Category: News and Updates

REGISTRATION: bit.ly/hreusa-taas2022

Monday, October 24, 2022

7pm–9pm ET

Virtual Zoom Session

This session will explore Indigenous Peoples’ and environmental rights as human rights. Indigenous leaders from the International Indian Treaty Council (IITC) will share current initiatives in policy, advocacy, education, and practice. IITC will be honored with the first 2022 Human Rights Educators USA Impact Award.

Today Indigenous Peoples are facing a compounding and multi-level urgent threat, specifically the Climate Crisis. The loss and damage we are already experiencing to our food systems, cultures, and ways of life, combined with the threats we see coming, require a multi-faceted, rights based response. We know that some reservations were already identified as “food deserts” even before the climate crisis came upon us.  Effective response to climate change requires taking urgent steps to protect and revitalize our ancestral practices, knowledge, and food sources such as buffalo and original seed varieties for corn, beans, and squash. It also requires that we defend our rights to Free, Prior and Informed Consent, Self-determination and Treaties in order to oppose fossil fuel development that produces greenhouse gas emissions such as pipelines, drilling. and mining in our homelands. We must also assert our recognized right to participate in decision-making that would affect our rights at the tribal, state, national, and international levels where our contributions as knowledge and rights holders are essential for building effective solutions. Our ancestors left us the warnings about what we as humans would face during these times. But they also left us with solutions that we can put into practice today, in response to these challenges.

IITC was founded on the Standing Rock Reservation in South Dakota in 1974 to be an international voice and advocate for the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. In 1977 IITC was the first Indigenous Peoples organization to receive Consultative Status from the UN Economic and Social Council and in 2011 it was the first to be upgraded to “General Consultative Status.”

Speakers and Facilitators

Lisa Bellanger, Board member, International Indian Treaty Council and District American Indian Specialist, St. Paul Schools, Minnesota

Andrea Carmen, Executive Director, the International Indian Treaty Council

William Means, a Founder and Board member, the International Indian Treaty Council

REGISTRATION: bit.ly/hreusa-taas2022

Monday, 10/17/22 7pm–9pm ET: Action for Human Rights

Taking Action for Human Rights

During this workshop, participants will explore various tactics for human rights action. Paying particular attention to youth action for human rights, we will explore how to design a plan of action, the right to protest, and student walk-outs as human rights action. This interactive workshop will be facilitated by Ben Fleming and Kristina Eberbach.

Ben Fleming is Adjunct Professor of International Human Rights Law and Adjunct Professor of the International Human Rights of Women Seminar at South Texas College of Law Houston. He was Associate Adjunct Professor of International Human Rights Law at the Graduate School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) at Columbia University. He is also the co-founder and co-lead of the University Human Rights Education in Myanmar Project for the Institute for the Study of Human Rights (ISHR) at Columbia University. He was a visiting lecturer in International Human Rights and Public International Law at Mandalay University School of Law in January and February 2014. Mr. Fleming was a Legal Officer in the Office of the Co-Investigating Judges at the United Nations Khmer Rouge Tribunal (UNAKRT/ECCC) in Phnom Penh (2006-2009), and has worked in the anti-corruption and litigation offices of Open Society Justice Initiative. 

Kristina Eberbach specializes in human rights and human rights education. She is currently Strategy and Curriculum Specialist for the Human Rights Close to Home (Human Rights Institute, University of Connecticut) and an Adjunct Assistant Professor of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University. She served as Deputy Director at the Institute for the Study of Human Rights at Columbia University from 2019-2021 and as Director of Education from 2010-2019. She has developed and facilitated human rights programs, courses and workshops for university students, members of civil society and government officials in Colombia, Iraq, Myanmar, and the U.S. and has undertaken research, reporting, and advocacy work in Kenya (International Crisis Group), Myanmar, The Netherlands (ICTY/ICTR), South Africa, Uganda (Charity for Peace Foundation), and the U.S. She is co-chair of Human Rights Educators USA and is a co-founder and co-chair of the University and College Consortium for Human Rights Education. Her research focuses on human rights education and human rights in transitional contexts and she is completing her PhD at the University of Utrecht. Kristina holds a Master of International Affairs from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and a Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service from Georgetown University.

HRE USA Orientation 
HRE USA will be hosting virtual workshop sessions to provide general grounding in the overall structure of HRE USA as well as developing a base-level understanding of human rights and the human rights education framework. 

• Introduction to Human Rights Education: Monday, October 3rd, 2022 7:30-8:30pm ET: This session will provide an overview of human rights and human rights education, with the purpose of establishing common understanding and fostering critical dialogue around the human rights framework.

Cost: Free

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