Conference Schedule

Opening event: Speak Truth to Power, the play

Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Ariel Dorfman was inspired to write a theatrical presentation based book of interviews with over fifty human rights activists from around the world by Kerry Kennedy, with Photographs by Eddie Adams and edited by Nan Richardson of Umbrage Editions. The play, Speak Truth to Power: Voices from Beyond the Dark, will kick off our conference Friday evening. Our production will be directed by Gahl Pratt, Junior, Directing major at Carnegie Mellon School of Drama, and performed by local university students.

Speak Truth to Power: Voices from Beyond the Dark as presented at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., in September 2000, and broadcast as part of PBS's The Kennedy Center Presents.

This production is made possible by the generous support of the Grace Anne Geibel Institute for Justice and Social Responsibility of Carlow University.

Please click on the image to the left to download a poster.

Key Note Speakers:

Human Rights in Our time: The New Rights Advocacy

Ellen Dorsey has more than 20 years experience promoting international human rights, particularly economic and social rights, and advocating for environmental sustainability. Dorsey is the Executive Director of the Wallace Global Fund, a private charitable foundation located in Washington, D.C., that focuses on environmental sustainability, corporate accountability, women’s human rights, criminal justice, media reform and civic participation. Dorsey came to the Fund in 2008 after several years at The Heinz Endowments in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where she served as senior program officer for the Environment Program. There she focused on environmental health issues and green economic developments. Dorsey has served on the board of numerous non-profit organizations promoting human rights, including serving as chair of the board of Amnesty International USA. She previously served on Amnesty's staff, as director of the national field program and its human rights and environment program.

Dorsey has a doctorate in political science from the University of Pittsburgh, was selected as a Fulbright Research Fellow in South Africa, and has been a professor at Carnegie Mellon University, Chatham University, American University, and Georgia State University. She has lectured and written extensively on women’s environmental health, human rights, and effective strategies of non-governmental organizations and social movements. Most recently, Dorsey is co-author, with Paul J. Nelson, of New Rights Advocacy: Changing Strategies of Development and Human Rights NGOs, published in 2008 by Georgetown University Press.

The Sixtieth Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Exploring the Past, Anticipating the Future

Micheline Ishay is currently professor and director of the International Human Rights Program at the Graduate School of International Studies at the University of Denver -- the largest interdisciplinary human rights program in the United States. She is the author or editor of a half dozen books, including Internationalism and Its Betrayal, the Nationalism Reader. Her History of Human Rights: from Ancient Times to the Era of Globalization (published by the University of California Press) has been translated into several languages (Japanese, Greek, Korean, Macedonian, Portuguese, et) and was chosen by The Philadelphia Inquirer as one of the ten top non-fiction books of 2004. A second edition was released in June 2008. The second edition of her widely adopted Human Rights Reader: From Ancient Times to the Present was published in 2007. She is currently working on two new book projects --the Future of Human Rights and Israelis and Palestinians: Beyond a Two-State Solution--that she began while Lady Davis Professor at the University of Jerusalem in 2006. She travels widely in Europe, the United States and the Middle East, speaking on a variety of topics, including current political issues, to political theory, human rights and American Foreign Policy.

SCHEDULE

Friday, February 20, 2009

6:00-7:00pm: Registration and check-in
University Center at Carnegie Mellon University

7:00pm: Speak Truth to Power, the play
McConomy Auditorium, University Center
Introduction by Jim Kelly, Carlow University
Welcome by Mary Hines, President of Carlow University


8:30pm: Reception
Connan Room, University Center

Saturday, February 21, 2009

8:30am: Registration and check-in
University Center at Carnegie Mellon University

9:00-9:45am: Keynote Address / Ellen Dorsey
Human Rights in Our time: The New Rights Advocacy
Welcome and Introduction by Paul Le Blanc, Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences, La Roche College
McConomy Auditorium, University Center

9:45-10:15am: Panel response
McConomy Auditorium, University Center
Micheline Ishay, University of Denver
Gonzalo Pizarro, MDG Support Team

10:15-10:30am / BREAK

10:30-11:30am / Workshops Session I
These sessions are concurrent.

• Human Trafficking: National and International Perspectives (Erwin R. Steinbrenner Auditorium, Baker Hall A53)
• Careers in Global Issues (Connan Room, University Center)
• Darfur: Next Steps (Baker Hall 235B)
• War and Peace: Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Middle East (Rangos 1, University Center)
• One Life, One World, One Peace (Baker Hall 235A)
• Global Women’s Rights in Literature and Media (Baker Hall 237B)
• How to Teach the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 45 Minutes - Part I
  (Giant Eagle Auditorium, Baker Hall A51)

11:30am-12:30pm / LUNCH BREAK
Box lunches will be available for purchase.

12:30-1:15pm: Keynote Address / Micheline Ishay
The Sixtieth Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Exploring the Past, Anticipating the Future
McConomy Auditorium, University Center

1:15-1:45pm: Panel response
McConomy Auditorium, University Center
Ellen Dorsey, Wallace Global Fund
Gonzalo Pizarro, MDG Support Team 

1:45-2:00pm / BREAK

2:00-3:00pm / Workshops Session II
These sessions are concurrent.

• Oppression of Minorities: Cases of Lesser Known Groups (Baker Hall 235B)
• Religious Ethics from the Christian and Muslim Perspectives
  Intrapersonal, Interpersonal, and Societal Dimensions (Baker Hall 235A)
• Rising Inequality: Implications for Human Rights (Erwin R. Steinbrenner Auditorium, Baker Hall A53)
• Millennium Development Goals (Connan Room, University Center)
• Human Rights and Conflict Resolution (Baker Hall 237B)
• Workers' Rights in the United States and Abroad (Porter Hall 100, Gregg Hall)
• Environmental Justice and Human Rights: Issues and Cases (Baker Hall 255A)
• How to Teach the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 45 Minutes - Part II
  (Giant Eagle Auditorium, Baker Hall A51)

WORKSHOP DESCRIPTIONS:

Morning Workshops: 10:30-11:30am

Human Trafficking: National and International Perspectives / (Erwin R. Steinbrenner Auditorium, Baker Hall A53)

Presenter: Mary Burke, Carlow University

The global problem of modern day slavery will be described, including information about underlying causes and the extent to which it occurs. In addition, a review of grassroots and state level efforts against this transnational crime will be reported.

Careers in Global Issues / (Connan Room, University Center)

Presenters: Olabukunola Williams, Global Solutions Education Fund Pittsburgh; Joan Marshall, Peace Corps.; and Gonzalo Pizarro, MDG Support Team

The panel will discuss potential career options and opportunities for those interested in Global issues.

Darfur: Next Steps / (Baker Hall 235B)

Presenter: David Rosenberg, Pittsburgh Darfur Emergency Coalition

Join us as we discuss the next steps in our advocacy to end the genocide in Darfur.

War and Peace: Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Middle East / (Rangos 1, University Center)

Presenters: Paul Le Blanc, History Department, La Roche College; Magid Shihade, Visiting Professor, University of Pittsburgh; Helen Gerhardt, Iraq war veteran and writer; Jonah McAllister-Erickson, Thomas Merton Anti-War Committee

Issues of war and peace impact powerfully on human rights in multiple ways. Panelists will focus on realities in one of the primary regions of conflict in today’s world. Discussion will extend to questions of what we can do to challenge violence and the sources of violence.

One Life, One World, One Peace / (Baker Hall 235A)

One Life, One World, One Peace is a student organization that strives to promote the prevention and peaceful resolution of conflict through human connection and the support of education and microeconomic development. This session will serve as an introduction to the next generation of the global peace movement and its successes and challenges.

Global Women’s Rights in Literature and Media / (Baker Hall 237B)

Presenters: Sigrid King, Katie Hogan, Shannon Brooks, Tracy Emery, Kayla Sargeson, Lauren Schubert, Carlow University

This workshop will focus on women's rights issues in Iraq and Afghanistan as presented in news media and literature. Presenters will focus on several possible frameworks for analysis of women's rights in these countries: interdisciplinary connections in the classroom, the Beijing Platform for Action, and comparison between women's rights before and after the United States invasion.

How to Teach the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 45 Minutes - Part I / (Giant Eagle Auditorium, Baker Hall A51)

(To receive Act 48 credit, it is required to take both Part I and Part II of this workshop.)

Presenters: Wes Rist, Esq., University of Pittsburgh School of Law, and Amy Langham Global Solutions Education Fund Pittsburgh

In this two-part course, teachers will be given a basic substantive introduction to the history and content of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. A packet with information and resources for use in a 45 minute length class will be distributed to participants. Wes Rist, Esq. (University of Pittsburgh School of Law) and Amy Langham (Global Solutions Pittsburgh) will discuss methods and activities for engaging students in the learning process and resources available online to educators. Teachers will leave with the capacity and materials to teach the course and adjust it to any age group.

Afternoon Workshops: 2:00-3:00pm

Oppression of Minorities: Cases of Lesser Known Groups / (Baker Hall 235B)

Presenters: Azlan Tajuddin, Sabbir Amin and Anju Manandhar, La Roche College

This workshop is a discussion on the plight of two minority groups that experience the deprivation of social, political and economic rights; the Turkic-speaking Uighur people in China and the 'Outcast' social group in India/southern Asia.

Religious Ethics from the Christian and Muslim Perspectives:
Intrapersonal, Interpersonal, and Societal Dimensions / (Baker Hall 235A)

Presenters: M. Christina Astorga, Center for the Study of Catholic Social Thought, Duquesne University, and Bahar Davary, Theology and Religious Studies, University of San Diego

Exploring themes within the Christian and Muslim Religious Ethics traditions, and interweaving the intrapersonal, interpersonal, and societal dimensions, we reflect on the existential question: what is the moral imperative in the different arenas of self, other, and public? Drawing from both the Christian and Muslim sources, we envision to show that across differences of religion and culture, we are bound by our common humanity.

Rising Inequality: Implications for Human Rights / (Erwin R. Steinbrenner Auditorium, Baker Hall A53)

Presenter: Larry Davis, University of Pittsburgh

For the 21st Century, the defining problem will be Rising Inequality. These inequalities have profound implications for human rights and our effort to promote social justice.

Millennium Development Goals / (Connan Room, University Center)

Presenter: Gonzalo Pizarro, MDG Support Team, Bureau for Development Policy of United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

MDG Support, established in 2006, is designed to quickly mobilize technical support from across UNDP and the UN System to help developing country governments achieve the MDGs. MDG Support works with countries by invitation, helping to prepare and implement national development strategies that are bold enough to achieve the MDGs. Dr. Pizarro will describe the progress of the MDGs and illustrate through case studies.

Human Rights and Conflict Resolution / (Baker Hall 237B)

Presenter: Daniel Lieberfeld, Duquesne University

To what extent can promotion of human rights be a priority in efforts to resolve or manage international conflicts? In what ways can human rights best be promoted in these circumstances? Bring thoughts and related questions to this discussion-based workshop.

Workers' Rights in the United States and Abroad / (Porter Hall 100, Gregg Hall)

Presenters: Luis Alberto Galvis, former Colombian activist living in exile; Dan Kovalik, Counsel, United Steel Workers; Alan Hart, United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers of America (UE)

Freedom of expression and assembly, freedom from fear and want – these human rights have been the focal-point of working-class struggles for many years. The labor movement in the United States has increasingly understood that solidarity among working people must go beyond borders in this age of globalization. The panelists will explore struggles in the United States and Colombia – which are indicative of worldwide realities.

Environmental Justice and Human Rights: Issues and Cases / (Baker Hall 255A)

Presenters: Britney McCoy, and Peter Madsen, Carnegie Mellon University

This workshop will focus upon some central issues of environmental justice in relationship to human rights. First, the validity of the claims that are made by activists about various institutional acts of environmental injustice will be explored and surveyed as case examples. Second, since there are several varied methods of setting environmental justice metrics, the question of identifying the appropriate level of analysis for quantitatively assessing environmental justice implications is addressed.

How to Teach the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 45 Minutes - Part II / (Giant Eagle Auditorium, Baker Hall A51)

This is a continuation of the Part I morning workshop.