Hosted by the Humphrey School of Public Affairs | Tuesday, April 28, 2026 | 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. CDT | (12:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. EDT)| Virtual Register Here
We invite you to Building a Truth Process in Minnesota: The Minnesota Truth Council & Lessons from Global Practice, a free virtual convening on April 28, hosted by the Humphrey School’s Global Policy program and University partners.*
As federal enforcement actions reshape communities across Minnesota, a growing coalition of advocates, legal experts, and community organizations is asking a foundational question: how will the Minnesota Truth Council, established by Executive Order, document what is happening and ensure accountability? And what can we learn from experiences elsewhere around the world.
This event brings together international experts in truth commissions and transitional justice with Minnesota-based advocates and community leaders, including those affiliated with the MN Truth Council.
Together, they will examine how truth commissions are structured, what they can and cannot accomplish, and how testimony from affected communities can be collected and preserved to support long-term accountability.
Welcome: Eric Schwartz, Chair Global Policy, Humphrey School
Introductory Remarks by Samantha Power, former USAID Administrator and author of “A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide.”
Session One: Truth Commissions — Goals, Structure, and Outcomes
- Alexis-Clair Roehrich, Director of the Minnesota Truth Council, Policy Advisor, Office of Governor Tim Walz and Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan
- Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, Regents Professor and Robina Chair in Law, Public Policy, and Society, University of Minnesota Law School; and
- Michele Garnett McKensie, Executive Director, Advocates for Human Rights
- Moderator: Professor Christina Ewig, Director, Center on Women, Gender, and Public Policy Humphrey School of Public Affairs
Session Two: Collecting and Preserving Testimony for Accountability
- Edwin Torres Desantiago, Manager, Immigrant Defense Network
- Tricia Olsen, Professor and the Stassen Chair of World Peace at the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs and Department of Political Science;
- Deepinder Singh Mayell, Executive Director of ACLU of Minnesota,
- Other community representative to be announced
- Moderator: Dr. Carrie Booth Walling, Director, Human Rights Program, University of Minnesota
This event is free and open to the public. Registration is required.
*Co-sponsored by the University of Minnesota Law School’s James H. Binger Center for New Americans and Human Rights Center; the College of Liberal Arts’s Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Human Rights Program, and Immigration History Research Center; Humphrey School Global Policy program, and the Center on Women, Gender and Public Policy at the Humphrey School.
For questions or accessibility requests, please contact hhhevent@umn.edu.
HRE USA is a project of the Center for Transformative Action.
HRE USA 