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Human Rights Day Program Will Focus on Refugee Rights

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Each year the Law Library of Congress celebrates Human Rights Day with a panel discussion focusing on an aspect of human rights. This year’s program will focus on refugee rights.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) was adopted and proclaimed in Paris, France, on December 10, 1948.  The UDHR was designed to provide a global framework for human rights following World War II and the colonial era.  The Declaration, which is the first global enunciation of human rights, is thought to be the most translated document in modern history.

2013 Human Rights Day Program Flyer. Law Library of Congress

The panel will be moderated by Peter Roudik, director of Global Legal Research at the Law Library of Congress, and the participants will include Olivia Bueno, associate director of the International Refugee Rights Initiative (IRRI); author Linda Rabben and George Sadek, senior legal information analyst at the Law Library of Congress.

Ms. Bueno is responsible for managing the New York office of the International Refugee Rights Initiative, monitoring United Nations policies and diplomatic discussions relevant to IRRI’s programs as well as coordinating outreach to, and collaboration with, international nongovernmental organizations. She was previously a program associate at the International Refugee Program at Human Rights First (formerly the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights). She has also worked on issues of refugee rights and asylum in the United States, as a part-time staff member of Human Rights First’s Asylum Program and as co-producer of “American Purgatory,” a radio documentary on the U.S. asylum process.

Ms. Rabben is an author, editor and anthropologist who has been active in social and political movements for more than 25 years. She has focused on human rights, development and environmental issues in the U.S. and other countries as a researcher, analyst, campaigner and adviser for international nongovernmental organizations, magazines and newspapers, public radio programs and academic institutions. She is the author of Give Refuge to the Stranger: The Past, Present and Future of Sanctuary (2011).

Mr. Sadek is a senior legal analyst for Arab countries at the Law Library of Congress’ Global Legal Research Center. He has worked as a legal analyst in Middle Eastern Laws at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government and Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies. He also served as an analyst for Middle East Affairs at the U.S. Army Special Operations Command. Sadek’s works on legal issues concerning the Arab world have been published in the U.S. and throughout the European Union.

Please join us for this year’s event on Tuesday, December 10, 2013 from 1-3 p.m. The program will take place in the Mumford Room, located on the sixth floor of the James Madison Building, 101 Independence Ave. S.E., Washington, D.C. Sponsored in part by the Friends of the Law Library of Congress, the event is free and open to the public. Tickets are not required.

Update: The event video was added below.

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