Human Rights Day Symposium

Dear Friends of the Human Rights Program,

The Human Rights Program and the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies invite you to join us for the second annual Human Rights Day Symposium on Tuesday, December 9. This inspiring event brings together our human rights community, faculty, and students to explore the progress, challenges, and future of the global human rights movement. The symposium spotlights efforts to defend human rights and aims to foster collaboration and dialogue around human rights.

The symposium includes a poster session with presentations of student work, and a keynote address from Paul O’Brien, executive director of Amnesty International USA. Paul's talk will be titled, "Human rights activism in a world of growing authoritarian practices." A reception with refreshments will follow. Join us for all or part of the day.

Human Rights Day Symposium 
Tuesday, December 9
Humphrey School of Public Affairs
2:30-3:45 PM: Student Poster Session, Mondale Commons  
4:00 PM: Keynote Address, Cowles Auditorium

Registration is requested, but not required to attend. Learn more and RSVP.

We look forward to seeing you at the symposium! 

Keynote Speaker: Paul O’Brien, Executive Director, Amnesty International USA

Since April 2021, Paul O’Brien has been the Executive Director at Amnesty International USA, a human rights organization of 240,000 members and 125 staff.  Over his career he has done human rights research and advocacy in more than 50 countries, including most recently Mexico, Israel, Gaza and the West Bank. He lived for 10 years in Africa working for local and international organizations, and for 5 years in Afghanistan.

Before Amnesty, Paul co-led Oxfam’s worldwide influencing network’s advocacy efforts during the Covid pandemic and led Oxfam America’s advocacy with the US government and corporations.

He has been an advisor to the President of Afghanistan, the Africa Policy Advisor for CARE, and an organizer in Nairobi’s informal urban settlements. He was the President of the Echoing Green Foundation and a litigator in New York for Cravath, Swaine and Moore. He has a JD from Harvard Law School.

This event is made possible through the generous support of The Ohanessian Endowment Fund for Justice and Peace Studies of the Minneapolis Foundation.