The 4th IHRE Conference in Taipei
I attended the the 4th International Conference on Human Rights Education that was held recently in Taipei, Taiwan. I am pleased to report that the conference was very successful indeed; successful – this is a commonly shared assessment. It lasted 6 days – four days of plenary sessions and 2 days visit to the Green Island where a former concentration camp for political prisoners was established.
For conference program see: http://scu.hre2013.org.tw/
For my report from the Taiwan conference see:
http://www.hurights.or.jp/
Six days is of course longer than the previous conferences which took 3 days only, with exception of Poland where a day was added for a visit to Auschwitz Nazi concentration camp. The conference was attended by some 250-300 delegates; there were representatives from 42 countries – including a strong delegation form PR China, a person representing Tibet Government in Exile, many Scandinavians and other Europeans, people from Africa, Asia and Americas. The conference concluded with a resolution condemning human rights violations in Taiwan during the White Terror and seeking to address an number of outstanding issues outlined by the victims.
Professor Claudio Grossman, Dean of Law Faculty, The American University, Washington DC and the convenor of the 2014 conference sent message to the Taipei conference participants: “The American University Washington College of Law looks forward to receiving you at the 5th International Conference on Human Rights Education next year in Washington, DC. We are certain the conference will create opportunities to promote the values of human dignity that we all share and will contribute greatly to the development of our academic contacts, delivering us to new levels of research, teaching and service. We are pleased to be the host of this event and eagerly anticipate your arrival. Best regards and success for the New Year and beyond. Dean Claudio Grossman
The Conference has also established a new organisation that would take custody of IHRE conferences for the future. The following name was proposed “Human Rights Education International. World Federation of Human Rights Education Organisations”. HREI intends to be only an umbrella organisation and custodian of future conferences. It was suggested that as a starting point, all past conference convenors will join the executive of this new body and that we co-opt few other people. I was asked to become its interim President and agreed to do so.
In addition, I had a meeting organised by the Taiwan Office Head of our DFA&T with the Taiwanese Ministry of Justice to discuss establishment of Taiwanese Human Rights Commission and lunch with Heads of Mission from 6 European countries plus Canada (US representative did not attend because of Thanks Giving Day celebrations). Last day, I had to cancel my other meetings because of a flu.
2013-11-26 Resolution of 4IHREC