Yale Bulletin and Calendar

April 14, 2006|Volume 34, Number 26

Symposium on human rights will
focus on memorializing atrocities

"The Demands of Memory: The Purposes, Forms and Moral Obligations of Remembering Atrocities" is the title of the annual Robert L. Bernstein International Human Rights Fellowship Symposium, which will be held Thursday-Friday, April 20-21, at the Law School, 127 Wall St.

This year's event is focusing on the moral complexity of memory in the aftermath of periods of serious human rights abuses. "The call from human rights advocates to the larger political community to memorialize has led to the construction of monuments and the creation of museums as well as the establishment of institutions such as truth commissions and trials," write the event organizers.

The symposium, which is free and open to the public, will kick off on Thursday with a staged reading of a play by Etan Frankel called "Truth and Reconciliation" at 6:15 p.m. in the faculty lounge. Saturday's event will begin with a discussion featuring current Bernstein Fellows at 10 a.m., also in the faculty lounge. Sari Bashi, a 2003 Law School graduate, will discuss her work in Israel at Gisha, Center for the Legal Protection of Freedom of Movement, representing Palestinians who face restrictions on their freedom to travel within and outside the Occupied Territories. Avani Mehta Sood, another 2003 Law School graduate, will talk about his work with the International Legal Program of the Center for Reproductive Rights promoting the use of India's public interest litigation mechanism to address widespread violations of women's reproductive rights.

There will be two panels in the afternoon, both in Rm. 127: "Trials and Truth Commissions as Processes for Remembering," exploring issues of memory from the perspective of official institutions, at 1 p.m.; and "Artistic and Popular Forms of Memory and Memoralization," looking at the role of the memorialization of atrocities in the creation of a national or collective idenitity," at 3:15 p.m. The symposium will conclude with a reception at 5:15 p.m. in the Alumni Reading Room.

Among the panelists will be Dr. Alex Boraine, chair of the board, International Center for Transitional Justice, and former vice chair, Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa; David M. Crane, Distinguished Visiting Professor of Law, Syracuse University, and former chief prosecutor for the Special Court for Sierra Leone; and Sara J. Bloomfield, director, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. A complete list of speakers can be found at www.law.yale.edu/outside/html/Public_Affairs/732/yls_article.htm.

The symposium is sponsored by the Orville H. Schell Jr. Center for International Human Rights at the Law School. Paul Kahn, the Robert Winner Professor of Law and the Humanities, is the center's director, and James Silk, associate clinical professor of law, is its executive director.

The Robert L. Bernstein Fellowships in International Human Rights were established in 1997 to honor Robert Bernstein, the former chair, president and chief executive officer of Random House Inc. and the founding chair of Human Rights Watch. The fellowships provide financial support to allow two Law School graduates to pursue full-time international human rights work for one year. Former Bernstein Fellows have worked on projects promoting and protecting human rights in such diverse locations as Eritrea, Northern Ireland, South Africa, Thailand, Israel, India and Tibet.

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A heroine's determination prevails in 'All's Well That Ends Well'

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Performances and workshops will explore 'theatrical bodies' . . .

Symposium on human rights will focus on memorializing atrocities

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India's road to independence is topic of film, panel discussion

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Impact of bird-borne infections on wildlife conservation is topic of forum

Panel discussion will focus on 'Class, Race and Inequality in South Africa'

Trainer describes biker Lance Armstrong's winning ways

Tsunami Awareness Week raised funds and refocused humanitarian efforts

Campus Notes

Wangari Maathai lecture cancelled