Northwestern University Conference on Human Rights (NUCHR)

The Northwestern University Conference on Human Rights (NUCHR) was started in 2003 by a group of Northwestern University undergraduates committed to raising awareness, promoting academic dialogue, and mobilizing social action to address international human rights issues. The model of this student-led conference brings together distinguished academics, activists, policy-makers, and students from around the globe on a particular human rights topic each year. The conference is made possible by Northwestern student fundraising efforts on campus and the generous support of multiple Northwestern University academic departments. With these funds, the NUCHR student organizers select a national network of top student “delegates” to the conference through a rigorous and competitive application process. Each year, the conference has been attended by a wide range of stand-out student leaders representing an average of over 40 universities from across the United States.

The inaugural NUCHR conference in 2004 focused on American interventionist policy around the world and featured addresses by Richard Holbrooke, the United States Ambassador to the United Nations during the Clinton administration, and Romeo Dallaire, the Canadian General in charge of U.N. forces during the Rwandan Genocide. The following year in 2005, the second conference addressed questions about American policy toward HIV/AIDS in the Developing World. Featured addresses were given by Stephen Lewis, U.N. Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa, Dr. Bernard Kouchner, co-founder of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning Doctors Without Borders, and Dr. Mark Dybul, Assistant U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator.

The third annual NUCHR conference, which focused on the issue of human trafficking and modern-day slavery. The 3-day conference included a series of panels, discussions, and speaking events featuring national and international leaders in the anti-trafficking movement. The 2006 conference was co-sponsored by the Campus Coalition Against Trafficking (CCAT), a grassroots student mobilization project sponsored by FAIR Fund and Polaris Project. Held from April 6-8, 2006, this year’s conference brought together nearly 100 student delegates representing more than 40 colleges and universities, more than a dozen countries, and four continents. Given the national breadth and demonstrated leadership of the student delegates working on the issue, the 2006 NUCHR/CCAT conference has been recognized as one of the premier national student conferences in the anti-trafficking movement to date.

The fifth annual Northwestern University Conference on Human Rights will examine, the Conference topic is Globalization and the Universality of Human Rights. Speakers will examine the impact of globalizing forces on the tension between cultural relativism and the universality of human rights in four key areas: multinational corporations, cultural/religious issues, health, and international justice. Student delegates will be encouraged to consider issues such as the homogeny and hegemony of human rights: are human rights becoming universal and, if so, whose values determine the basis of their definition? The topic has a broader focus than those in the past and is designed to be more appealing to and appropriate for an undergraduate audience with varying backgrounds and interests. "Globalization and the Universality of Human Rights"

FY2007-08 CONFERENCE:

"Globalization and the Universality of Human Rights"

The fifth annual Northwestern University Conference on Human Rights

More information to come................