Class schedule at bottom of this web page!

Aloha Friends of Human Rights,

Environment, Peace & Global Justice,

The Ninth Annual University of the District of Columbia David A. Clarke School of Law International Human & Peoples’ Rights Law Program – Human Rights on the Hill – in collaboration with the Hawaii Institute for Human Rights and the Four Freedoms Forum, will take place from May 24 - 28, 2010.

In our formative years, the course focused on reflection and education, we aim to build on this balanced foundation evolving into realization and engagement.

There is an opportunity to mobilize to realize human rights in the United States of America and our partners for peace around the planet. The course will allow participants to actively be agents of positive social change in our country and the global civil society.

The summer seminar will focus on important international human rights instruments. We will cover from ratification to realization in the lives of all Americans and citizens of the world. The seminar combines keynote addresses by international law professors as well as peace & policy makers, panel presentations by NGOs and indigenous peoples, updates on the latest developments at the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues and the newly created UN Human Rights Council including the Universal Periodic Review, documentary film premieres daily during lunch and excursions of empowerment throughout the week around Washington D.C.

The course will meet in UDC’s Building 39 on the second floor in Room 204, 4200 Connecticut Ave, NW (Van Ness/UDC Metro) and will begin each morning at 9 a.m. from Monday May 24 through Friday May 28. The presentations will take place every 90 minutes starting at 9 a.m. throughout the day concluding at 4:30 p.m. daily. Each day at noon, there will be the sixth annual Human Rights Film Festival featuring documentary movies on fundamental freedoms.

We hope you can participate as much as possible in the five day program. A significant aspect of this advocacy course is participating actively with the decision-makers in our democracy. Therefore, there will be educational excursions of empowerment to complement the talks. For latest schedules please email joshuacooperhawaii@gmail.com or jfl@udc.edu.

We also want to welcome you to invite your membership to be part of the coalition aiming for ratification of treaties by the U.S. government and also to organize better monitoring of US involvement in the UN human rights mechanisms. We very much look forward to your participation in this empowering endeavor and hopeful future action to create a culture of peace and human rights.

Maluhia Me Ka Pono,

Joshua Cooper, Coordinator,

 International Human and Peoples’ Rights Law Program

Class Schedule

PLEASE NOTE ALTERNATE LOCATIONS IN RED, BELOW!

May 24

9 a.m. The United Nations at 65: We the Peoples Aspirations of Securing Sustainable Development, Realizing Human Rights and Promoting World Peace

Joshua Cooper, Director, Four Freedoms Forum Coordinator, International Human & Peoples’ Rights Program

10:30 a.m. The United Nations: A History of Hope; A Future of Freedom Rooted in Human Rights

 Will Davis, Director, United Nations Information Center

12:00 p.m. 21st Century Climate Change Challenges: Sea Level Rise in Pacific

United Nations Radio and Television Program

Tuvalu: Food Security

United Nations Radio and Television Program

2:00 p.m. Neutrality with Dialogue: International Comxmittee of the Red Cross Relations to the US Military in a Complex World

Beat Schweizer, Deputy Director-General, International Committee of the Red Cross

Alexandra Perina, Attorney Adviser, Office of the Legal Adviser for Political-Military Affairs, U.S. Department of State

Location: US Institute of Peace

2nd Floor Conference Room

1200 17th Street, NW

Washington, DC 20036

3 p.m. Climate Justice in US Congress & the Potential for an International Treaty at COP 16 Mexico: The Role of Peoples Movements to Save the Planet

Ada Aroneanu, 1Sky

Jason Kowalski, Policy Coordinator, 1Sky

May 25 9:00 a.m. The UN Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: A

Joshua Cooper, Director, INDIG Coordinator, International Human & Peoples’ Law Program

Chic Dambach, Alliance for Peacebuilding

10:00 a.m. Kosovo: Two Years On

Pieter Feith, EU Special Representative in Kosovo, International Civilian Representative

12:00 p.m. The Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

 International Working Group on Indigenous Affairs documentary highlighting the new mechanism at the UN replacing the UN Working Group on Indigenous Populations

1:30 p.m. DC Human Rights City and Learning Project: Bringing Human Rights Home

Jean-Louis Peta Ikambana

Area Director DC Peace and Economic Justice Program

Middle Atlantic Region American Friends Service Committee

The Convention on the Rights of the Child: Its Impact Around the World & The Potential for US Ratification

Mark Engman, Director, Public Policy and Advocacy, US Fund for UNICEF

Navin Rai, Advisor, Indigenous Peoples, Sustainable Development Network The World Bank

May 26 10:00 a.m. Housing is a Human Right: Connecting our Communities to the International Human Rights Machinery

 Eric Tars,

11:00 a.m. The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty: Potential Step toward Peace on our Planet

Kevin Martin, Director, Peace Action

12:00 p.m. Yes Men Fix the World

Documentary Film

2 p.m. National Workshop on the Universal Periodic Review and the United States:

Preparing the People for November 5, 2010; Realizing Our Rights

6:30 p.m. Green Gone Wrong: How Our Economy is Undermining the Environmental Revolution

Heather Rogers, Environmental Author & Journalist Her latest book, takes a critical, on-the-ground look at popular market-based solutions to ecological destruction. Rogers has spoken internationally on the environmental effects of mass consumption and is a senior fellow at the progressive US think tank Demos

Busboys & Poet at 14 and V, Washington DC

May 27 9:00 a.m.

10:30 a.m. The UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW):

Cristina M. Finch, Interim Managing Director of Government Relations, Amnesty International

12:00 p.m. Rebiya Kadeer Documentary film focusing on Uyghurs campaign

2:00 p.m. The Uyghur Movement for Human Rights

Rebiya Kadeer, President, Uyghur American

Location: 1420 K Street, NW, Suite 350

3:30 p.m. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

David Morrissey, Executive Director, United States International Council on Disabilities

Kathy Guernsey, Women’s Rights are Human Rights: The Equal Rights Amendment in the United States

Carolyn Cook, CEO, United for Equality

6 p.m. RFK in the Land of Apartheid: A Ripple of Hope

Screening of Documentary on Senator Robert Kennedy’s 1966 Visit to South Africa RFK in the Land Of Apartheid Panel Discussion featuring Civil Rights Advocates and Freedom Fighters along with Filmmakers:

 Andrew Young, Albertina Luthuli, Larry Shore & Tami Gold

Location: Eugene and Agnes Meyer Auditorium at Freer Gallery of Art

1100 Independence Avenue SW Washington DC 20560

May 28 9 a.m. Preventing Destruction of Our Natural Resources in the Amazon; Promoting Indigenous Visions for Ecological Harmony

Andrew Miller, DC Advocacy Coordinator, Amazon Watch

10:30 a.m. The United States at the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues: America’s Response to Review the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

Maxine Hilary, Public Affairs, U.S. Agency for International Development Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean

1:30 p.m. Creative Resistance: The Art of Protest

Nadine Bloch, Ruckus Trainer

3:00 p.m. The United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues: Mainstreaming Indigenous Rights at the Global Level

Joshua Cooper, Director, INDIG