Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law
Human Rights News & Events

Community Events & Announcements

1. SURGE OR SCOURGE? THE TRUTH ABOUT IRAQ AND IRAN THAT YOU WON”T LEARN FROM PETRAEUS, BUSH, OR CHENEY
Thursday, September 20, 2007, 8:00pm, Katzen Art Center, American University
Join us for a discussion on democracy, U.S Foreign Policy and the Middle East. Participants include: Akbar Ahmed: Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies at American University and former Pakistani High Commissioner to Great Britain. The BBC described him as “the world’s leading authority on contemporary Islam.” Daniel Ellsberg: Former Defense and State Department official who faced 115 years in prison for releasing the Pentagon Papers to the press in 1971 and author of Secrets: A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers. Max Friedman: Professor of History, American University and expert in U.S. twentieth century foreign relations. Larry Johnson: Former CIA analyst and operations officer and deputy director of the State Department Office of Counterterrorism and consultant with U.S. military on terrorism-related matters. Peter Kuznick: Professor of History and Director, Nuclear Studies Institute, American University. Ray McGovern: Former CIA analyst who prepared the President’s Daily Brief for Nixon and Reagan, delivered morning briefings to Vice President Bush, chaired the National Intelligence Estimates, and co-founded Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS). Bob Parry: Investigative journalist who broke many of the Iran-Contra stories for AP and Newsweek in the 1980s. Now manages and writes for Consortiumnews.com. Sam Provance: U.S. Army intelligence analyst at Abu Ghraib. After attempting to alert those in charge, he blew the whistle on the cover-up. Though ostracized by the Army, he was honorably discharged last year. Coleen Rowley: Special agent and staff attorney for the Minneapolis FBI when Zacarias Moussaoui came under suspicion there. In memoranda to FBI director Mueller, Rowley decried Bureau ineptitude regarding 9/11 and warned of consequences of invading Iraq. One of three whistleblowers named Time Magazine’s Persons of the Year for 2002. Ann Wright: Former Acting Ambassador in Afghanistan who resigned from the Foreign Service the day the bombing began in Iraq to protest U.S. policy and served 29 years in the Army before retiring as a colonel. For additional information, please contact (202) 885 2408.

2. THE MANY FACES OF OUR HUMAN FAMILY: A CATHOLIC PERSPECTIVE ON IMMIGRATION - AN ANNUAL CONFERENCE SPONSORED BY THE DIOCESE OF ARLINGTON
Saturday, September 22, 2007, 8:30 am to 3:00 pm, Saint Anthony of Padua Parish, 3305 Glen Carlyn Road, Falls Church, VA 22041
In light of recent immigration ordinances passed in Northern Virginia, as well as the ongoing national debate, this year's annual conference sponsored by the Peace and Justice Commission of the Diocese of Arlington will focus on the Church's stance on immigration. The Many Faces of Our Human Family: A Catholic Perspective on Immigration, will include workshops with local and national panelists. Special guest Cardinal McCarrick of Washington will serve as the keynote speaker discussing, “What the Church Teaches”. For more information, email a.murphy@ccda.net.

3. YOUNG PROFESSIONAL WORLDQUEST 2007
Sunday, September 23, 2007, 6:00pm to 8:00pm, Busboys and Poets Restaurant, 2021 14th Street NW, Washington, DC 20009
WorldQuest is an international affairs and current events trivia contest (much like Quiz Bowl)between 4-person teams. These teams can be representative of your company, organization, school, or have no affiliation (single entrants are welcome). Teams compete by answering questions testing knowledge of current affairs, world leaders, geography, recent history, flags, international organizations, countries, regions, the world economy, culture, religion and more. A full competition is 70 questions, 7 rounds of 10 questions each. The winning team is the team with the highest number of correct answers at the end of the game and prizes will be given to the top teams. Sample questions may be found here. Please note that these questions were used in the National WorldQuest Competition for high school students hosted by the World Affairs Councils ofAmerica.Food and Drink will be available for purchase. The registration fee is $10 per person or $40 for a team of four. Single entrants are welcome and will be placed, per availability on an open team. To register, please contact the World Affairs Council at (202) 293-1051. Registration is available ONLY BY PHONE and SPACE IS LIMITED.

4. TRAINING COURSE ON “COORDINATION OF MULTI-SECTORAL RESPONSE TO GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE IN HUMANITARIAN SETTINGS.”
***Applications due on September 25, 2007***
This two-week intensive course is specifically designed to train qualified experts in gender-based violence (GBV) from various backgrounds in the coordination of multi-sectoral prevention of and response to GBV in humanitarian settings. The organization of the course is a joint initiative of ICRH and the UNFPA Humanitarian Response Unit, supported by the Flemish Inter-university Council (VLIR), the UN Inter-agency Standing Committee Gender Task Force and the UN Action against Sexual Violence in Conflict. There are two objectives of the training course: 1. To improve knowledge, understanding and communication about a multi-sectoral response to GBV in humanitarian settings; and 2. To build capacity and to acquire skills in the coordination of a multi-sectoral response to GBV in humanitarian settings. More detailed information on the topics that will be dealt with, the selection criteria and the application modalities can be found in the Announcement document, which can be found at http://www.icrh.org/node/489. For additional information contact Marleen Bosmans at marleen.bosmans@ugent.be or Erin Kenny at ekenny@unfpa.org.

5. AN AUTHORS SERIES EVENT WITH THOMAS RICKS, FIASCO: THE AMERICAN MILITARY ADVENTURE IN IRAQ
Monday, October 1, 2007, 6:30pm, CSIS Conference Center, 1800 K Street, NW Washington DC 20006
Drawing on the exclusive cooperation of more than one hundred senior military officers, many of whom are going on-the-record for the first time, Fiasco is Pulitzer Prize-winning author Thomas Ricks' ground-breaking account of America's military operations in Iraq. With unprecedented access to over thirty thousand pages of official documents,many never before released to the public, Ricks takes the reader inside the minds of some of the highest-ranking military officials. Throughout Fiasco, Ricks argues there was never any question that the U.S. military would topple Saddam Hussein; however, there was little thought by the military as to what would come next. According to Ricks, the Iraq War has been nothing short of an absolute fiasco. Sign Up Now For further information contact The World Affairs Council of Washington, DC at 202-293-1051 or email them at event@worldaffairsdc.org

6. LEGAL RESEARCH ASSISTANT POSITION WITH THE LAWYERS’ COMMITTEE FOR CIVIL RIGHTS UNDER LAW
Send in applications ASAP!
The Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law (“Lawyers’ Committee”) is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that was formed at the request of President John F. Kennedy to involve the private bar in the provision of legal services to victims of racial discrimination. The principal mission of the Lawyers' Committee is to secure, through the rule of law, equal justice under law. To this end, the Lawyers' Committee conducts litigation in the broad areas of civil rights law including fair housing, education, desegregation, employment discrimination, voting rights, and environmental justice. The Committee also testifies before Congress on important issues affecting civil rights and equal access to justice, and engages in public policy advocacy within the federal administration.The Lawyers’ Committee’s Education Project strives to guarantee that all American students receive equal educational opportunities in public schools and institutions of higher learning. The Education Project is seeking a law student to assist in the research and drafting of an article on educational adequacy litigation in a certain state (to be disclosed upon accepting the assignment for confidentiality reasons). The student will research state education finance legislation, the relationship between education and economic development, and the general status of education in the state. In addition to excellent research and organization skills, the ideal candidate should also have superior writing and Bluebooking skills to assist in drafting the article. A demonstrated commitment to civil rights issues is also required. The student would begin work at the beginning of October. The time commitment will average approximately 15 hours per week through mid-January (excluding finals). The position pays a stipend of approximately $500 on a monthly basis. Please send your cover letter, résumé, and a brief writing sample to:
Michelle Woolley
Institute for Educational Equity and Opportunity Fellow
Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
1401 New York Avenue, NW, Suite 400
Washington, DC 20005