1, 2016 by EditorNo Comments

By Allison Tamer, MA student in the Human Rights Studies program at Columbia University For many people living in Northern Uganda, land is their only means of survival. Land is such a prized possession that disputes over land is a common occurrence, frequently escalating into aggressive and sometimes violent situations. For example, one man in the Amuru district attempted to poison a village’s water source so he could take over the deceased’s land. In 2010, a family in the same district lit another family’s home aflame during the night over a land dispute. This act of violence took the lives of two young girls who were sleeping during the attack. As land conflicts intensify in this region, the situation for women and their right to land seems to be getting worse. Gender and socio-cultural factors compounded with the aftermath of the two decades of civil war in Northern Uganda has made the struggle for women’s right to land more difficult. Women’s land rights...

Good Business and Good Coffee: A Case Study of Human Rights and Sustainable Business Practices

November 20, 2012March 22, 2016 by editor5 Comments

By Colleen J. Brisport, graduate of the MA in Human Rights Studies program at Columbia University My thesis explores current theories on business, fair trade and human rights developed by scholars such as John Ruggie and Laura Raynolds. These academics have articulated the difficulties and the improbabilities of corporations sincerely incorporating human rights within their business operations. Several scholars of human rights and business, such as Kenneth Roth, believe that the ‘naming and shaming’ tactics of non-profit organizations, voluntary industry standards and legal suits are ways in which we can pressure businesses to consider human rights in their business operations and hold them accountable for their actions. However, my thesis supports a different approach and illustrates how the Starbucks Coffee Company and Coopetarrazu Coffee Cooperative have worked cooperatively to make economic, social and cultural rights of the Tarrazú coffee farmers an important aspect of their business relationship. I was fourteen years old when I participated in one of the most influential service projects...

The American DREAM: Immigrants’ Rights in the United States Today

November 18, 2012July 1, 2016 by EditorNo Comments

By Barbara Borgese, recent graduate of the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University On the night of the November 6th, about 11 million DREAMers and their supporters anxiously awaited the results of the Presidential election. Their fate in the United States – whether they will be able to pursue higher education, build a career and a have future in this country – largely depends on the decisions that our political leaders in Washington will have to make in the months to come. With President Obama’s reelection, the DREAM Act and the policy directive, Deferred Action for Child Arrivals (DACA), two important acts to advance immigrants’ rights in this country, will continue to be endorsed by the administration. The Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act is a bi-partisan legislative proposal that has been stalled in the Senate for a decade. In December 2010, after passing in the House of Representatives, it failed to pass in the Senate...

Obama in Burma: Rewarding Cosmetic Changes?

October 5, 2012July 1, 2016 by EditorNo Comments

By Hal Levy, undergraduate student at Columbia University The White House moved with uncharacteristic speed to announce a surprising foreign policy initiative two days after President Obama’s reelection. He was going to Burma and it was happening right now, less than two weeks after the votes were counted, and because he decided that everything would happen so quickly it was far too late to haggle over his itinerary, which by the way was already in place. “Why scrutinize this?” was the implicit message to human rights activists, “because we don’t want your input this time.” However, this landmark engagement with the current Burmese regime warrants scrutiny and at the very least revision if it is to go forward. Burma is finally opening to Western investment, but Obama must not abandon America’s responsibility to protect potential Burmese workers in favor of geopolitical games and economic opportunity. Fraudulent elections held in 2010 transferred power to a mixture of civilians and military-appointed candidates in name...

OHCHR Global Panel: Moving Away from the Death Penalty

September 19, 2012March 22, 2016 by editorNo Comments

By Angélica Hoyos, senior in Political Science and Human Rights at Columbia University On July 3rd the Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights organized the global panel: “Moving Away from the Death Penalty.” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon opened the discussion by declaring his commitment to end capital punishment: “The taking of life is too absolute, too irreversible, for one human being to inflict it on another, even when backed by legal process.” The goal of the discussion, which included delegates from the states parties, panelists, and members of civil society, was to set up a debate for the upcoming General Assembly in October. In 2007, The United Nations endorsed an international moratorium on capital punishment. Ever since, six nations have abolished the practice. The High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay expressed her hope for many other states to follow this trend. She reminded retentionist states that they ought to comply with Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil...

UN Negotiations Fail to Disarm Human Rights Abusers

August 14, 2012March 6, 2016 by editorNo Comments

By Amanda Barrow, M.A. candidate in Human Rights Studies at Columbia University Which is more heavily regulated: the global trade of bananas or AK-47s? In late June, activists led by Amnesty International (AI) highlighted a striking reality: there are more international regulations governing the export and import of bananas than there are on the trade of arms and ammunition. This is particularly problematic when considering the fact that the easy availability of weaponry—rather than, say, bananas—is what facilitates innumerable human rights abuses throughout the world. The indiscriminate transfer of arms undermines economic development, jeopardizes stability and security, and results in hundreds of thousands of deaths every year. You need not look further than Syria, where repressive ruler President Assad has had his will enacted through the use of heavily armed, violent force. Describing Russia’s continued arms sales to Syria in the midst of this crisis, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations (UN) Susan Rice argued,“It is not technically a violation of international law since...

Time to Rethink: The ‘Women’s Dilemma’ and Public Policy

July 26, 2012March 6, 2016 by editorNo Comments

By Yasmine Ergas, Associate Director of the Institute for the Study of Human Rights The ‘women’s dilemma’ is center stage – again. I call it that even though the impossible balancing of family life and professional life that Anne-Marie Slaughter recently dissected in a widely debated article in The Atlantic affects many men too. It still is primarily a women’s issue, and it will take some time before it can be characterized in gender-neutral terms. A recent workshop promoted by the Institute for the Study of Human Rights, with the financial support of ISERP, and the co-sponsorship of the Center for Gender and Sexuality Law, analyzed many of the new terms of the ‘motherhood’ issue. The following remarks are informed by that debate but do not seek to summarize it. Instead, I focus on some of the issues that Slaughter’s article raises. Slaughter has been much criticized for lamenting that “women still can’t have it all.” In truth, the “having it all”...