The following is a guest post by Constance Johnson, a Legal Research Analyst in the Law Library’s Global Legal Research Center. She previous guest posted on Water Rights at Star Island.
On Friday, December 9, 2011, the Law Library of Congress will hold its fourth annual Human Rights Day celebration. International Human Rights Day is actually observed on December 10. It was established to commemorate the adoption by the U.N. General Assembly of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on December 10, 1948, but we wanted to be the first to celebrate! (Well really, we wanted to hold the event on a weekday, but still….)
This year’s celebration will be held from 1 pm to 3 pm in the Mumford Room, on the 6th floor of the Madison Building. The event is free and open to the public. It will include a panel discussion on the theme of “Women’s Rights and Opportunities,” followed by a reception with light refreshments. The speakers are Dr. Sharon Hrynkow of the State Department, Mr. Steven Shapiro of the ACLU, and Ms. Graciela Rodriguez-Ferrand from the Law Library’s Global Legal Research Center. The Law Librarian, Ms. Roberta I. Shaffer, will introduce the panel.
It promises to be an interesting afternoon. Dr. Hrynkow will talk about “Changing Mindsets to Empower Women in Science.” Mr. Shapiro’s talk will be “Women’s Rights in the U.S. – An Unfinished Agenda.” Ms. Rodriguez-Ferrand will discuss “Human Rights and Gender-Based Violence in Latin America.”
Last year’s Human Rights Day Event, Cultural Property Rights of Indigenous People, is on our Law and the Library YouTube Playlist.