Activities April-June 2000

Activities October–December 2000

Executive Summary
     During the period under review, Center faculty were busy in three principal activities. First was teaching and lecturing, with Sofia Gruskin and Stephen Marks each teaching a course and Stephen Marks, Sofia Gruskin, and Jennifer Leaning each delivering several lectures, keynote addresses or panel presentations. Second, it was also a period of negotiating Center involvement in significant future events, such as the Temple University conference to honor Jonathan Mann’s memory and the course for USAID. The third salient feature was faculty involvement in major international events, primarily the annual meeting of the American Public Health Association, where our faculty ran a continuing education institute, put together and chaired a plenary session and spoke in two substantive panels, and Africa Now!, a summit of U.S. and African leaders. All three programs continued to strengthen relations with their respective partners, including WHO, UNAIDS, the ICRC, USAID, and UNDP.
     The report follows the usual structure of dealing first with the core activities in education, training, linkages and information, and then reviewing developments in the three programs during the fourth quarter of 2000.

Core Activities
Fall courses continued in this period. Stephen Marks concluded his new course Development and Human Rights. The student evaluations rated the course and the teaching assistant very highly. Also in this period, Sofia Gruskin began teaching Health and Human Rights. This year there are approximately 25 students with a range of backgrounds and experience.
      Jennifer Leaning has worked with two colleagues to develop a course on responses to epidemic disease and bioterrorism. The draft proposal, with syllabus, has been submitted to the HSPH/PIH curriculum committee. A seminar version of this course will be taught in the “D” period.

Visiting Committee
On October 26–27, Stephen Marks participated in the HSPH Visiting Committee Meeting. This year, the Visiting Committee’s strategic focus was an examination of the role of centers at the school. Stephen Marks made a presentation to the Committee on the FXBC, including discussion of current activities and plans for the future. The discussion with the Committee was engaging; their questions were both interested and thoughtful, and their feedback was very positive. Stephen Marks also participated in the Advisory Committee meeting for the Department of Population and International Health, where he made a presentation on globalization, health, and human rights.

Intensive Course on Health and Human Rights
During this period, planning continued for the 2001 Intensive Course on Health and Human Rights. Conversations continued with Michael Grodin and George Annas of BU, and preliminary planning began for next year’s course. Feedback from the June 2000 course was extremely positive and included a number of suggestions that are being incorporated into planning for the June 2001 course. Two of these changes are lengthening the program (from 3 to 3.5 days) and adding Jennifer Leaning as a Course Director. Discussions with the CCPE Office continued during this time regarding the administration of next June’s course.

Emergency Medicine Program on International and Disaster Medicine
Jennifer Leaning is working with partners at Harvard Medical School and the Brigham and Women’s Hospital to develop a year-long fellowship in the Department of Emergency Medicine at BWH. She supervises a fellow who, in this period, completed an intensive ICRC course in complex emergencies conducted in South Africa and is now working as an apprentice in a field hospital in Malawi. Jennifer Leaning is working with the director of this HMS/Brigham program to plan the expansion of this program to include several fellows for next year.

Presentations/Guest Lectures
On October 11, Sofia Gruskin gave a lecture on “Human Rights and HIV/AIDS” for this year’s students in the Arthur Ashe Program in AIDS Care at HSPH.
      On October 17, Stephen Marks gave a guest lecture on priority issues in health and human rights at the Human Rights Program at Harvard Law School.
      On October 26, Sofia Gruskin gave a guest lecture on reproductive health and women’s rights in the Harvard Medical School course “Medicine, Human Rights and the Physician,” taught by Carola Eisenberg and Kris Heggenhougen.
      On November 27, Mindy Roseman gave a talk on reproductive rights in the U.S. for the Harvard Medical School chapter of Medical Students for Choice.
      On November 30, Sofia Gruskin gave a guest lecture on HIV/AIDS and human rights in Saidi Kapiga’s HSPH course “The Frontiers of Knowledge in HIV/AIDS Prevention, Care and Research.”
      On December 4, Stephen Marks presented a guest lecture, “Human Rights and Reconciliation: Impunity in Cambodia and Chad,” at the Program on International Conflict Analysis and Resolution (PICAR) at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs.
      On December 5, Jennifer Leaning and Stephen Marks participated in a symposium at Harvard Law School titled “Children under Fire: Challenging Concepts and Facing New Realities.” The keynote address was given by Olara A. Otunnu, Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict. Jennifer Leaning chaired one of the two panels, on childhood within the context of armed conflict and issues of vulnerability. The second panel focused on agency and the cultural context of recovery with particular attention to the topics of displaced/refugee children and child soldiers.

Human Rights Day 2000 at Harvard
      On December 11, FXB Center staff and students from the Health and Human Rights Student Group collaborated to present a Human Rights Day screening of several human rights videos produced by Amnesty International–USA and Physicians for Human Rights in the HSPH cafeteria. The collaboration with the students was productive, and we expect it to become an expanding tradition in coming years.

Beyond Harvard
American Public Health Association
FXB Center faculty participated in many activities at the annual APHA meeting, in Boston in November. On November 12, Stephen Marks, Sofia Gruskin, and Jennifer Leaning taught a Continuing Education Institute titled “Human Rights for Public Health Professionals.” This day-long course, attended by 25 public health professionals from around the country, provided a comprehensive introduction to the field of health and human rights, including sessions on: the application of human rights framework to public health policies; the health dimensions of international humanitarian law; HIV/AIDS, human rights, and vulnerability; complex humanitarian emergencies and relief; and human rights in development. The course was very well received, and evaluation form feedback was extremely positive.
      On Wednesday, November 15, Stephen Marks chaired a special plenary session on human rights titled “Social Justice and Human Rights: Implications for Our Work and Lives.” The large main conference hall, where the session took place, was filled with some 2000 participants in attendance. He had set up the panel in cooperation with Russell Morgan, the chair of the APHA International Human Rights Committee (IHRC). The other panelists were Cheryl Easley (IHRC), Allan Herman (South Africa), Loretta Ross (National Center for Human Rights Education, Atlanta), Rebecca Cook (University of Toronto), and Jack Geiger (Professor Emeritus, CUNY Medical School).
      Finally, on November 15, Stephen Marks, Sofia Gruskin, and Jennifer Leaning served as panelists in a two-part panel on health and human rights, chaired by George Annas of the BU School of Public Health and cosponsored by the Consortium for Health and Human Rights. In the first session, “The Right to Health,” Sofia Gruskin gave a talk titled “The Right to Health and What It Means Internationally,” and Stephen Marks gave a talk titled “From Legal Norm to Development Practice: How to Implement the Right to Health.” In the second session, “Health and Human Rights in Practice: Professional Obligation in Health Practice,” Jennifer Leaning gave a talk titled “Human Rights Dilemmas in Humanitarian Relief.”

USAID Course
During this period, planning continued for a course on health and human rights for field and Washington-based staff of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Both Stephen Marks and Sofia Gruskin were asked to be a part of the course faculty and course development. It was agreed that the course would be held in January 2001 at the Foreign Source Training Institute near Washington, DC, and that Stephen Marks would coordinate the academic program. On November 15, he and Sofia Gruskin met with representatives from USAID and other course faculty to plan for the January course.

Boston Celebration of Human Rights Day 2000
FXB Center staff also collaborated with Amnesty International–USA and a number of other local NGOs to present a symposium in honor of Human Rights Day titled “Torture: An Affront to Human Dignity.” The event, held on December 10 at the Boston Public Library, presented a number of scholars and survivors, including Pumla Gobodo-Madikezela, a psychologist and former member of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Topics covered included the scope of torture worldwide, legal issues facing torture survivors in the U.S., and healing and recovery.

Presentations/Guest Lectures
On October 5–6, Jennifer Leaning gave a presentation on human security at the Year One Review Workshop of USAID/CERTI in Arlington, VA.
      On December 4, Jennifer Leaning gave a talk at MIT titled “Assessing the Demographic Impact of the Partition of India: A Feasibility Study.” The talk was sponsored by the MIT-Mellon Inter-University Program on Non-Governmental Organizations and Forced Migration.
      On December 8, Stephen Marks made a keynote presentation, “Major Issues in Health and Human Rights,” at the University of Minnesota’s Health and Human Rights Symposium. The symposium was cosponsored by the International Medical Education and Research Program and the Continuing Medical Education division of the University of Minnesota Medical School, the Human Rights Center of the University of Minnesota Law School, and the Center For Victims of Torture, among others. It was directed to an audience of approximately 300 people as part of continuing professional education. He was also invited by the director of the Center for Victims of Torture to tour that facility and meet the staff.

FXB Center Linkages and Partnerships
With NGOs and Other Institutions

Temple University
In this period, Stephen Marks and Sofia Gruskin met with representatives of Temple University to discuss possible collaboration on a health and human rights conference in honor of Jonathan Mann, to be held on September 29–October 1, 2001 in Philadelphia. It was agreed that the FXB Center would provide assistance with setting the conference program. On October 20, Stephen Marks and Sofia Gruskin met with Scott Burris and Zita Lazzarini at the office of the American Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR) in New York to discuss the conference theme and agenda. Stephen Marks, Jennifer Leaning, and Sofia Gruskin have agreed to serve on the Advisory Committee for the conference. In this capacity, they will help to shape the conference program, which will focus on the relationship between health, law, and human rights.

Consortium for Health and Human Rights
The Consortium continues to meet regularly. In this period, members continued to prepare for the APHA annual meeting in November. The two-part health and human rights panel (see above) consisted largely of Consortium members. In partnership with the Consortium, FXBC continues its work to compile an updated list of health and human rights courses and syllabi around the world, for web and possible print publication.

Global Health Assembly, April 2001
During this period, planning continued for the global health assembly to be held April 12–15, 2001, titled “Advancing the Right to Health,” which FXBC is cosponsoring along with the University of Iowa’s Center for Human Rights, led by Burns Weston, and a number of other local groups in the health and medical communities. Stephen Marks has played an instrumental role in drafting the program and identifying the speakers.

Carnegie Council on Ethics in International Affairs
As a member of the Advisory Committee of the Human Rights Initiative of the Carnegie Council, Stephen Marks is active in integrating health and human rights concerns into this project. In addition to suggestion authors for an issue of the initiative’s publication Human Rights Dialogue (see below under “Dissemination of Information”), he attended a meeting of the Advisory Committee on October 5–6 in New York City.

At HSPH and Harvard

Africa Now!
The Harvard AIDS Institute, in collaboration with the FXB Center and other partners, convened a summit on U.S.-based responses to AIDS in Africa, bringing together approximately 125 political, academic, business, and NGO-based leaders from Africa and the U.S., including one head of state and several ministers of health from Africa, on November 12–14. Stephen Marks and Sofia Gruskin were both on the steering committee for the summit.
      The summit initiated dialogue among international leaders about the role of the U.S. in addressing AIDS in Africa by comparing existing U.S. efforts with a survey of African priorities. It also advanced the efforts underway by the UN and U.S. government agencies to create a coordinated response to the crisis. The summit adopted a framework document entitled “Principles of Collaboration when Confronting AIDS in Africa,” complementing the UN’s International Partnership Against AIDS in Africa.
      During the summit, Stephen Marks also co-chaired a working group meeting on human rights education, and Sofia Gruskin presented the draft Principles of Collaboration to the plenary group. They both continue to participate in the steering committee, which is working on a post-summit campaign to help address AIDS in Africa and to disseminate the summit’s conclusions.

Weatherhead Center for International Affairs
During this period, Jennifer Leaning, Stephen Marks, and Jenna LeMieux met several times with Professor Herb Kelman, Director of the Program on International Conflict Analysis and Resolution (PICAR), and Donna Hicks, Deputy Director of PICAR, to draft a project proposal for the Weatherhead Initiative. The proposal, titled “Institutionalizing Interactive Problem Solving for Conflict Resolution: Feasibility Assessment of an International Facilitating Service,” was submitted as a joint FXB-PICAR project, and will be entered into the University-wide competition for funding. The winner will be selected in early 2001.

HSPH Working Group on Women, Gender and Health
The HSPH Working Group on Women, Gender and Health (WGH), on which Sofia Gruskin serves, continues to meet monthly to discuss ways to foster the advancement of these issues in at the School. In this period, the group sponsored two seminars at HSPH, one on gender and occupational health, the other on gender-based violence and human rights. Planning also continued for a new course, WGH 210d, with a focus on women’s mental health.

Dissemination of Information
Health and Human Rights Journal
During this period, Vol. 5, No. 1 was sent to the printer. The issue covers topics including women’s mental health and human rights, sex workers in India, HIV/AIDS and other health issues in South Africa, informed consent issues in a study involving survivors of Srebrenica, and NGO efforts to protect and promote the right to health in Latin America. It is expected to be mailed to subscribers before the end of January.
We have received many submissions in response to the call for papers for Vol. 5, No. 2, the special issue on children’s health and human rights to appear in 2001. In this period, initial editorial review and peer review began, and invitations were sent out to several other possible contributors.

Working Papers Series
In this period, the FXB Center relaunched its working papers series with the following publications:

Arjun Sengupta, “The Right to Development as a Human Right”

Daniel Tarantola, “Building on the Synergy between Health and Human Rights: A Global Perspective”

Allison Smith Estelle, “International Responses to Drug Abuse among Young People: Assessing the Integration of Human Rights Obligations” (winner of the 2000 FXB Essay Award)

Sofia Gruskin and Daniel Tarantola, “Health and Human Rights”

Health and Human Rights in Times of Peace and Times of Conflict
The FXB Center is preparing to publish the proceedings of this symposium, held on April 12, 2000, in New York. In this period, editorial and production work continued. The finished publication is expected to go to press early in 2001.

Human Rights Dialogue
The director of this publication of the Carnegie Council on Ethics in International Affairs asked Stephen Marks to prepare a special issue on health and human rights, to appear in the spring of 2001. He met with Dialogue staff and began work on identifying authors for this publication.

Harvard Public Health Review
The current issue of the Harvard Public Health Review, which appeared in December, contains a number of items on the Center. It features a profile of Stephen Marks and favorable mentions of Health and Human Rights: A Reader (ed. J. Mann, S. Gruskin, M. Grodin, and G. Annas) and Humanitarian Crises: The Medical and Public Health Response (ed. J. Leaning, S. M. Briggs, and L. C. Chen) in its Bookshelf column.

FXB Center Seminar Series
In this period, the 2000–2001 Seminar Series presented two speakers:

Susannah Sirkin, Deputy Director of Physicians for Human Rights, “Mobilizing Health Professionals to Promote Human Rights: The Experience of Physicians for Human Rights” (October 24)
Michael Grodin, MD, BU School of Public Health, “The Boston Center for Refugee Health and Human Rights: Caring for Survivors of Torture and Refugee Trauma” (December 12)

Both talks were attended by an enthusiastic audience of students, faculty, and members of the public.

Staff and Administration
Nancy Briton
In this period, Nancy Briton joined the FXB Center as a statistician working with Gilbert Holleufer on his People and War project.

Sarah Martin
Also in this period, Sarah Martin joined the FXB Center as a staff assistant. She will be working with the Program on Humanitarian Crises and Human Rights to do research and provide administrative support.

Program Activities
Program on International Health and Human Rights

Linkages and Partnerships: HSPH and Harvard
Enhancing Care Initiative (ECI)

This project is jointly carried out by the Harvard AIDS Institute, the FXB Center, other entities within Harvard, and counterpart institutions in Brazil, Senegal, Thailand, and South Africa. ECI has been developing a conceptual and practical framework on how to assess, plan for, and evaluate care for people living with HIV/AIDS, which includes human rights and gender-sensitive approaches. Sofia Gruskin, one of the four Harvard investigators, supports management of the Initiative, works with each of the teams to ensure consistency in research and integration of human rights within their research agendas. She remains the focal point for the Brazilian team.
      In this period, a great deal of time was spent on internal management, including staffing changes, and restructuring of work with the teams. Weekly conference calls, rotating among the teams, have been instituted, and increased communication concerning research directions and implementation has been prioritized. Also in this period, Pikul Nantachaipan of the Thai team came to spend several months with us in order to deepen her understanding of human rights and how to apply a human rights framework to the work of the Thai team. Sofia Gruskin met with her on a regular basis to guide her studies and approach to the design of the human rights research tool. Sofia Gruskin will also be traveling to Thailand in January to facilitate its implementation.

Linkages and Partnerships: National and International Institutions
UNAIDS
Sofia Gruskin continues to work extensively on projects with UNAIDS, including the UNAIDS Human Rights Strategy and discussions and efforts toward enunciation of the Global AIDS Strategy. UNAIDS cosponsors met in October to discuss the revised Global AIDS Strategy. The document was completed after further revisions in November. It was brought to the Programme Coordinating Board (PCB) at the December meeting in Rio de Janeiro, where it was approved as the new Global Strategy.
      Also in this period, revisions moved forward for the Reference Handbook on the Convention on the Rights of the Child and HIV/AIDS. This handbook is intended to serve as a basic reference source for the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in its discussions with States parties on the rights of the child in the context of HIV/AIDS. It will also contain information on best practices.

WHO
The program continues its collaboration with various departments of WHO, including Reproductive Health, Children’s Health, Women’s Health, and the newly created Health and Human Rights Unit. Sofia Gruskin is an External Advisor on Health and Human Rights for the organization, which entails offering substance and technical assistance when requested. Biweekly phone calls with the Health and Human Rights Unit have been instituted to ensure coherence in human rights work throughout the organization.
      Work continued on WHO’s Health and Human Rights Strategy. The program also offered substantial written technical input into work on mental health and human rights towards production of the 2001 World Health Report, which will focus on mental health, and the document being prepared for World TB Day 2001 (March 24), which will focus on the linkage between human rights and tuberculosis. Likewise, in preparation for Human Rights Day 2000 (celebrated on December 11 this year), program staff reviewed fact sheets prepared by various departments within WHO, including Children’s Health, Mental Health, HIV/AIDS, Women’s Health, Disabilities, Reproductive Health, and Violence and Injuries Prevention on the work they are doing in relation to human rights, and suggested changes to ensure the technical accuracy of the information presented.
In this period, revisions continued on the Memorandum of Understanding between FXBC and WHO. The memorandum now encompasses the following current and projected areas of collaboration:

Production of an annotated bibliography on health and human rights, with updates to be done each year for two years.

Identification of health and human rights actors and institutions doing work on a global level. This information will be stored in an online database.

Articulation of WHO’s strategy for the Human Rights Treaty Bodies, which will seek to bring more consistency to the organization’s approach to working with the various bodies.

Joint production of a paper on poverty, equity, health, and human rights with noted economist Paula Braveman.

Health and human rights training for WHO staff. A new annex to the MOU has been agreed upon concerning the training of WHO headquarters, regional, and in-country staff on health and human rights.

Human rights guidance for the WHO initiative “Making Pregnancy Safer” (MPS). MPS in Mozambique is WHO’s project for integrating a human rights approach into national efforts towards reducing maternal mortality. In this period, Sofia Gruskin traveled to Mozambique for several days of intensive work on the initiative with WHO headquarters personnel and local partners. Specifically, the objectives were to support the creation of an MPS Mozambique Multi-Sectoral Team to lead the initiative, to agree on a common plan of action for the integration of MPS into the national strategic safe motherhood plan, and to meet with donors and other interested parties working on the area of maternal and neonatal mortality. In preparation for the trip, Adriane Martin Hilber, WHO HQ technical officer on MPS-Mozambique, traveled to Boston and worked with Mindy Roseman and Sofia Gruskin for three days, developing materials on maternal and neonatal mortality and human rights.

Operationalizing Cairo and Beijing: A Training Initiative in Gender and Reproductive Health
This leadership training initiative, conducted in partnership with the World Health Organization and the Women’s Health Project, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa, created a pilot course that has run four times in South Africa, as well as in China, Australia, Argentina, and Kenya, in preparation for production of a global curriculum in 2001.
      The final version of the written curriculum, titled “Gender and Rights: Transforming Health Systems,” which was field-tested in South Africa on August 28–September 15 with uninitiated trainers using the curriculum to teach the course, was revised in this period. Sofia Gruskin spent time in this period participating in an extensive review of each of the modules to ensure consistency in relation to the inclusion of human rights and a logical coherence more generally.

UNIFEM
Sofia Gruskin has been invited, along with Geeta Gupta of ICRW and Stephen Lewis, formerly of UNICEF, to serve in a formal advisory capacity for UNIFEM’s newly created HIV/AIDS program. Several meetings were held in this period in order to help shape and move this program forward.

Centers for Disease Control
Sofia Gruskin continues to serve as a technical advisor to the three CDC-funded projects taking place within the U.S. on structural interventions to reduce HIV incidence.

Linkages and Partnerships: NGOs
Amnesty International

The FXB Center continues to engage in a number of activities with Amnesty International, both nationally and internationally. Sofia Gruskin remains a member of the AIUSA Mandate Committee and now has responsibility for helping to coordinate the AIUSA section’s approach to economic, social, and cultural rights. In this capacity, she participated in a number of meetings and conference calls and in the preparation of the section response in relation to changes in the mandate.

International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
In this period, discussions began with Federation Headquarters concerning a joint training on AIDS and human rights, to be held in conjunction with the Fifth International Conference on Home and Community Care for Persons Living with HIV/AIDS (Chiang Mai, Thailand, December 2001).

Publications

The Lancet
In this period, Sofia Gruskin’s piece with Bebe Loff, “Getting Serious about the Right to Health,” concerning the recent adoption by the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of General Comment 14 on the Right to Health, was published in The Lancet (Vol. 356, No. 9239, 21 October 2000).

Program on Humanitarian Crises and Human Rights

Linkages and Partnerships: HSPH and Harvard
Program on Humanitarian Policy and Conflict Research
Jennifer Leaning chairs the Advisory Committee for this program, based at the Harvard School of Public Health, which was launched this fall. Following an Advisory Committee meeting on December 5, a reception hosted by Claude Bruderlein, the Swiss Representative to the UN, marked the formal opening of the program.

Field Mission to Kosovo
In October–November, Jennifer Leaning traveled to Kosovo with the International Health Systems Group (IHSG) at HSPH and Physicians for Human Rights on a field mission to assess the potential for professional capacity and institution building with physicians and other health care workers. A return mission is planned for April with the IHSG team.

Expert Assessment Team on Sanctions
Jennifer Leaning has been working to develop an expert assessment team to evaluate the humanitarian impact of sanctions. The core team continues to meet, and a report on feasibility for UNICEF is in preparation.

Linkages and Partnerships: National and International Institutions
International Committee of the Red Cross
On December 6–7, Jennifer Leaning and Gilbert Holleufer hosted several members of the ICRC. The visit included an expert consultation on human security, with participants drawn from HSPH and other schools at Harvard.

Partition of India Project
Jennifer Leaning is conducting a study on the feasibility of undertaking a large project on the effects of the partition of India. Initial findings from the field are promising, and a review seminar is planned for the spring. The project would be done in collaboration with the MIT-Mellon Inter-University Program on Non-Governmental Organizations and Forced Migration.

Linkages and Partnerships: NGOs
Médecins sans Frontières
In this period, Jennifer Leaning continued work on revising a proposal on collaboration between MSF and FXBC.

Mellon Foundation
In this period, Jennifer Leaning received a grant from the Mellon Foundation for the development of a curriculum at HSPH on humanitarian crises, beginning with the MPH program and then expanding to the two-year programs. The grant will fund a part-time assistant and will contribute to the salary of a senior faculty member to be hired jointly by HSPH and Tufts University.

Advisory Group on Research Priorities in Emergencies
Jennifer Leaning continues to participate in the ethics subgroup of this advisory group, which has been discussing informed consent issues.

Publications
USAID
In this period, Jennifer Leaning completed a working paper for USAID on human security and submitted it to the Crisis and Transition Unit of USAID’s African Bureau. A working paper for the Harvard Center on Population and Development Studies is in preparation. A proposal for Year Two work (case studies) has been submitted to USAID/CERTI.

Physicians for Human Rights
Jennifer Leaning has contributed to a report by Physicians for Human Rights on medical human rights violations in Kosovo, due out early in 2001.

Program on Human Rights in Human Development

In this period, Visiting Fellow Arjun Sengupta spent two weeks at the FXB Center, working on his third report on the right to development, and meeting extensively with Stephen Marks regarding the Right to Development Project.
The Project began to take shape during this period, as the International Advisory Committee held its first meeting at the FXB Center on December 12. Advisory Committee members in attendance were Clarence Dias (International Center for Law and Development), Asbjorn Eide (Norwegian Institute for Human Rights), Michael Reich (Chair, Population and International Health Dept., HSPH), and Allan Hill (HSPH). In attendance via phone from Geneva were Stephanie Grant (Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights) and Thord Palmlund (UNDP, NYC).
The goal of the project is to establish 6 small-scale projects applying a human rights–based approach to development. The December 12 meeting reviewed the background and function of the Advisory Committee, the general expectations of the project, staffing needs of the project and advice from members regarding recruitment, the framework for research and workshops, and the organization of country projects.
As part of his exploration of suitable partners in developing countries to participate in this project, Stephen Marks went to Mali on November 19–23. He attended the inauguration of the African Learning Institution for Human Rights Education (ALIHRE) and People’s Decade for Human Rights Education in Mali (PDHRE-Mali) in Bamako; he also taught the training of trainees organized by PDHRE-Mali in Silengué, Mali.

Linkages and Partnerships: National and International Institutions
United Nations Development Programme
During this period, discussions continued regarding cooperation with the HURIST program of UNDP. The project proposes to establish small-scale projects applying a human rights–based approach to development in Cambodia and Ghana, as the first of several country-specific projects on sustainable human development.
      In addition, Stephen Marks traveled to Rio de Janeiro to participate in the UNDP-sponsored Second Global Forum on Human Development, held on October 9–10. He chaired a panel on October 9 titled “Legitimizing Human Rights within Development,” at which he also gave a talk titled “The Human Rights Framework: Its Relevance for Development.”

Publications
Princeton Project on Universal Jurisdiction
During this period, Stephen Marks completed his paper for the Princeton Project on Universal Jurisdiction, titled “The Hissène Habré Case: The Law and Politics of Universal Jurisdiction.” The paper focuses on efforts to hold Habré accountable for the torture and arbitrary killing of approximately 40,000 people during his mandate as president of Chad. The paper will be published by Princeton University Press as part of an anthology put together by the project. On November 3, he participated in a conference on universal jurisdiction held in Boston at the New England School of Law. On November 9–11, he presented the paper at the first of two meetings organized by the Princeton Project, attended by approximately two dozen scholars. The second meeting, to include a gathering of international jurists, will be held in January 2001. The purpose of the project is to examine the principled terms under which universal jurisdiction should be accepted by the international community.