HRP In The News

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.

Barbara Frey highlights the importance of the role women play in conflict and post-conflict societies, an issue that was addressed by Fahima Vorgets from Women for Afghan Women and professor Fionnuala Ní Aoláin at this year's International Women's Day.

PaChia Yang reports on the consultation with United Nations Special Rapporteur on Indigenous Rights, James Anaya and the gripping testimonies given by local Hmong residents affected by the exhumation of their relative’s graves at Wat Tham Krabok in Thailand.

Reporter Jean Hopfensperger writes on the hearing presented before the UN expert, James Anaya, addressing the exhumed graves of local Hmong family members in Thailand. This special hearing was prompted by a complaint written by the Human Rights Program on behalf of the Hmong families.

Reporter Sharon Schmickle writes about the role of Minnesotans, including the Center for Victims of Torture and the Human Rights Program, and their work to ban torture and to repair the credibility of international law as a means to promote human rights.

Undergraduate students in the Human Rights Internship class in the Institute for Global Studies are working to
address and prevent child abduction in South Sudan. The 28 students in the class have are working closely with
board members of Child Protection International, an NGO created in 2008 after their experience on the “Save Yar
Campaign.”

The focus of the work this semester is to encourage universal birth registration in South Sudan. Birth registration
is the first legal acknowledgment of a child’s existence and provides access to immunization, health care, and education. Having a legitimate birth certificate ensures a child’s identity, nationality and name and also protects children
from sexual, economic, and military exploitation. The right to birth register is guaranteed in Article 7 of the
Convention on the Rights of the Child. It is a fundamental step toward protecting children from disappearing
without a trace, as too often happens through inter-tribal abduction and/or enforced military recruitment of children.

Hmongtimes.com

PaChia Yang reports on the consultation with United Nations Special Rapporteur on Indigenous Rights, James Anaya and the gripping testimonies given by local Hmong residents affected by the exhumation of their relative’s graves at Wat Tham Krabok in Thailand.