Kirwan Institute Brown Bag - March 2010
March 31, 2010 - Civil Liberty and Human Rights in the Obama Era
By Stephen Menendian and Caitlin Watt from the Kirwan Institute
(Presentation material - 7.4MB .pdf file)
The United States is a party to the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), which, among other things, prohibits not simply laws, and policies which are intentionally discriminatory, but those which have the effect of unfairly disadvantaging particular racial groups. The CERD framework calls for affirmative measures and strong human rights protections. It is one of only two UN treaties that the US has ratified. The Obama administration will soon be issuing its States report on behalf of the United States. As racial justice advocates, we will be responsible for making sure that the US is compliant and for informing the UN Rapporteur of violations and compliance issues. Please join us as we discuss the CERD and CERD compliance in the Obama era.
Stephen Menendian works as a senior legal research associate for the Kirwan Institute. His work involves analysis and advocacy around civil rights, human rights, anti-discrimination law, and citizenship. In 2004, he worked as a law clerk for the Equal Justice Foundation. Stephen is a licensed attorney and a proud member of the Ohio Bar. He received his J.D. from the Moritz College of Law, Ohio State University and a B. A. in Economics from Ohio University.
Caitlin Watt is a Legal Research Associate who joined the staff at Kirwan as an intern during her second year of law school in 2008. Before working at Kirwan, Caitlin worked as a political organizer for the Michigan Democratic Party in the 2004 election, as an assistant to the State and Local policy director at the AFL-CIO, and assisted with the United Auto Workers organization of the Foxwood Casino dealers. She received her B.A. from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and her J.D. from Ohio State's Moritz College of Law, focusing her studies on civil rights, criminal defense, and employment law.
All sessions will be held in room 423 Mendenhall Laboratory at noon.
For more information, please contact Elsadig Elsheikh or Rajeev Ravisankar.
