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US Envoy Williamson on Sudan: Keep the Pressure On

Ambassador Richard S. Williamson, former US Special Envoy to Sudan, advised human rights advocates and students to keep the pressure on the Obama Administration and the United Nations to protect the people of Darfur and Southern Sudan. "Citizen involvement has made a tremendous impact on the U.S. Governments actions with regard to Darfur," stated Williamson at a public event last Friday attended by students and by human rights activists engaged in the anti-genocide movement, including Minnesota Interfaith Darfur Coalition.
(Continue Reading)October 7th, 2009
Romeo Ramirez Advocates for the Rights of Immokalee Workers

The Human Rights Program recently sponsored an event, "Fair Food that Respects Human Rights" featuring Romeo Ramirez, the leader of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers. The discussion was attended by students and professionals alike who participated in an interactive discussion.
Ramirez discussed struggles facing the Immokalee works such as their extremely minimal wage, inconsistent work hours and the lack of work benefits. Immokalee Workers are paid by the 32lb bucket of tomatoes and each bucket earns 40-45 cents. This is the same amount earned by Immokalee workers in 1978. Because wages have failed to increase with the cost of living, Ramirez calls the tomato industry "a backward industry". Not only are wages low, there have been a plethora of cases concerning workers who have been threatened and abused by employers. In extreme cases, there have been situations constituting modern day slavery.
(Continue Reading)October 2nd, 2009
Focus Group on Southern Sudan Child Abductions

Do you have expertise on Sudan, child abductions or child rights? Child Protection International (CPI) is looking for people who would like to be involved in a focus group on the issue of child abductions in Southern Sudan. The purpose of the focus group is to discuss an upcoming campaign for child identification in Southern Sudan. Issues that will be discussed include cultural appropriateness, strategies for reporting missing children in rural Sudan and logistics. The group will only meet once sometime during the month of August. The date will be decided upon once we have enough participants.
If you are interested please contact Kori Tudor at: kori@childprotectioninternational.org
(Continue Reading)August 4th, 2009
Midwest Coalition Promotes Ratification of Human Rights Treaties

Human rights organizations in the Midwest are joining in the movement that is pressing for the U.S. Government to ratify core human rights treaties. President Obama's recent signature of the Convention on the Rights of the Disabled was a welcome indication of a more cooperative US relationship with international laws and treaties.

Among the treaties stalled in the US ratification process are conventions on the rights of women, children and the core treaty on economic, social and cultural rights. The Human Rights Program is participating in efforts to promote the Children's Rights Convention. Adopted in 1989, the CRC has become the most widely ratified international human rights treaty. The only two nations that have not ratified the treaty are the United States and Somalia. Although the US was actively involved in the 10 year drafting process, the treaty has been awaiting ratification in the Senate for 14 years.

The CRC is an important treaty in that it ensures the right to life, survival and development for every child, values which the Obama administration is in strong support of. Ratification of the CRC would allow the US to regain its position as a leader on international human rights issues and provide a framework for the improvement of child rights in the US.

This summer Midwest Coalition for Human Rights intern, Mike Brehm, has been exploring ways in which MCHR can play an active role in the campaign to ratify the CRC. He has been researching the possible implications of the CRC in the US and the jurisprudence of the Committee on the Rights of the Child. His findings will help the MCHR build a campaign and create awareness about the issues surrounding the ratification of the treaty. Mike will continue to research the CRC through the upcoming school year with hopes to publish an article about his research on the CRC.
(Continue Reading)August 4th, 2009
Meeting with UN Special Rapporteur for Sudan Provides Insight and Direction for CPI Interns

(Left to Right: Kori Tudor, Tracy Baumgardt, Dr. Sima Samar, Amelia Shindelar, Madeline Thaeden, Kaela McConnon, Sophie Link, Robyn Skrebes, Allison Rogne, Nora Radtke)
On Sunday, June 21st a group of CPI interns met with Dr. Sima Samar, UN Special Rapporteur for Sudan. Fresh with knowledge from her recent trip to Sudan from May 25 to June 4th, Dr. Samar provided the group of interns with great insight and important information about issues on the ground.

Although Dr. Samar expressed disappointment in the recent decisions of the Human Rights Council to replace the Special Rapporteur for Sudan with an Independent Expert, she was glad to see that a group of young students and graduates were working on such significant and critical issues, as she remarked, "The young generation are the ones that own the planet ."

Dr. Samar noted that the issue of child abductions is a recurring problem across many different tribes in South Sudan. Attacks from the LRA have only made issues worse by making it increasingly difficult to identify the perpetrators of violent child abductions. Dr. Samar remarked that the Government of South Sudan has little capacity to hold perpetrators accountable for their actions, a critical problem to the successful implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA).
(Continue Reading)July 7th, 2009
CPI In Full Swing Over the Summer

This summer the HRP office is full of interns continuing the work of Child Protection International (CPI) and preparing for their meeting with Dr. Sima Samar, UN Special Rapporteur for Sudan, on Sunday June 21st. The students will present their research on child abductions in Southern Sudan, and will ask Dr. Samar to support CPI's efforts to ensure birth registrations for all Sudanese children so that they have clear identification in the event of an abduction.
Recent intertribal violence in South Sudan has spurred an increase in abductions which has resulted in over 300 children being forcibly taken from their parents since the beginning of March 2009. Many reports indicate that the violence occurring in South Sudan is worse than that of the conflict in Darfur.

(Continue Reading)June 16th, 2009
CPI to Meet UN Special Rapporteur on Sudan

On Sunday June 21st, Child Protection International (CPI) has arranged a meeting with the UN Special Rapporteur on Sudan, Sima Samar, to discuss the issue of child abductions in South Sudan.

Sima Samar will be visiting Minnesota to receive the Don and Arvonne Fraser Human Rights Award at the Advocates for Human Rights Awards Dinner the following Tuesday, June 23rd. In addition to acting as the UN Special Rapporteur on Sudan, Dr. Samar is the Chairwoman of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission. Dr. Samar has done important work in drawing attention to the numerous human rights abuses committed against the people of Afghanistan, especially against girls and women.
(Amelia Shindelar and Nora Radtke Prepare for the June 21st meeting)
(Continue Reading)June 4th, 2009
Mike Brehm, MCHR Intern, Works to Ratify the Convention on the Rights of the Child

The Midwest Coalition for Human Rights (MCHR) is proud to have Mike Brehm as their summer Upper Midwest Fellow. Mike just finished his first year at the University of Minnesota Law School and hopes to pursue a career in international law.

Mike became interested in the field of human rights after taking one of Professor Weissbrodt's courses in the fall of 2008 and was able to attend the Asylum Law Project's (ALP) trip to Arizona in January of 2009. ALP provides for first year law students to volunteer over their winter or spring breaks to work with non profit organizations to represent immigrant and asylum seekers.

Mike will be attending the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) Symposium in Washington D.C. from June 1st -2nd, to begin his work in advocating for the ratification of the CRC. Through research and networking, Mike will be working to involve MCHR in the national movement for the ratification of the CRC.

(Continue Reading)June 4th, 2009
HRP Moves Offices June 15th

The Human Rights Program will be moving office on June 15th. We are expanding to make room for all of our interns! We will still be located on the 2nd floor of the Social Sciences Building in rooms 232A, 232 and 235.
(Continue Reading)June 3rd, 2009
Welcome Baby Kennion!

Rochelle's baby girl Kennion, 7lbs. 20 in, was born yesterday May 14th at 12:45pm. Congratulations Rochelle!
(Continue Reading)May 15th, 2009
CPI Discussion on Birth Registration in South Sudan

Over the past few months students from Barbara Frey's Human Rights Internship class have been working in partnership with Child Protection International (CPI) on a campaign to encourage universal birth registration in South Sudan. On Monday May 4th, the class held a discussion on the issue of birth registration inviting various experts working in the fields of child trafficking, international human rights and international development.

(Continue Reading)May 6th, 2009
Hunjoon Kim Receives Best Dissertation Award

Hunjoon Kim, political science PhD and human rights minor at the University of Minnesota has been awarded the best dissertation from the American Political Science Association Human Rights section.
Kim's dissertation, Expansion of Transitional Justice Measures: A Comparative Analysis of Its Causes , addresses the spread of accountability norms used by states and why past violations can be used as effective measures to demand truth and justice. Kim highlights the South Korean truth commission as a case study to explore transitional justice movements.
To read the full dissertation please click here.
(Continue Reading)May 5th, 2009
NEW: Interdisciplinary Graduate Group on Human Rights and Transitional Justice

The Graduate School at the University of Minnesota has recognized an Interdisciplinary Graduate Group on Human Rights and Transitional Justice, providing a community for faculty, grad students and experts to collaborate and share their knowledge on the subject. The purpose of the group is to provide joint research, education and clinical opportunities in the study of effective processes for preventing serious international human rights violations and efforts to bring justice to those whose rights have been violated.
(Continue Reading)April 29th, 2009
Minnesota Human Rights Advocates Say U.S. Terrorism Policies Complicate Saberi Case

Reporter Sharon Schmickle provides an update on Roxana Saberi's imprisonment in Iran on the basis of her expired press credentials. Originally from Fargo, Saberi has the support of MN human rights activists seeking to defend her rights under the Geneva Convention. Schmickle reports on the shocking parallel in the lack of due process between Saberi's case and those of the Guantanamo Bay detainees.
MinnPost.com
REUTERS - Roxana Saberi, Fargo native before her arrest in January
(Continue Reading)April 27th, 2009
Graduate Students Prepare for Summer Human Rights Internships

This summer many human rights minor graduate students will travel to sites around the nation and world as interns for various organizations working to promote and protect human rights.
Paul Walters - Upper Midwest Human Rights Fellow 2009
Friends of Ngong Road, Nairobi, Kenya
The mission of Friends of Ngong Road is to provide education and support for Nairobi children living in poverty whose families are affected by HIV/AIDS so they can transform their lives. Friends of Ngong Road pairs each sponsor with a specific child allowing for a mutually beneficial relationship to develop.
Paul’s role in the organization will likely be to conduct research, explore potential donor opportunities, train staff on quality assurance, and take pictures and video clips for the development of a promotional video.
(Continue Reading)April 26th, 2009
Eric Rosenthal Shares Personal History with Human Rights Students

(Left to right: Luka Krmpotich, Eric Rosenthal, Rachel Garaghty,Clark Nguyen Barbara Frey and Yi Deng)
The Human Rights Program hosted a meeting on April 17 between Eric Rosenthal, Executive Director of Mental Disability Rights International and students interested in pursuing human rights careers. Rosenthal reflected upon his fifteen year career as the founder and head of MDRI, a path he chose after realizing that the rights of the disabled were not being addressed by mainstream human rights organizations. Rosenthal's work at MDRI was launched by a $25,000 fellowship from the Echoing Green Foundation to work on the rights of the mentally disabled. For the first few years of his work, Rosenthal believed that, "If I could just write the perfect human rights report, other NGOs would pick up the issue." He realized quickly that he would need to build his own human rights organization, focused on the extreme violations he witnessed around the world, if any progress were to be made to protect the rights of this vulnerable group.

(Continue Reading)April 20th, 2009
A Post-Conflict Miracle - President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Visits the University of Minnesota

(SHAUN CURRY/AFP/Getty Images)
Friday, April 10th, a packed crowd of expatriate Liberians, students, professors and
community members gathered at Northrop Auditorium to welcome Liberian President Ellen
Johnson Sirleaf, the first democratically elected woman president of an African nation.
After a rousing performance of the Liberian national anthem, President Ellen Johnson
Sirleaf received the University's highest honor, an honorary Doctor of Laws degree.
(Continue Reading)April 20th, 2009
University of Minnesota To Welcome Two Distinguished Human Rights Advocates

During the month of April, the University of Minnesota will welcome two very important guests working courageously to promote human dignity and ensure equality. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, President of Liberia, will speak on April 10th and Eric Rosenthal, Executive Director of Mental Disability Rights International (MDRI) will speak on April 17. We invite friends of the Human Rights Program to join us in welcoming these two distinguished guests.
President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf will engage in conversation with Humphrey Institute Dean J. Brian Atwood about the current challenges facing her homeland at Northrop Memorial Auditorium on Friday, April 10th at 2:00 pm. President Johnson Sirleaf, internationally known as Africa’s “Iron Lady,” is the first woman to be democratically elected to lead an African nation. She has previously held several positions at the United Nations, including serving as the first woman to lead the Development Project for Africa.
(Continue Reading)April 2nd, 2009
Minnesota-Mexico Connection

Barbara Frey visited human rights colleagues in Mexico for a week in March to discuss collaborative possibilities for research and training regarding reforms to the criminal justice system in Mexico. Frey was the guest of FLACSO-Mexico (Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales), a graduate institute in social sciences with which the Human Rights Program has a partnership. Frey and her FLACSO colleagues met with several experts in law schools, the courts, and the federal public defenders office to discuss the human rights effects of the penal reforms.
(Continue Reading)April 1st, 2009
International Womens Day 2009: Celebrating Women Around the World

International Women's Day 2009 was a great success, drawing over 600 participants from across the state, nation and world. The annual event provides an opportunity for women and men to connect and discuss current issues affecting our local and global communities. Fahima Vorgetts, Women for Afghan Women, and Professor Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, University of Minnesota Law School, opened the day by addressing the many issues facing women in conflict and post-conflict societies.
"The more things change, the more they are the same" commented Professor Ní Aoláin; reflecting on the conditions women face within the context of war. Sexual violence, irreparable reproductive ramifications, likelihood of becoming a refugee or internally displaced and disproportionate economic repercussions, are a systematic reality for women in the context of war. Although women bear the burden of war there is an incredible lack of women's involvement in resolution and peace agreement efforts. Professor Ní Aoláin described the pre-agreement, formal peace agreement and post-agreement processes of conflict resolution as male dominated and often detrimental to the status of women in transitional societies. Not only do the post-conflict processes marginalize the power of women in society, their ambiguity often leads to confusion, misunderstandings and unrealistic demands. In the future, Professor Ní Aoláin would like to see a gendered approach to conflict resolution that looks beyond the Western model of repair.
Right to Left: Cheryl Thomas, Fahima Vorgetts, Barbara Frey, Fionnuala Ní Aoláin (Photo Courtesy of Alex Philstrom)
(Continue Reading)April 1st, 2009
Join Us in Celebrating the 14th Annual International Women's Day on March 14th, 2009

"Peace is inextricably linked with equality between women and men, and with development…If women are to play an equal part in securing and maintaining peace, they must be empowered politically and economically and represented adequately at all levels of decision-making." (from Summary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action)
Inspired by the 1995 U.N. Fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing, our 14th Annual International Women’s Day event is designed to celebrate the diversity of Minnesota women and increase understanding and tolerance in our community; to encourage activism; and to highlight human rights issues that affect women and girls locally, nationally and internationally. This year’s event includes a focus on women and war – how armed conflict impacts women’s lives and how women play a critical role in advancing peace around the world. We welcome University of Minnesota Law School Professor Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, who will provide a global perspective on international policies and practices on women in conflict and post-conflict situations, and Fahima Vorgetts, long-time activist on behalf of women in her home country, Afghanistan, and director of the Afghan Women’s Fund. Their presentation will include a discussion of the effectiveness of UN Security Council Resolutions 1325 (2000) and 1820 (2008) as they relate to women, war, sexual violence, and peace-building.

Fahima Vorgetts in Afghanistan
(Continue Reading)February 2nd, 2009
United Nations Expert Hears Moving Testimony from Hmong Families on Grave Desecrations in Thailand

After listening to four hours of testimony describing the Hmong grave exhumations at Wat Tham Krabok in Thailand, United Nations Special Rapporteur James Anaya addressed several hundred people gathered at the hearing, stating, “What I have heard are accounts that are very serious -- accounts of assault to culture, assault to a people.�? Anaya is independent expert on the human rights of indigenous people. He visited Minnesota on December 10 at the invitation of the University of Minnesota’s Human Rights Program to learn more about the desecration of an estimated 900 graves in Thailand. At the end of the hearing, Professor Anaya committed to raise further concerns about the diggings with the Thai Government and then “to formulate an opinion, views, and communicate those views to the government and to the Human Rights Council in a report that will be made public and available for you.�?
Ms. PaChia Yang and witnesses, Mr. Lee Thao and Mr.Kao Xiong, testifies at U.N. Consultation on the desecration of Hmong graves. Photo courtesy of University of Minnesota.
(Continue Reading)November 25th, 2008
Wal-Mart has perfected the art of union-busting, researcher says

By Barb Kucera, Workday editor
26 October 2008
MINNEAPOLIS - Want to understand why so many American workers find it so hard to organize unions in their workplaces? Look no further than Wal-Mart, a researcher for Human Rights Watch says.
Wal-Mart is a case study "of the abysmal workers' rights regime we have here in the United States," said Carol Pier, senior researcher on labor rights and trade for Human Rights Watch, an independent, nongovernmental organization that investigates human rights violations around the world.
In a speech last week at the University of Minnesota, Pier described her two-and-one-half-year study of Wal-Mart's labor-management record, which culminated in a 210-page report, issued in 2007, titled "Discounting Rights: Wal-Mart's Violation of U.S. Workers' Right to Freedom of Association."
(Continue Reading)November 4th, 2008
Frey Reminds UN First Committee Delegates that Human Rights are Core Obligations regarding Arms Transfers

Because the promotion of human rights is one of the central purposes of the United Nations, UN Members must consider the human rights consequences of their arms exports, testified Barbara Frey in a recent side meeting of the UN General Assembly’s First Committee.The First Committee, charged with considering security issues at the UN, is working toward drafting an Arms Trade Treaty to control the export of arms used to commit atrocities.

(Continue Reading)October 31st, 2008
The Story Behind the Stories...

Friends of the Human Rights Program (HRP) and the Creative Writing Program in the Department of English gathered at the Weismann Art Museum on May 30 to listen to acclaimed writers Patricia Hampl and James Dawes discuss writing about human rights. The event was a celebration of the University's "Scribes for Human Rights Fellowship." an initiative created in 2006 to support a Master of Fine Arts student to work with the HRP as a writer-in-residence. The Scribe serves as a storyteller - one who can transmit the deeply personal stories in human rights cases to a broader audience.
James Dawes and Patricia Hampl
(Continue Reading)August 7th, 2008
Save Yar Campaign Holds Congressional Briefing; Spawns New Nonprofit

To many who have followed the work of the Save Yar Campaign, it has become a familiar narrative: In October 2007, two young girls, Yar and Ajak Mading were abducted from the home of their grandmother in rural South Sudan. The abduction was violent and disturbing but strikingly similar to many hundreds of other abductions in the area in recent years. Yet, there was one major difference. The abducted girls had an uncle, Gabriel Kou Solomon, who was an American citizen already learning how to advocate for human rights. Daniel Bernard, Gabriel Kou Solomon, Eric Bernal, and Tracy Baumgardt testifying before Congressional hearing.
(Continue Reading)August 7th, 2008