Spring Break
UConn Hosts U.N. Human Rights Conference
Katherine C. King
Issue date: 10/26/05 Section: News
The Sixth Annual United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (NESCO) Chair Conference on human rights took place Tuesday at the Rome Ballroom.
The event, which spanned the length of the entire day, included several talks and workshops that focused on the theme of human rights as related to human security. According to an informational pamphlet given to all conference attendees, the "principle objectives of the sixth Annual UNESCO Chair in Comparative Human Rights Conference are first to examine the concept of human security. Second, to raise awareness about the various issues that are integral to human security; and third to contribute to a balanced understanding and appreciation of a more integrated human security."
The morning session was targeted at high school students, who traveled to the conference from schools all over the state. At the conference, students participated in leadership building workshops and heard from two guest speakers.
During the conference, the topics of poverty, environmental conservation and illness and disease were discussed as integral factors of human rights. Speakers identified these issues as sources of human rights abuses.
A significant amount of time was dedicated to three main workshops, in which experts on different human rights issues discussed the issues of poverty, health and education.
The first workshop explored how the worldwide problem of poverty contributes to human rights abuses. Dr. Yeraswork Admassie, a professor of sociology at Uppsala University, spoke about poverty in Ethiopia. Admassie described how geography and politics contributed to the poverty in Ethiopia, a country where the average life expectancy is 46, and 17 percent of the country's children die before the age of five, according to www.savethechildren.org.
Dr. Roland Msiska, director of the UNDP Regional Project on AIDS, spoke about bioterrorism during the health workshop. Msiska said it is the right of individuals and nations to protect against bioterrorism. Yet, he warned that when governments employ tactics such as secrecy and fear, serious implications and infringements on human rights can occur.
The event, which spanned the length of the entire day, included several talks and workshops that focused on the theme of human rights as related to human security. According to an informational pamphlet given to all conference attendees, the "principle objectives of the sixth Annual UNESCO Chair in Comparative Human Rights Conference are first to examine the concept of human security. Second, to raise awareness about the various issues that are integral to human security; and third to contribute to a balanced understanding and appreciation of a more integrated human security."
The morning session was targeted at high school students, who traveled to the conference from schools all over the state. At the conference, students participated in leadership building workshops and heard from two guest speakers.
During the conference, the topics of poverty, environmental conservation and illness and disease were discussed as integral factors of human rights. Speakers identified these issues as sources of human rights abuses.
A significant amount of time was dedicated to three main workshops, in which experts on different human rights issues discussed the issues of poverty, health and education.
The first workshop explored how the worldwide problem of poverty contributes to human rights abuses. Dr. Yeraswork Admassie, a professor of sociology at Uppsala University, spoke about poverty in Ethiopia. Admassie described how geography and politics contributed to the poverty in Ethiopia, a country where the average life expectancy is 46, and 17 percent of the country's children die before the age of five, according to www.savethechildren.org.
Dr. Roland Msiska, director of the UNDP Regional Project on AIDS, spoke about bioterrorism during the health workshop. Msiska said it is the right of individuals and nations to protect against bioterrorism. Yet, he warned that when governments employ tactics such as secrecy and fear, serious implications and infringements on human rights can occur.