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Symposium Agenda

Agenda: Symposium on the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights

Introduction

Louis HENKIN, University Professor Emeritus, Columbia University

Session one:   The Office, the Mandate, and the evolving challenges

Chair              

Monica PINTO, Professor, University of Buenos Aires

Panelists

Theo van BOVEN, Professor, University of Maastrict; Special Rapporteur on Torture

Ian MARTIN, Vice President, International Center for Transitional Justice

Reflections

José AYALA-LASSO, Ecuadorian Ambassador to France; UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (1994-1997)

Session two:   The High Commissioner and the international agenda

Chair

Elsa STAMATOPOULOU, Acting Chief, Secretariat of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs

Panelists

Sakiko FUKUDA-PARR, Director, Human Development Report, UN Development Program

Philip ALSTON, Professor, New York University Law School

Emilio GARCIA MENDEZ, Professor, University of Buenos Aires

Reflections

Mary ROBINSON, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (1997-2002)

Remarks

Harold Hongju KOH, Gerard C. and Bernice Latrobe Smith Professor of International Law, Yale Law School

Session three:            Recurrent and new issues in human rights

Chair

Charlotte ABAKA , UN Independent Expert Monitoring Human Rights in Liberia; Chair, CEDAW

Panelists

Roy GUTMAN, Senior Fellow, US Institute for Peace; Journalist, Newsweek

Gay McDOUGALL  (weather permitting), Executive Director, International Human Rights Law Group

Vitit MUNTARBHORN, Faculty of Law, Chulalongkorn University

Rodolfo STAVENHAGEN, Special Rapporteur on Indigenous Peoples

Reflections      

Sergio VIEIRA de MELLO, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights

Lunch

Welcome back

Oscar VILHENA VIEIRA, Chair, SUR-Human Rights University Network; Professor, Pontifical Catholic University, Brazil

Session four: Building a human rights constituency:

voluntary contributions and a reformed agenda

Chair

Johanna MENDELSON FORMAN, Senior Program Officer, Peace, Security and Human Rights, United Nations Foundation

Panelists

Larry COX, Senior Program Officer, Human Rights and International Cooperation, Ford Foundation

Mari SANDSTROM, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights

Session five:   The future of the High Commissioner's Office

Chair

Bacre Waly NDIAYE, Director, New York Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights

Panelists

Andrew CLAPHAM, Professor, Graduate Institute of International Studies

Fionnuala NI AOLAIN, Professor, University of Ulster

John SHATTUCK (weather permitting), Chief Executive Officer, John Fitzgerald Kennedy Library Foundation

Reception