2018-2019 Human Rights Speaker Series

During the fall 2018 the Global Studies program organized the Human Rights Speaker Series to commemorate the 70th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The lectures by renowned scholars, researchers, and diplomats brought up significant global issues that pushed the Bryant community to think about the meaning and protection of human rights. Our thanks to the College of Arts and Sciences and to International Affairs for assisting the Global Studies program in hosting this Series. Details on each of the speakers can be found below. 

Opening of Human Rights Series
Global Justice and the Right to Health

Professor Alex Nading opened the Human Rights Speaker Series with a talk on "Human Rights, Justice, and Global Epidemics." In his talk, Nading discussed Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and its connection to different forms of justice, including distributive, environmental, and gendered. He used his work on chronic kidney failure among sugarcane workers in Nicaragua and recent events surrounding the zika virus in Latin America to discuss the elasticity of rights and justice in these regions. At one point, Nading stated that as epidemics become global power shifts away from the people being affected to larger institutions, such as the World Bank or the World Health Organization. Professor Nading is Senior Fellow for International and Public Affairs at the Watson Institute at Brown University.

Second Human Right Speaker Event
Religious Freedom and Iran
On Friday, October 18, 2018, the Global Studies Human rights speaker Series continued with a talk by Prof. Navid Fozi on the ‘Question of Religious Freedom in Iran’. Prof. Fozi is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Bridgewater State University in Massachusetts and he has done extensive fieldwork among religious minorities both within Iran as well as among the Iranian diaspora in Turkey and Malaysia. Prof. Fozi is the author of Reclaiming the Faravahar: Zoroastrian Survival in Contemporary Tehran (Leiden University Press 2014), a book based on eighteen months of fieldwork in Tehran amongst the Zoroastrian community, as well as extensive archival research. In his well-attended and fascinating talk to the Bryant community, Prof. Fozi drew various historical links to the UDHR and emphasized Iran’s religious diversity.

Third Human Rights Speaker 
​ How to Deal with Hate Speech

Dr. Richard Wilson, Gladstein Chair of Human Rights at the University of Connecticut, gave the third talk in the Human Rights Speakers series. The talk titled, "How to Deal with Hate: Balancing Security and Freedom of Speech" dealt with a variety of issues, including an analysis of hate speech cases and the challenges of prosecuting cases where vulnerable populations are impacted by hate crimes. Dr. Wilson offered an alternative means to determine the risk of hate speech, which included understanding the attributes of the speaker, the content of the message, and the context of the speech. To learn more about these ideas, please check out Dr. Wilson's book Incitement on Trial: Prosecuting International Speech Crimes. ​

Final Human Rights Speaker Lecture
Human Rights at the United Nations
In a fitting conclusion to Human Rights Speaker Series, Dr. Annelies Verstichel, diplomat to the Permanent Representation of Belgium to the United Nations, gave a lecture on the processes by which member states of the United Nations work to resolve human rights conflicts. She discussed the different parts of the United Nations that work on human rights issues. For instance, she described the Universal Periodic Review process where every UN Member State is peer-reviewed by other Member States on compliance with human rights issues. She also discussed the General Assembly's Third Committee, which addresses "Social, Humanitarian, and Cultural Issues." Having worked on this committee, she spoke on the Committee's development of resolutions to address many global 
issues, including those related to human rights. Most importantly, Dr. Verstichel emphasized the importance of the United Nations for maintaining dialogue between Members States on human rights issues even when the UN does not have the means to force States to adopt specific laws or rules. This was a fitting end to the series marking the 70th Anniversary of the UN Declaration of Human Rights. ​​
International Policy Competition
This past weekend,October 13 to October 14, students from Bryant University from various Arts & Sciences majors were recognized at the Yale University International Policy Competition. Bryant students took on the challenge along with 300 other participants. Students became policy maker, and were given 12 hours to deliver a full policy proposal and a formal presentation. The issue this year focused on conflict in the South China Sea. One of Bryant's teams made it to the second round after delivering an exceptional proposal on issues of conflict resolution and regional security.