|
 |
|
|
|||
| |
|
Human Rights From the Bottom Up, 2004 | |
|
||
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
 |
|
||||
| |
|
|
|
|
||
Human Rights From the Bottom Up
As part of its ongoing efforts to further the study of human rights at the University of Washington and to promote scholarly inquiry in the interdisciplinary law and society tradition, the Comparative Law and Society Studies Center plans to sponsor a human rights speaker series beginning spring 2003 and culminating during spring, 2004, with an international conference on the series theme, Human Rights “From the Bottom Up”.
Recent years have seen burgeoning interest in human rights on US university campuses and a growth in the scholarly literature relating to human rights themes. At the same time, however, existing approaches to the subject are often dominated by a “top-down” political/institutional approach which explores human rights issues through analyses of the functioning, or lack thereof, of elite-centered legal and political institutions in various contexts. This abundant literature has advanced our understanding of many human rights quandaries, and indeed has been very influential in policy circles, helping to lend support for international initiatives aimed at furthering the rule of law. However, some scholars have begun to point to the need for a more contextualized, “bottom up” understanding of human rights from the perspective of the individuals and communities in whom rights are vested – and particularly of those in marginalized communities, whose rights are most frequently violated.
As the leading center for law and society studies in the U.S. with a significant commitment to comparative/international research, featuring the only cluster of human rights scholars within in an interdisciplinary law and society program, CLASS considers itself uniquely poised to address these issues. Our scholarship poses such questions as: What are the sources of violence that infuse culture in specific settings, such as in post-colonial societies? How are rights and justice imagined by victims, rather than defined by exogenous political and legal elites? How important are factors of trust and legitimacy, and how can these be constructed in societies with high levels of violence or ethnic exclusion? What is the working relationship between international human rights groups and indigenous populations, and how much does this matter struggles for change? How are global human rights directives absorbed and reconfigured in specific and localized communities? These are just some of the types of questions concerning human rights, emphasizing culture and agency “on the ground,” that we consider. Research and discussion of these important issues may shed light on what remains a puzzling question after the work of so many top-down theorists: how do we understand disjunctions between the formal adoption of liberal democratic legal norms and the widespread continued violation of individuals’ most basic rights? Are so many splendid Constitutions dead-letter promises?
Sponsored by: The Comparative Law and Society Studies (CLASS) Center, Simpson Center for the Humanities at the University of Washington, and the Bartley Dobb Endowment for the Study and Prevention of Violence.
With generous support from: The University of Washington School of Law, the Henry M Jackson Foundation, the Jackson School of International Studies, the Institute for Transnational Studies, and the Human Rights Education and Research Network.
Conference, April 2-3
Tentative Schedule (as of March 26, 2004):
FRIDAY, April 2, Parrington Commons and Forum Rooms
9:45 - 10:30 Coffee and pastries
10:30 - 11:45 Concurrent Panels:
Panel 1: Human Rights & the Arts I
Anthony Geist, Professor and Chair, Spanish and Portuguese, UW - "Through the Eyes of Innocents: Children's Drawings from Spanish Civil War Refugee Camps"
Panel 2: Human Rights, Political Activism, & Public Policy
Carrie Doan, Political Science, UW - "Women's Rights from the Bottom Up and Top Down: How Grassroots Activism and the State Matter for Women's and Human Rights"
Peter Hovde, Political Science, UW - "The Politics of Human Rights in Britain"
Theresa Squatrito, Political Science UW - "The Utility of Rights in Legislative Processes: The Violence Against Women Act of 1994"
Ceren Belge, Discussant
12:15 - 1:15 Lunch
1:30 - 2:45 Panel 3: Contested Understandings of Justice
John Davis, Anthropology, Michigan State University
Arzoo Osanloo, Anthropology & LSJ, UW
Shannon Speed, Anthropology, University of Texas-Austin
4:00 - 5:30 KEYNOTE SPEAKER (Kane 110):
June Nash, Anthropology, Distinguished Professor Emerita at the City College of New York and Graduate Center
Reception and Dinner in Parrington Commons
____________________________________________________________
SATURDAY, April 3, Parrington Commons and Forum
8:45 - 9:15 Coffee and pastries
9:15 - 10:30 Concurrent Panels:
Panel 5: Crime and Human Rights
Katherine Beckett, LSJ & Sociology, UW
Angelina Godoy, LSJ & Jackson School, UW
Mutuma Ruteere, Political Science, University of Nebraska- Lincoln (Former Head of Research for the Kenyan Human Rights Commission)
Panel 6: International Support for Grassroots Human Rights Activists: The Role of Protective Accompaniment & Witnessing
Kim Bush, formerly of Guatemala Accompaniment Project
Joe Sperry, Peace Brigades International, US and Guatemala accompanier
Mollie McClain, International Solidarity Movement, former volunteer in Gaza
Peter Lippmann, journalist covering Israel and the West Bank
10:45 - 12:00 Final Panel:
Panel 7: Human Rights and Civil Conflict
Lisa Hajjar, University of California, Santa Cruz
Ivan Orozco, Notre Dame University
Vladimir Raskin, Seattle University School of Law, Former Deputy Director, Moscow Center for Human Rights
12:00 - 1:30 Lunch and Concluding Remarks
List of speakers
Kane Hall 120
Melching is Director of Tostan, a human rights NGO based in
Savery Hall 239
Li Qiang. "Workers and the Labor Movement: The Current Situation in China"
Li Qiang is Founder and Executive Director of China Labor Watch, and is
currently a visiting scholar at The Center for the Study of Human Rights at
Columbia University. In China he worked for ten years in both state and
foreign owned factories, where he organized and participated in more than
forty strikes and demonstrations. He has carried out independent research on
more than sixty different trademarks, and has written ten different factory
reports. Recently he has been active in promoting socially responsible
policies by multi-national corporations and American companies doing
business in China.
Savery Hall 239
"The Attack on Immigrants and Civil Rights Post-9/11"
Marc Van Der Hout, the founding member of Van Der Hout, Brigagliano & Nightingale, is a California State Bar Certified Specialist in Immigration and Nationality Law and has been recognized by bar associations throughout the country for his innovative and resourceful representation of immigrants. He is a past chair of the National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild and has served on its governing board for the past 20 years. He has authored many articles and has lectured extensively on the subject of immigration law, and will speak about challenges to immigrants’ rights in the post 9/11 era, particularly under the USA PATRIOT Act and other antiterrorist legislation.
Friday, January 23: Frank La Rue
Unfortunately, the Jan. 23rd lecture "Seeking Justice for Genocide in
Guatemala," featuring Guatemalan human rights attorney Frank La Rue, has been cancelled. Last week, Mr. LaRue was appointed to head the Guatemalan President's Commission on Human Rights, a high-ranking position in the new administartion that took office January 14th. Unfortunately, it was impossible for him to join us so soon after taking office, though we are in discussions with Mr. LaRue about a potential visit to UW later this spring.
Wednesday, February 11: Merhangiz Kar
Savery Hall 239
Monday, March 8: Radhika Coomaraswamy
Kane Hall - Walker-Ames Room
"Fighting Violence Against Women as an International Human Right- A Review of a Decade"
Lanka. She has also recently served as the United Nations Special
Rapporteur on Violence Against Women, researching and writing reports to
the UN Commission on Human Rights on such topics as violence in the
family, violence in the community, violence against women during armed
conflict and the problem of international trafficking.
Dr. Coomaraswamy was also Director of the International Centre for Ethnic
Studies in Colombo for many years, and is the author of numerous books,
including A Crisis of Legitimacy: - The Anglo-American Constitutional
Tradition in Sri Lanka and Ideology; The Constitution: - Essays on
Constitutional Jurisprudence; and A Manual on Economic, Social, and
Cultural Rights, as well as numerous articles on ethnic conflict in Sri
Lanka.
Dr. Coomaraswamy has won many awards, including the International Law
Award of the American Bar Association, The Human Rights Award of the
International Human Rights Law Group, The Bruno Kreisky Award of 2000 and
The Leo Ettinger Human Rights prize from the University of Oslo.
All talks will be from