Schedule and zoom registration

Using global human rights to strengthen anti-racism organizing and resist ongoing retrenchment of democracy and human rights
National Human Rights Cities/ Human Rights on the Hill July 19-21, 2022 Co-Sponsor & Host: Thurgood Marshall Civil Rights Center, Howard University School of Law, Washington DC

• Event Poster

Program

Wednesday July 20
Location: Thurgood Marshall Civil Rights Center, Howard University School of Law, 2900 Van Ness Street, N.W. Room 107, Notre Dame Hall, Washington, D.C. 20009

9:00 AM Welcome Thurgood Marshall Civil Rights Center Workshop overview: Human Rights Cities & the UN: Opportunities for Changemakers

Billi Wilkerson, Managing Director, Thurgood Marshall Civil Rights Center, Howard University School of Law

9:15 AM: Human Rights Cities: Research, Resources & Resources

Maggie Austen, Suffolk Law School

10:00 AM Cities as Human Rights Catalysts for Local & Global Change

• Kamelia Kemileva, Co-Director, Programmes & Administration -Geneva Cities Hub

11:00 AM PANEL: Human Rights Cities: Connecting racial, reproductive, and environmental justice advocacy with global human rights opportunities (SDGs, UPR, CERD, CEDAW, etc.)

Human rights advocates from different communities will share lessons and models for using global institutions and processes to advance human rights in communities around the U.S. How can international institutions provide leverage that can help us overcome the vast challenges in the U.S. legal system—particularly following recent decisions from the U.S. Supreme Court?

1:30 PM How can the CERD Process be a tool to fight Environmental Racism?

• Daniel E. Gogal, Senior Environmental Protection Specialist, Tribal and Indigenous Peoples Program Manager; International Human Rights Agreements - EPA Staff Lead; Interagency Interfaith Collaboration for Vulnerable Communities; & Coordinator, Office of Environmental Justice, USEPA Community Support and Engagement Staff

2:30 p.m. Mobilizing International Human Rights Instruments: The UN CERD Review of the United States: Making Global Human Rights Local

• Leon W. Russell, Chairman, NAACP National Board of Directors

3:30 PM PANEL & Discussion: Bringing the CERD Review Home: Strategies for local follow-up and movement-building —part 1

Participants will learn more about the politics of CERD and related treaty reviews and how we can best use these to advance human rights in local communities. Activists who were involved in preparing reviews as part of the 2022 CERD review of the U.S. will share lessons from their work, including models for other communities and ideas for engaging local communities in follow-up work to strengthen the compliance with CERD across all levels of government.

Thursday July 21
8:30 Arrive at venue (in person folks)

9:00 AM Lessons from European Human Rights Cities

Hans Sakkers (from Utrecht), European Fundamental Rights Agency

10:00 AM Reparations & Human Rights

• Dreisen Heath, Racial Justice Researcher & Advocate – US Program | Human Rights Watch

11:00 AM How can the review of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) be Mobilized by Civil Society to Shape Public Policy?

• Marie Joseph, Human Rights Officer and Secretary of the Human Rights Committee Civil, Political, Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Section Human Rights Treaties Branch, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights

12:30 PM Lunch break

1:30 p.m. U.S. CERD preparations to date

Desirée M. Cormier Smith, Special Representative for Racial Equity and Justice (SRREJ), U.S. Department of State

2:30 pm. Introducing the UN Permanent Forum on People of African Descent

Billi Wilkerson, Managing Director, Thurgood Marshall Civil Rights Center, Howard University School of Law

Justin Hansford, Executive Director, Thurgood Marshall Civil Rights Center, Howard University School of Law & Representative to the UN Permanent Forum on People of African Descent

3:15 p.m. Bringing the CERD Review Home: Strategies for local follow-up and movement-building-part 2 We’ll hear from the District of Columbia’s Human Rights Office & Human Rights Commission on how local governments can improve work to fight and prevent discrimination and implement CERD. A discussion of how to expand the use of global tools like CERD and the Permanent Forum in local human rights work will follow.

Hnin Khaing, Interim Director, District of Columbia Office of Human Rights

Motoko Aizawa, District of Columbia Human Rights Commission Chair

Dr. Mia Carey, Education and Training Specialist, District of Columbia Office of Human Rights