Editors: A complete schedule of the conference is attached.
The Center for Asian Studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder is hosting a conference April 7-8 focusing on human rights issues in Asia.
Films, panel presentations and discussions will be held from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Friday and 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on Saturday in the Humanities Building, room 150.
The conference, "Asian Human Rights: Critical Issues," looks at women's rights, workers' rights, religious freedom and basic human rights issues in Asia. Events begin on Friday at 4 p.m. with welcoming remarks by CU-Boulder Chancellor Richard Byyny and Merrill Lessley, associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.
The opening will be followed by University of Washington Professor Daniel Lev's keynote address, "Universalizing the Universal Declaration."
Several professors from colleges and universities across the nation and representatives from the International Labor Rights Fund and Taoist Restoration Society will speak on one of four panels at the conference.
The "Self-determination and Human Rights in Southeast Asia" panel will be on Friday, April 7, and the panels on "Religious Freedoms in East Asia," "Gender and Women's Rights in South Asia," and "Labor and Workplace Rights in Asia," will be on Saturday, April 8.
Three film documentaries by filmmaker Ellen Bruno also will be shown during the conference, including "Sacrifice: The Story of Child Prostitutes from Burma," followed by a question-and-answer session with Bruno on Saturday at 1:30 p.m.
The conference follows one day after a public forum that will be held by the Boulder Faculty Assembly at CU-Boulder to discuss a proposed code of conduct for CU-licensed apparel manufacturers. Sessions will be held on April 6 from noon to 1 p.m. in the University Memorial Center fountain area and from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. in the UMC Grill.
The Boulder Faculty Assembly will sponsor an additional public forum on April 25 from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. in the UMC Grill.
The events come about a month after the March 15 meeting between Bynny and students from the organization WAAKE-UP (World Awareness and Action Coalition of Equal United Progressives) concerning the campus' licensing policies. In a memo sent out March 23 to WAAKE-UP, Byyny called for campus-wide discussion on the issue.
"A university must promote the full exchange of ideas and must constantly search for the truth," Byyny said in the memo. "There are many views of the best ways to promote human rights and stop or prevent human rights violations. We must respect differing and individual views of the best means of achieving this important social goal."
The conference is sponsored by the Center for Asian Studies, the President's Fund for the Humanities, the Graduate Committee on the Arts and Humanities, and the Committee on Research and Creative Work. For more information on the conference call Center for Asian Studies Director Dennis McGilvray at (303) 492-7198.
"ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS: CRITICAL ISSUES" CONFERENCE
APRIL 7 & 8, 2000, HUMANITIES ROOM 150
Friday, April 7
4 p.m. Opening by Dennis McGilvray, Director of Center for Asian Studies
4:10 Keynote address by University of Washington political science Professor Daniel Lev, "Universalizing the Universal Declaration"
5 p.m. Buffet reception in Humanities Building foyer
5:45-7:15 Film screenings of "A Prayer for the Enemy" and "Samsara: Survival and Recovery in Cambodia," followed by question-and- answer session with producer-director Ellen Bruno.
7:30-9 p.m. "Self-determination and Human Rights in Southeast Asia" panel led by Professor Daniel Lev. Presentations by:
o University of Melbourne Center for Health and Society, anthropology Professor Monique Skidmore, "Sweet Like Chocolate: A Legacy of Violence and the Future of Human Rights in Burma"
o Northern Illinois University anthropology Professor Judy Ledgerwood, "Transnational, National, and Local Definitions of Human Rights: Examples from Cambodia in the 1990s"
o University of California at Los Angeles history Professor Geoffrey Robinson, "Human Rights in a Changing World Order: Some Lessons from East Timor"
Saturday, April 8
8:30-10:30 "Religious Freedoms in East Asia" panel led by University of Colorado at Boulder religious studies Professor Terry Kleeman. Presentations by:
o University of Hawaii anthropology Professor Dru Gladney, "Human Rights and Religious Freedom in China: The Case of the Muslims"
o Cornell University Asian studies Professor Jane Marie Law, "The Right of Succession in Religious Groups: The Case of the Panchen Lama"
o Brock Silver from the Taoist Restoration Society, "Taoism in the People's Republic of China"
o Georgetown University political science Professor David Reuther, "The Presbyterian Church of Taiwan as a Catalyst to Democratization"
10:30 a.m. Break with refreshments
10:45 "Gender and Women's Rights in South Asia" panel led by University of Colorado at Boulder religious studies Professor Loriliai Biernacki. Presentations by:
o University of Texas at Austin anthropology Professor Kamala Visweswaran, "Women and Community: The Fraught Relationship in South Asian Human Rights Work"
o University of Maine anthropology Professor Cynthia Mahmood, "Sikh Women in Punjab and Diaspora: The Human Rights Challenge"
o University of Colorado at Boulder anthropology Professor Patricia Lawrence, "Activists and Oracles: Responses to Violence Against Women in Sri Lanka's War Zone"
12:15-1:30 Lunch break
1:30-3 p.m. Film screening of "Sacrifice: The Story of Child Prostitutes from Burma" followed by a question-and-answer session with filmmaker Ellen Bruno
3 p.m. Break with refreshments
3:15 "Labor and Workplace Rights in Asia" panel led by University of Colorado at Boulder history Professor Marcia Yonemoto. Presentations by:
o University of California at Irvine political science Professor Dorothy Solinger, "Human Rights and Economic Reform in China"
o Bama Athreya from the International Labor Rights Fund, "Labor Rights as Human Rights: Indonesia and Labor Activism in the 1990s"
o Wellesley College political science Professor Christopher Candland, "Abuse of Human Rights or Economic Opportunity? Reflections on the Child Labor Debate in Pakistan"
4:45-5:30 Roundtable discussion with all participants led by University of Colorado at Boulder religious studies Professor Fredrick Denny