Symposium on the Identity & Future of Human Rights Honoring Dinah Shelton

The modern human rights project began with the passage of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the drafting of the two Covenants on Civil and Political and Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Following this, special agreements started being drafted, applicable specifically to groups such as racial minorities, women, migrants, and others. Are these special agreements simply a reflection of special interest politics that undermine the notion of universal human rights or do they reinforce universal norms? How much do these specific treaties call for accommodation or exemptions from otherwise applicable laws? Are regional systems part of the subdivision of human rights to reflect regional identity or do they provide effective means to enforce global standards.

These and other questions were discussed in a full-day event consisting of a keynote speech, three panels, and a lunch featuring a reflection by Professor Shelton.

Agenda

9 – 9:30 am: Registration & Breakfast

9:30 – 9:45 am: Welcome Remarks

• Blake Morant, Dean, The George Washington University Law School

9:45 – 11:15 am: Session 1 - Human Rights Treaties & Systems Broadly

• Philip Alston, John Norton Pomeroy Professor of Law, New York University School of Law
• Marc Bossuyt, Emeritus Professor, University of Antwerp; Emeritus President, Constitutional Court of Belgium
• Paolo Carozza, Professor of Law, Concurrent Professor of Political Science, and Director of the Kellogg Institute for International Studies, University of Notre Dame
• Hurst Hannum, Professor of International Law, The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University
• Moderator:  Sean D. Murphy, Patricia Roberts Harris Research Professor of Law, The George Washington University Law School

11:15 am – 12:45 pm: Lunch & Reflection with Dinah Shelton on her Career

Dinah Shelton, Manatt/Ahn Professor Emeritus of International Law, The George Washington University Law School
Moderator: Susan L. Karamanian, Associate Dean for International and Comparative Legal Studies and Burnett Family Professorial Lecturer in International and Comparative Law and Policy, The George Washington University Law School

12:45 – 1 pm: Coffee Break

1 – 2:30 pm: Session 2 - Human Rights Treaties & Systems Specifically

• James Anaya, James J. Lenoir Professor of Human Rights Law and Policy, University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law
• Péter Kovács, Judge, International Criminal Court
• Michael O’Boyle, Former Deputy Registrar, European Court of Human Rights
• Therese O’Donnell, Reader in Law, University of Strathclyde
• Moderator: Edward T. Swaine, Professor of Law, The George Washington University Law School

2:30 – 2:45 pm: Tea Break

2:45 – 4 pm: Session III - Roundtable Q&A

• Christina Cerna, Adjunct Professor, Georgetown University Law Center;former Principal Specialist, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (retired)
• Kelly Fry, Associate Legal Advisor, Human Rights Law Section, U.S. Department of Homeland Security
• Carlos Vázquez, Professor of Law, Georgetown University Law Center
• Moderator: Laura A. Dickinson, Oswald Symister Colclough Research Professor of Law, The George Washington University Law School
• Ruth Wedgwood, Edward Burling Professor of International Law and Diplomacy and Director of the International Law and Organizations Program, Johns Hopkins School 
  of Advanced International Studies

4 – 4:30 pm: Concluding Remarks

• Ralph G. Steinhardt, Professor of Law and International Affairs and Arthur Selwyn Miller Research Professor of Law, The George Washington University Law School

4:30 pm: Reception