Panels

On Saturday, April 17, two sessions of explorative presentations will be offered featuring distinguished speakers on a variety of topics related to AI's ongoing work to end international human rights abuses.

PANELS: PART I

4:15 pm - 5:45 pm       Children Betrayed: The Juvenile Death Penalty in Contemporary Society

In light of Amnesty International's global campaign to "Stop Child Executions!" and the recent decision by the United States Supreme Court to hear a case that will determine the constitutionality of the juvenile death penalty, this panel explores the practice of executing juvenile offenders and its impact on both individuals and contemporary society.

The panel will serve as a forum within which we examine recent developments that have emerged in the United States, in particular the Roper v. Simmons case that will be heard by the United States Supreme Court later this fall. Additionally, there will be an in-depth analysis of the ways in which the juvenile death penalty directly impacts people's lives. Perspectives from both the families of those juvenile offenders who have been executed and those who have lost loved ones to murders committed by juvenile offenders will be presented in order to explore the effects it has at both the individual and societal levels.

This forum is also designed to provide a more comprehensive understanding about the human rights issues that frame the juvenile death penalty and to accord interested activists more opportunities for training and action.

Invited Panelists:
• Rena and Ireland Beazley, the parents of Napoleon Beazley, who was executed by the state of Texas in 2002 for a crime committed when he was 17 years old.
• Bill Pelke, President and Co-Founder of Journey of Hope… From Violence to Healing and Murder Victims Families for Reconciliation founding Board member, whose grandmother was murdered by a juvenile offender.
• Richard C. Dieter, Executive Director of the Death Penalty Information Center in Washington, DC. The Center is a non-profit organization serving the public and the media with analysis and information on issues concerning capital punishment.

4:15 pm - 5:45 pm       End Violence Against Women Fueled by Identity-Based Discrimination

AI's international campaign to Stop Violence Against Women will work not only to stop the violence but also the discrimination against women and girls that justifies forms of violence. The two main themes of the VAW campaign are violence in the family/home and violence during and after armed conflict. In many countries women are not equal before the law, nor are their lives of equivalent value to those of men. Perpetrators of so-called "honor" killings may not go to jail at all because the community does not treat these killings as murder. In the armed conflict of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, women and girls are sexually assaulted and brutalized as a punishment to the ethnic communities they are perceived to represent. Around the world a woman and girl's race, ethnicity, class, or sexual orientation could all work together with her gender to create particular forms of abuse that are human rights violations and specific obstacles to obtaining justice and redress.

This panel will examine violence against women from all these intersecting perspectives. Speakers will not only describe the violations they deal with, but also the remedies they recommend and action strategies that Amnesty might use to take forward the goals they are risking their lives for.

Invited Panelists:
• Nebahat Akkoc, Founder of anti-violence organization, KAMER (Turkey) 2004 Ginetta Sagan Award Recipient
• Claudia, Member of TASSC (Torture Abolition Survivors Support Coalition)
• Andrea Ritchie, INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence

Moderator:
• Sheila Dauer, Director, Women's Human Rights Program, AIUSA

4:15 pm - 5:45 pm       Human Rights Education as a Tool for Addressing Our Priorities Today and Tomorrow

The current climate in the US, from the War on Terror to discrimination and the actions that are being taken in response to this climate, not only undermines the very principles that this country was founded on but provides an open door policy for other countries to follow suit in action and in lack of accountability. Education is a critical part of our work as it seeks to change the paradigm within which people think, act and engage in society.

Everyday, millions of young people in classrooms and community settings, seek to learn, to grow and to discover how they can participate in transforming their world. What is AIUSA's role in helping provide support for these young learners? How do we address our current priorities in a way that reaches beyond the choir? How do we, as educator activists play a role in influencing and changing the current climate?

This panel will look at the role that education can play in strengthening the human rights culture in this country and therefore, strengthening the ability of US citizens to critically engage in the working of this country. Activists who are interested in learning more about human rights education as a component of our work, about how to start a human rights education program or how to integrate human rights education into their work should attend this workshop.

Invited Panelists:
• Emma Alabaster, Student, LaGuradia High School
• Kim Allen, Teacher, St. Luke's School
• PBS Channel 13, TBA
• International Educator, TBA

Moderator:
• Felisa Tibbits - Director, Human Rights Education Associates

4:15 pm - 5:45 pm       Impact of the War on Terror in the Middle East and United States

In the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks, governments of several Middle Eastern and North African countries stepped forward to advise the United States on how to attack terrorism. Countries such as Israel, Egypt Saudi Arabia and Algeria, all of whom had significant experience in fighting terrorism, said Americans should follow their example. What was left unsaid was that in most or all of the countries of the region, anti-terror activities included the use of torture, long-term administrative or incommunicado detention, unfair trials, special courts that didn't meet international legal standards and the harassment of political opponents and marginal social groups. Methods that were developed to be used against armed opposition groups quickly and inevitably were focused on non-violent civilians and political opponents. In short, the war on terror has been used to justify the stunting of the development of human rights and a democratic political culture in these countries.

This panel is meant to explore the two-way relationship of the American war on terror to the human rights situation in the Middle East, looking at both how the American effort has changed the situation in the Middle East and how the Middle East experience with terrorism has affected American actions. Special focus will be on the less publicized stories in Yemen and Morocco. We will ask: How does anti-terror legislation and activities affect civil society? How has the war on terror in the Middle East affected the debate on human rights in them? How has the American war on terror changed its relationship with Middle East countries? How does the Middle East situation provide a cautionary tale for the United States in its war on terror?

Invited Panelists:
• Ali Azizi, Yeman Country Specialist, AIUSA
• David Stamps, North Africa Coordination Group, AIUSA
• TBA, representative from the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee or ACLU to discuss recent events related to the use of anti-terror legislation in the United States.

Moderator:

Marty Rosenbluth, Israel/Palestine Country Specialist, AIUSA

4:15 pm - 5:45 pm       Historic Sites and Human Rights: Activating "Sites of Conscience" as Centers for Citizen Engagement in Struggles for Justice

How can places of the past inspire new action for the future? In American urban communities and around the world, "sites of conscience" are opening as new centers for inspiring awareness and action on human rights issues. The International Coalition of Historic Site Museums of Conscience represents a network of historic sites committed to using their histories to address contemporary issues.

Hear how the Lower East Side Tenement Museum addresses issues if immigration and sweatshop labor; the "slave galleries" at St. Augustine's Church brings communities together for dialogues on racism and exclusion; the District Six Museum in South Africa catalyzes post-apartheid land reparations; Memoria Abierta in Argentina maps sites of torture and detention in Buenos Aires; and the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis works to inspire a new generation of activists. Participate in a workshop to explore ways to use places of memory in your own communities as new tools to support your own campaigns.

Invited panelists:
• Liz Sevcenko, Vice President, Interpretation, Coordinator, International Coalition of Historic Site Museums of Conscience, Lower East Side Tenement Museum
• Reverend Edgar W. Hopper, St. Augustine's Church

4:15 pm - 5:45 pm       Muzzling the Watchdogs: Journalists and Freedom of Expression Under Fire

Representatives of the independent media have long risked their lives and their livelihoods to expose human rights violations and other wrongdoings around the world. Too often, their efforts have been repaid with harassment, imprisonment, torture or even death. While governments have never welcomed the prying eye and the biting pen of the investigative reporter, journalists have been increasingly targeted on account of their professional activities.

In the past decade, more than 340 journalists have been killed in the course of their work around the world, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. The vast majority of these did not die in war zones or other conflicts. Instead, they were hunted down and murdered, often in direct reprisal for their reporting.

In the post-9/11 environment, governments have armed themselves with broader powers to withhold information and to jail critics. This panel will explore the risks involved in uncovering truth and will look at some of the most pressing threats to freedom of expression around the world.

Invited Panelists:
• Ann Cooper, Executive Director, Committee to Protect Journalists
• Other panelists to be announced

Moderator:
• Michael O'Reilly, National Casework Director, AIUSA

4:15 pm - 5:45 pm       New Tools, New Hope: Using New Tactics to Advance Human Rights

Experienced activists know that the strategies and tactics they utilize can mean the difference between achieving their goals and failing to do so. But with so much important human rights work to do and so few resources, tactical thinking can seem like a luxury. This workshop will help advocates understand the value of tactical thinking: identifying their goal, choosing their target, deciding what effect they want to have on that target, developing a strategy and identifying tactics to implement that strategy.

Three panelists from diverse areas of work (torture treatment, women and children's rights, and indigenous peoples rights) will discuss a particular tactic they have used to advance their work and will talk about how you could use their tactic in different situations as well as show you new tools and networks being created on-line and in print for advocates to use world wide. Thinking about human rights work in terms of tactics (how we do what we do) makes it possible to share tactics across sectors, across regions and across diverse areas of human rights work.

Invited Panelists
• Douglas A. Johnson, Executive Director, Center for Victims of Torture
• Barbara Shulman, Women's Human Rights Program, AIUSA
• Jo Render, First Peoples Worldwide

5:45 am - 6:00 pm       Coffee Break
Promenade and Student Activist Lounge (2nd Floor)

PANELS: PART II

6:00 pm - 7:30 pm       Piecing Together The Puzzle: How Amnesty's Parts Fit Together to Achieve Human Rights Victories

Since its' founding over 40 years ago, Amnesty International has come to recognize that there is not one ‘best' advocacy method for securing human rights and freedom. As the movement has grown both in the size of its membership and the scope of issues that it addresses, Amnesty International USA has expanded its range of campaigning tactics, and created additional programs and units, which has in turn attracted new constituencies of activists. At this panel, you will learn how pieces of the "Amnesty puzzle" -activist structures, programs and units—fit together to achieve human rights victories. To demonstrate this, we will explore the current campaign to bring justice to the more than 370 young women and girls who have been raped, mutilated and murdered in Ciudad Juarez and Chihuahua, Mexico.

Invited Panelists:
• Bonnie Abaunza, Director, Artists for Amnesty
• Helen Howe, student group coordinator at Marlborough School, Los Angeles, CA
• Jennie Simpson, Washington DC Women's Human Rights Action Team
• Diego Zavala, Mexico Country Specialist and AIUSA Board of Directors

Moderator:
• Scott Roller, Pittsburgh, PA Local Group 39

6:00 pm - 7:30 pm       Control Arms! No More Weapons for Torturers and Murderers

Armed violence kills more than half a million women, men, and children on average each year. Hundreds of thousands more are maimed, tortured, or forced to flee their homes because of weapons in irresponsible hands.

The uncontrolled proliferation of arms fuels human rights violations, escalates conflicts, and intensifies poverty. There are approximately 639 million small arms in the world today, produced in at least 98 countries. Since launching its War on Terror, the US has initiated the largest export of arms and military aid ever and has relaxed controls in order to arm newfound allies against ‘terrorism,' irrespective of those countries' disregard for international human rights and humanitarian law.

In response to this global threat, AI launched the international "Control Arms Campaign" in October 2003, in conjunction with Oxfam and the International Action Network on Small Arms. This campaign is directly related to the three AIUSA national priorities: Violence Against Women, War on Terror, and economic, social, and cultural rights. The panel will address the devastating impact of the international arms trade, the spread of this trade since September 11 to countries with poor human rights records, and the particular impact on violence against women and on development and poverty worldwide.

Confirmed panelists:
• Barbara A. Frey, Esq., Director, University of Minnesota Human Rights Program; Special Rapporteur on Small Arms and Light Weapons of the U.N. Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights
• Dr. Steve Wright, Director, Omega Foundation, United Kingdom
• Dr. Vanessa A. Farr, Independent Researcher, focusing on gender dimensions of gun violenc
e

Moderator:
• Lora Lumpe, Member and Acting Co-Chairperson, Military, Security, and Police Transfers Working Group, AIUSA

6:00 pm - 7:30 pm       Human Rights and Hunger: Democratic People's Republic of North Korea

The North Korean people suffer from one of the most brutally repressive regimes in the world. The Pyongyang government of Kim Jong Il is willing and able to both repress and starve its citizens in the pursuit of absolute control. Food distribution has been used as a weapon of political control.

Amnesty International has recently issued a report on human rights violation in North Korea. In addition to the unequal distribution of inadequate food, the report censures Pyongyang for: political imprisonment; ill treatment of prisoners; executions; denial of freedom of movement; and forcible return of refugees.

AIUSA and Amnesty worldwide are currently pursuing a country action to improve the human rights of the North Korean people and end the prejudicial provision of food.

The panel will present details of the abuses, explore the denial of food as a human rights violation, and offer options for action.

Invited Panelists:
• David Hawk, former Executive Director of AIUSA and author of The Hidden Gulag, will address political imprisonment and the treatment of prisoners.
• Debbie Liang-Fenton, Executive Director of the US Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, will discuss the causes and consequences of the political use of food.
• A North Korean defector will provide a view of life inside the DPRK.

Moderator
• Jack Rendler, AIUSA country coordinator for North Korea, will moderate and review AI's concerns and action strategy.

6:00 pm - 7:30 pm       Indigenous Peoples' Rights Are Human Rights

Human rights violations against Indigenous peoples have been occurring around the world for centuries. More than 500 years ago, Europeans began arriving in the area we now know as the Americas, laying claim to Indigenous peoples' lands, destroying their political institutions and ways of life. The encroachment on Indigenous peoples' land and their subsequent colonization was accompanied by wholesale slaughter of women, children and men who stood in their path.

While mass killings of Indigenous peoples have diminished in recent times, they have never stopped. Many governments around the world continue to violate the rights of their Indigenous peoples with impunity. Corporate globalization and aggressive development projects particularly in the extractive industries are threatening the economic, social and cultural survival of Indigenous peoples.

Despite a 500-year shameful legacy of abuse, Indigenous peoples have mobilized globally to preserve their culture, language and rights to self-determination. The United Nation's Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples is an example of Indigenous peoples uniting for global human rights standards to protect and promote the rights of Indigenous peoples. They have been supported in their struggles by human rights organizations such as Amnesty International, which issued campaign reports on human rights violations against Indigenous peoples in 1992 and 2003.

The panel will feature Indigenous leaders who will speak about current challenges and what Amnesty activists can do to support their struggles.

Invited Panelists:
• Oren Lyons, Faith Keeper, Turtle Clan, Onondaga Nation
• Tonya Gonnella Frichner Esq., American Indian Law Alliance, Snipe Clan, Onondaga Nation
• Carrie Dan, Western Shoshone Defense Project
• Andrea Smith, Ralph J. Bunche Fellow, AIUSA, conducting research for AIUSA on the issue of violence against Native American Women

Moderator:
• Folabi Olagbaju, Director, Mid-Atlantic Region, AIUSA

6:00 pm - 7:30 pm       Structural Inequality and the Right to Health

The right to the highest attainable standard of mental and physical health is a thread that runs through AI's first pilot projects in the realm of economic, social and cultural rights, projects which have explored issues ranging from rape survivors' access to treatment for HIV/AIDS in Africa; the deplorable living conditions and inadequate treatment that are the norm for the mentally disabled in Bulgaria; and the impact of movement restrictions on access to health care for Palestinians living in the Occupied Territories.

This panel will explore how poverty, racism, gender-based and other forms of discrimination, and the power structures that perpetuate social and economic inequality, undermine and fuel abuses of the right to health. It will delve into the human rights dimensions of the AIDS pandemic as an example of the role such factors play in health crises. It will conclude with a discussion on how AI can most effectively address these factors as it begins campaigning on economic, social and cultural rights issues, including those relating to the right to health.

Invited Panelists:
• Salih Booker, Executive Director of Africa Action.
• Paul Hoffman, Chair of Amnesty International's International Executive Committee.
• Alice Miller, Assistant Professor of Clinical Public Health at the Joseph L. Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University.
• Samuel Zan, Director of the Social Enterprise Development Foundation of West Africa.

Moderator:
• Brigit Greeson Alvarez, AIUSA 2002 Patrick Stewart Human Rights Scholar.

6:00 pm - 7:30 pm       Torture Survivors and Asylum in the U.S.

Torture survivors are among the most traumatized people on earth, yet are treated inhumanely when they seek the protection of the United States. Upon arrival, many are placed in "expedited removal," needing to convince a uniformed immigration inspector that they fear return before being allowed to enter into the more formalized asylum process. Many torture survivors are held in detention, including in county jails, where they often languish for months while their asylum claims are pending. The panel will look at the process asylum-seekers in the United States undergo, and the particular impact on torture survivors.

Invited Panelists:
• Dr. Allen S. Keller, M.D., Assistant Professor of Medicine, Department of Medicine, NYU School of Medicine, Director of the Bellevue/NYU Program for Survivors of Torture, member of the advisory council of Physicians for Human Rights, and primary author of From Persecution to Prison: The Health Consequences of Detention for Asylum Seekers.
• Karen L. Hanscom, Ph.D., Executive Director, Advocates for Survivors of Torture and Trauma, Baltimore, Maryland.
• Eleanor Acer, J.D., Director, Asylum Program, Human Rights First, New York. Principal co-author of In Liberty's Shadow: U.S. Detention of Asylum Seekers in the Era of Homeland Security
• Other Panelist, TBA

Moderator:
• Bill Frelick, Director, Refugee Program, AIUSA

6:00 pm - 7:30 pm       Violence Against Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender People (LGBT)

As Amnesty International undertakes a global campaign to draw attention to violence against women around the world it is also important to examine related issues of violence. Throughout much of the world LGBT people continue to face widespread discrimination and violence. As is true for violence against women, violence against LGBT people is perpetrated by both state and non-state actors. The state's failure to hold perpetrators accountable creates a climate of impunity. There is often a clear intersection between the violence experienced by women and LGBT people. The violence experienced by lesbians for example is frequently the result of, as well as compounded by, their sexual orientation and their gender. Likewise, the violence experienced by women and LGBT people is very often related to the expression of their sexuality. This workshop will seek to highlight these important connections. This will include presenting specific case examples of violence against LGBT people in the US as well as other countries and giving participants information on how they can take concrete action to combat this violence.

Invited Panelists:
• Slava Borttnik, LGBT Coordinator, AI Belarus
• Wissam Toufic Abyad, Recently released Egyptian prisoner of conscience
• Other Panelists and Moderator, TBA

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