Yale Bulletin and Calendar

March 23, 2001

Volume 29, Number 23

Foreign minister, law professor
to debate the Taliban

A debate on Afghanistan's controversial Taliban government -- featuring Sayed Rahmatullah Hashemi, a foreign ministry official of the government, and Yale law professor Harold Hongju Koh -- will take place on Tuesday, March 27.

Sponsored by the Yale Center for International and Area Studies (YCIAS), "The Taliban: Pros and Cons" will be moderated by Gustav Ranis, the Henry R. Luce Director of the YCIAS. A 20-minute question-and-answer period will follow the debate, which will begin at 4 p.m. in the auditorium of Luce Hall, 34 Hillhouse Ave. The public is invited to attend, free of charge.

Hashemi has represented Afghanistan in several European conferences and countries over the last two years. He has spoken on such topics as his country's three-year drought, the continuing 22-year civil war in Afghanistan and U.N. sanctions against the region, emanating from human rights grievances, drug trafficking and the decision of the Taliban government to offer asylum to suspected terrorist Osama bin Laden. Hashemi has spoken at the University of California (UC) at Los Angeles and UC-Berkeley, Pomona College and Diablo Valley College, and will meet with U.S. State Department officials.

Koh, the Latrobe Smith Professor of International Law, was nominated by President Clinton in 1998 as assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labor. He advised Secretary of State Madeleine Albright on U.S. policy on democracy, human rights, labor, the rule of law and religious freedom. A former director of the Orville H. Schell Jr. Center for International Human Rights at the Law School, Koh has authored more than 70 articles on international law, human rights, constitutional law and international business transactions and trade. He also authored or edited several books on international relations, law and human rights. He has received numerous honors for his human rights work, including an honorary degree from the City University of New York Law School.

For further information, call (203) 432-3413 or send e-mail to malini.saith@yale.edu.

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