Event Examines Frameworks Protecting the Human Rights of Older Persons

WASHINGTON, DC, March 15, 2011– On March 17, 2011, from 9:15 – 11:30 a.m., American University Washington College of Law will host “Strengthening International and Regional Frameworks to Protect the Human Rights of Older Persons

As a part of 2011 Founder’s Events at AU WCL, the Academy on Human Rights and Humanitarian Law and United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) will present an expert panel comprised of leading experts from the human rights agencies of the United Nations and Organization of American States, featuring Luz Angela Melo, LLM ’97, Human Rights Technical Adviser, UNFPA, Juana Sotomayor, Human Rights Officer, Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights, Israel Doron, LLM ’94, Professor of Law, Faculty of Social Welfare & Health Studies, Haifa University, Javier Vásquez, LLM ’96, Regional Human Rights Law Advisor, Pan-American Health Organization, and Mario López Garelli, Senior Human Rights Specialist, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

The expert panel will examine the ongoing processes and possible outcomes of the Open-ended Working Group on the Human Rights of Older Persons, which was established in accordance with the resolution of the UN GA Third Committee adopted on November 19, 2010, to consider the existing international framework, as well as the feasibility of a new legal instrument. Additionally, the panelists will discuss future implications of the ongoing process to strengthen the protection of the rights older persons within the Organization of American States, in particular in light of the recent Special Session of the Permanent Council, where the majority of participating states called for a regional convention on the rights of older persons.

Panelists are esteemed experts who have represented their respective agencies at high-level meetings and expert working groups that focused on the human rights of older persons at the United Nations and Organization of American States. Professor Israel Doron from Haifa University is one of the leading senior scholars in the area of law and aging, and has published extensively on both international and national protection systems of the rights of older persons.

Since October 2009, UNFPA and the Academy on Human Rights on Humanitarian Law have implemented a unique research project to develop practice-oriented tools and publications on the human rights of older persons. Academy Co-directors Claudia Martin and Diego Rodríguez Pinzón have led the research activities at the Academy, which have focused on key instruments and jurisprudence of international and regional human rights frameworks, emerging legal standards in the regions, and good practices at national levels.

When: March 17, 2011
9:15 – 11.30 a.m.

Where: American University Washington College of Law – Room 603
4801 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Washington, DC, 20016

FULL SCHEDULE

American University Washington College of Law
In 1896, American University Washington College of Law became the first law school in the country founded by women. More than 100 years since its founding, this law school community is grounded in the values of equality, diversity, and intellectual rigor. The law school’s nationally and internationally recognized programs (in clinical legal education, trial advocacy, international law, and intellectual property to name a few) and dedicated faculty provide its 1700 JD, LL.M., and SJD students with the critical skills and values to have an immediate impact as students and as graduates, in Washington, DC and around the world. For more information, visit wcl.american.edu.