By Aileen Thomson On October 30, 2009, policymakers, advocates, and academics gathered at the Georgetown Law Center to learn about and discuss statelessness, a term used to describe individuals who lack citizenship in any country. The Challenges of Statelessness, a conference co-sponsored by Refugee Council, USA and Georgetown Law’s Human Rights Institute, focused on what [Read More...]
Dean’s Diversity Council Speaker Series: A Civil Rights Retrospective
December 12, 2009 By Leave a Comment
By Zach Zarnow, December 12, 2009 Civil Rights memorial fountain in Montgomery, Alabama. By Eric Hunt. The civil rights dialogue in the United States has been transformed from empty rhetoric into productive discussion, according to the Honorable Stuart Ishimaru, acting chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Mr. Ishimaru, who spoke on September 24, [Read More...]
UN Special Rapporteur Calls for Convention on the Rights of Detainees
December 9, 2009 By Leave a Comment
By Zach Zarnow Manfred Nowak, Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, has seen enough. Around the world, he says, “States are not living up to their obligations to respect the basic dignity of human beings in detention.” At a press conference following the presentation of his fifth annual report to [Read More...]
Economic Advice Unlikely to Create Real Improvements for Burma’s Poor
December 4, 2009 By Leave a Comment
By Andrea Gittleman* Joseph Stiglitz, advisor to President Obama and a professor at Columbia University, is scheduled to speak to representatives of the Burmese military regime, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), about poverty alleviation strategies during a visit later this month. Stiglitz, a Nobel Prize-winning economist famous for his research on economic development, [Read More...]
International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala
December 4, 2009 By Leave a Comment
By Annamaria Racota On November 6, 2009, the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (Comisión Internacional Contra Impunidad en Guatemala, or CICIG) discussed its work and progress in Guatemala on impunity in the judicial system before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR). The CICIG also received approval from the IACHR for its legal reform [Read More...]
Situation of Human Rights Defenders in Ecuador
December 3, 2009 By Leave a Comment
By Daniela X. Cornejo On November 3, 2009, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) held a general hearing on the criminalization of human rights defenders in Ecuador. The hearing began as civil society representatives expressed concern for a colleague who was denied entry into the United States — and was therefore unable to [Read More...]
The Torture Memos: Lawyers, Ethics, and the Rule of Law
December 3, 2009 By Leave a Comment
By Annamaria Racota, December 3, 2009 WCL The Torture Memos. Washington DC Nov. 3, 2009. Photo courtsey of Rick Reinhard. Stephen Vladeck, Professor of Law at the American University Washington College of Law moderated a conference on the so-called U.S. “torture memos” on Tuesday, November 3, 2009. The conference consisted of a keynote address by [Read More...]
Improving Political Rights in Mexico
December 3, 2009 By Leave a Comment
By Zach Zarnow, December 3, 2009 On November 5, 2009, academics and members of civil society from Mexico came before the Inter-American Court for Human Rights to protest an alleged degradation of political rights in their country. Representatives from the Iberian-American Observatory for Democracy, the Center for Analysis and Investigation, and Propuesta Civica presented the [Read More...]
Situation of Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals and Transgender Persons in Colombia
December 2, 2009 By Leave a Comment
By Soumya Venkatesh On November 5, 2009, NGOs from Colombia gathered at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) to present allegations of human rights abuses against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) persons in Colombia. The civil society representatives were from various Colombian organizations dedicated to protecting the rights of the LGBT community. The [Read More...]
El Salvador Acknowledges and Apologizes for Forced Disappearances of Children
December 2, 2009 By Leave a Comment
By Justin Shore, December 2, 2009 On November 6, 2009, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights heard the cases of Santos Ernesto Salinas; José Rochac Hernández; Emelinda Hernández; and Manuel Antonio, Bonilla Osorio and Ricardo Ayala Abarca. Each case involved charges of forced disappearance by the government of El Salvador during the first three years [Read More...]
