HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL SIDE EVENT

Panel on Berkeley’s Project 2048 and progress toward a World Court on Human Rights

The history of human rights consciousness and standard-setting can be seen as a sequence of religious and philosophical declarations at the national, regional and global level that put into focus the beliefs and aspirations of the times. These documents reflect the evolving understanding of the underlying principles of human dignity and equality.  They embody an agreement about the individual and collective rights that governments must both promote and protect.

The most recent constellation of texts can be traced back to the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Many organizations and individuals rely on those texts to stem gross violations taking place in all regions of the world, including torture, disappearances and extrajudicial executions. While Berkeley Law School’s Project 2048 acknowledges the importance of protecting rights through existing instruments, we also ask an equally important question: what will be the next generation of instruments to ensure and protect human rights and human dignity? What will the state of human rights be in the year 2048, one hundred years after the adoption of the Universal Declaration?  Will civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights be realized?  Will the rights to peace, the right to the homeland, the right to one’s identity be effectively protected?

We are all aware of the fact that there is a considerable gap between norms and implementation. Human rights law is not mathematics – it is sometimes applied selectively and arbitrarily.  Some even speak of “international law à la carte”.  Project 2048 explores ways of bridging the gap, welcomes the monitoring activities of the Human Rights Council and the UN treaty-bodies and aims at strengthening the role of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. The credibility of the system will benefit through the establishment of an international court of human rights whose decisions should be binding and enforceable.  In November 2009 Berkeley hosted a conference devoted to drafting a statute for an international court. Among the participants were the first UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Dr. José Ayala Lasso, the former Acting UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Professor Bertrand Ramcharan, ICTY Justice Ted Meron, and Professor Manfred Nowak.

List of Speakers Professor Manfred Nowak, UN Special Rapporteur on Torture:

• Professor Bruna Molina, Moderator, Geneva School of Diplomacy

• Professor Kirk Boyd, Berkeley University Law School

• Mishana Hosseinioun, Oxford University doctoral student, member of advisory board 2048

• Professor Carlos Villan Duran, President of the Spanish Society for International Human Rights Law

• Alfred de Zayas, Professor of International Law, Geneva School of Diplomacy and International Relations, member International Society for Human Rights

]]> http://genevadiplomacy.com/berkeley-university-panel-and-gsd-on-project-2048-and-a-world-court-on-human-rights/feed/ 0 http://genevadiplomacy.com/president-of-timor-leste-visits-gsd/ http://genevadiplomacy.com/president-of-timor-leste-visits-gsd/#comments Wed, 03 Mar 2010 11:46:49 +0000 gsdadmin http://genevadiplomacy.com/?p=1704 The Geneva School of Diplomacy and International Relations will receive a visit from His Excellency the President of Timor Leste, Dr. José Ramos-Horta on March 12, 2010, at 3 pm.

In 2006, President Ramos-Horta was awarded the Honorary Degree of Doctor of International Relations (DIR) from the Geneva School of Diplomacy for his efforts to establish peace and independence in East Timor.

In December 1996, President Ramos-Horta shared the Nobel Peace Prize with his fellow countryman, Bishop Ximenes Belo for their “sustained efforts to hinder the oppression of a small people”. The Committee considered Ramos-Horta “the leading international spokesman for East Timor’s cause since 1975″.

Please welcome the President of East Timor on this unique occasion during which he will address the students and faculty of GSD on Friday, March 12^th 2010!

The president will give his talk in the Pavillion Gallatin.

For logistic reasons, we kindly ask you to confirm your presence until Friday, 5 March 2010, via e-mail.

We are looking forward to a maximum attendance at this event from your part.

Sincerely,

The GSD team

]]> http://genevadiplomacy.com/president-of-timor-leste-visits-gsd/feed/ 0 http://genevadiplomacy.com/council-of-europe-staff-visits-gsd/ http://genevadiplomacy.com/council-of-europe-staff-visits-gsd/#comments Tue, 02 Mar 2010 09:05:31 +0000 gsdadmin http://genevadiplomacy.com/?p=1668 Tanja E. J. Kleinsorge, Head of the Secretariat Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men, Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe was welcomed to the course  ‘GENDER AND GLOBALIZATION’ by Prof. I.L. Feitshans JD and ScM and her students at the Geneva School of Diplomacy to give an overview of the international structures outsidee the UN system that effectively address the current issues of gender equality and the rights of women.

Ms Kleinsorge gave a two hour interactive presentation with discussion. Her topics addressed Introduction: equality between women and men – the role of the Council of Europe and its Parliamentary Assembly

Her presentation deftly outlined Council of Europe Achievements and challenges
in three main areas:

1.   equal participation in decision-making ;

2.  violence against women.

The Assembly’s position on the negotiation of a Council of Europe Convention to combat violence against women

www.coe.int and http://assembly.coe.int/default.asp

Our Guest also kindly agreed to speak with the students about her work and careers in diplomacy at the restaurant at the château des Penthes.

http://assembly.coe.int/ASP/Doc/ATListingDetails_E.asp?ATID=11017
http://assembly.coe.int/ASP/Doc/ATListingDetails_E.asp?ATID=11018

The UN-mandated University for Peace (UPEACE) and the Geneva School of Diplomacy and International Relations (GSD) are jointly offering a course on “Arms Control and Disarmament Today” during the first week of March, 2010, at the GSD campus in Geneva.  The course is being offered to students of international relations or security as well as practitioners (diplomats, officials of intergovernmental organizations, NGO members, etc) and academic personnel.

UPEACE and GSD have decided to offer this course in order to highlight the rapidly growing importance of disarmament work world-wide.  It has become evident that arms control and disarmament issues are back on the world agenda after years of neglect.  Work is underway to renegotiate the US-Russian START treaty to continue reducing nuclear arms.  The multilateral Conference on Disarmament in Geneva is expected to begin negotiations on a major treaty to end the production of fissile material that is used in nuclear weapons.  And a number of other negotiations are underway in various other disarmament areas such as conventional weapons and nuclear non-proliferation.

In order to better understand these important events, this course is designed to provide a general overview of the specific issues relevant to the arms control and disarmament field as it exists today.  Course participants will receive a substantive grounding in the key disarmament subjects currently facing the international community and how they affect contemporary international security problems.  The course will also cover the complex interaction between the technical/political/diplomatic factors affecting each subject as well as the overarching influence of international security requirements on each nation’s approach to dealing with arms control and disarmament.

This is the second time the course has been offered, the first one being in December 2009.  The course has proved to be a popular one as indicated by the fact that the first course attracted over four times as many applicants as could be admitted.  The partners intend to offer this course on a regular basis in view of the demand.  The partners have greatly benefitted from the support of the Swiss Government for this course.

GSD is proud to announce the appointment as its honorary Dean, for 2010, of the highly competent and highly respected Ambassador Zamir Akram, Ambassador of Pakistan to the United Nations and other International Organizations in Geneva.

Ambassador Akram is already well-known to many GSD students – Professor Akram has taught a number of very well-regarded courses at GSD, focusing mainly on international security issues.

A most experienced diplomat, Ambassador Akram has already served his country in key postings in Nepal, Moscow, New Delhi and Washington – where he was Ambassador during the 9/11 tragedy. He has also been Chief Foreign Policy Adviser to the Prime Minister of Pakistan.

Professor Akram is a highly accomplished career foreign service officer with extensive experience in multilateral diplomacy, security and disarmament. His older brother, Munir Akram, was Pakistan’s Ambassador in Geneva from 1995 to 2002.

Widely respected in both diplomacy and academia, Ambassador Akram holds a Master’s degree in International Relations from Karachi University and a MSc in International Affairs from the London School of Economics.

Welcome aboard Excellency!

]]> http://genevadiplomacy.com/ambassador-of-pakistan-appointed-gsd-dean/feed/ 0 http://genevadiplomacy.com/international-conference/ http://genevadiplomacy.com/international-conference/#comments Mon, 15 Feb 2010 15:19:32 +0000 gsdadmin http://genevadiplomacy.com/?p=1432 GSD professor to help organize prestigious international conference at Brown University, USA.

October 28-30, 2010, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, USA

Charles R. Gallagher, the Visiting Fellow at GSD, has been named to the Organizing Committee of an international conference sponsored by Brown University in the USA.  Read the announcement:

“Pius XI and America”

The Vatican’s opening in 2006 of its archives for the period of the papacy of Pius XI (1922-1939) has prompted a burst of historical research which is not only shedding new light on the role of the Holy See and the Church in this period of extraordinary political and social turmoil, but also on some of the major world events of this period.   In an effort to bring scholars from the many different countries who are working in these archives together and to highlight this emerging work to the broader scholarly community, a number of institutions have come together to create a research network.  The principal sponsors of this initiative are the Fondazione per le Scienze Religiose Giovanni XXIII in Bologna; the University of Münster; the École Française de Rome; the Biblioteca Ambrosiana of Milan; and Brown University (USA).  Following a June 2009 conference in Milan and a March 2010 conference in Münster, a conference is planned for October 28-30, 2010 at Brown University.

A major theme of the Brown conference is the relationship between the Holy See and the Roman Catholic Church in the Americas during the papacy of Pius XI.  However, other topics will also be treated, including a concluding debate focusing on the relationship between the Church and Italian Fascism.    Scholars who have been working in the newly opened Vatican archives for this period are encouraged to submit proposals for papers to present at the conference to the organizing committee (listed below).   Paper proposals, sent in the form of email attachments in Word,  should be received by May 1.  A limited number of places will also be available at the conference for scholars who are not on the program.  Anyone interested in attending should contact the organizing committee for details.

As host of the conference, Brown University will cover the costs of housing and meals in Providence for those on the program.  Participants will need to find other funds to cover the costs of travel.  The closest international airport is Boston, approximately an hour from Providence.  The Providence airport is within fifteen minutes of Brown University.  Providence is also one hour by train from Boston and three hours by train from New York City.

Organizing committee (please send all communications to the chair at the address listed below):

David Kertzer, Brown University, USA, chair  (David_Kertzer@Brown.edu)

Charles R. Gallagher, S.J., Geneva School of Diplomacy and International Relations, Switzerland

Alberto Melloni , Fondazione per le Scienze Religiose Giovanni XXIII, Bologna, Italy

John O’Malley, S.J., Georgetown University, USA

Hubert Wolf, University of Münster, Germany

]]> http://genevadiplomacy.com/international-conference/feed/ 0 http://genevadiplomacy.com/prof-charles-gallagher/ http://genevadiplomacy.com/prof-charles-gallagher/#comments Thu, 11 Feb 2010 15:17:52 +0000 gsdadmin http://genevadiplomacy.com/?p=1387

An award-winning author, Charles R. Gallagher is a specialist in global religions, international relations, diplomatic history, the diplomacy of the Holy See, and American foreign policy.  His second book, Vatican Secret Diplomacy: Joseph P. Hurley and Pope Pius XII (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2008), received the prestigious John Gilmary Shea Prize for the most distinguished and original contribution to the history of the Catholic Church.

After completing his Ph.D. at Marquette University, Charles authored his first book, Cross & Crozier: A History of the Diocese of St. Augustine (Strasbourg: Editions du Signé, 2000).

His work on Vatican diplomacy has been featured in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times,  the Associated Press, Vatican Radio, and ABC’s “Religion Report,”.

He has written articles, essays, and reviews in both journals of opinion and professional historical journals. His book chapters have focused on religion and international relations during World War II and the Cold War

Charles has received grants from the University of Münster and the Center for Jewish-Christian Learning at Boston College.  Charles is an invited member of The European Network for Research on Pope Pius XI in the Secret Vatican Archives.  Charles’s latest effort is a study of Vatican neutrality during World War I, “The Perils of Perception: British Catholics and Vatican Neutrality, 1914-1923” in Thomas W. Worcester and James Corkery, eds. The Papacy Since 1500: From Italian Prince to Universal Patron (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010).

As a GSD Visiting Fellow, he is teaching the class “Religion & International Relations” in the Executive Doctoral program and the Executive Master’s program.

Currently, Charles is preparing an article on the 1953 intervention of Pope Pius XII to U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower for executive clemency from the death penalty for the atomic spies Julius and Ethel Rosenberg.  His next major project is to be a survey history of diplomatic relations between the Papal States/Holy See and the United States.

Charles holds degrees from Marquette University (Ph.D.), Binghamton University (M.A.), Université Catholique de Louvain (S.T.B.), and Heythrop College, University of London (B.D.)

E-mail: c.gallagher@genevadiplomacy.com

ILISE L FEITSHANS JD and SCM is a bilingual jurisprude of global public health efforts to protect occupational health as a human right. Prof. Feitshans’ writings about international law of health in the workplace as a human right antedate the recent activities this field after the Cold War—she wrote about it in college and in law school when opinion leaders viewed health as at odds with civil and political rights. Her clear and unflinching vision of health at work as a human right that is a necessary condition for survival of all civil society was first demonstrated in her Senior Scholars Honors Thesis for Barnard College Columbia University (NYC). Her thesis became the blueprint for teaching at Columbia University School of Law, (1990-95); for her graduate thesis about the autonomous rights of pregnant women for Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health (1996) and her treatise DESIGNING AN EFFECTIVE OSHA COMPLIANCE PROGRAM (Westlaw, updated annually since 1990). These topics are also discussed in her book “Bringing Health to Work” and “Occupational Health as a Human Right” in the 4th edition ILO Encyclopaedia (1995).

As second generation Member of the Bar of the Supreme Court of the United States, Ilise has written Amicus briefs in US Supreme Court cases regarding discrimination against people with disabilities, (2007) sterilization of female workers in lead battery plants, (1990) the occupational health implications of risk of harm to oneself under disability laws (2003) and disenfranchisement of voters (2000). Her multimedia skills include serving as executive producer for videos “Lessons Learned: Centuries of Occupational Health Laws” (1998) and “OSHA 35 Still Alive! (2006) created for Digital 2000 productions in Stafford Texas.

Courses taught: “Fundamentals of Health in International Relations”, and “Gender and Globalization”

The course convened from Dec. 1 to 5, 2009 to reflect the general return of arms control and disarmament onto the world agenda after years of neglect.

Work is underway to renegotiate the US-Russian START treaty to continue reducing nuclear arms. The multilateral Conference on Disarmament in Geneva is finally about to begin negotiations on a major treaty to end the production of fissile material that is used in nuclear weapons. A number of other negotiations are underway in various other disarmament areas such as conventional weapons and nuclear non-proliferation.

In order to better understand these important events, the week-long survey course provided its participants with a general overview of the specific issues relevant to the arms control and disarmament field as it exists today. The course covered the complex interaction between the technical, political and diplomatic factors affecting each subject as well as the overarching influence of international security requirements on each nation’s approach to dealing with arms control and disarmament. In attendance were NGOs, diplomats, academic experts and graduate students with relevant experience in the field who used the conference to update their professional knowledge. Academic experts and practitioners from various institutions in the Geneva area made presentations on each issue using a seminar/discussion format.

Winners of the GSD/International Tennis Club Diplomacy Cup this year were Elena Brioschi and Sandro Da Silva.

Next year the handsome Challenge Cup will be played for again – under an expanded and even more exciting format.

Our photo shows GSD Vice President Shahenaz Barragan presenting the Diplomacy Cup to Elena Brioschi and Sandro Da Silva – worthy winners !