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| Fall 2006 | Realizing Rights: Action Update |  |
This week marks the 5th anniversary of the terrible attacks on the United States of 9/11 2001. I have been in Washington, DC, taking part in public hearings organized by the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) which are examining the impact of terrorism and counter-terrorism measures on the rule of law and human rights in the US and around the world.
A clear message we are hearing is the importance of the United States and other nations renewing their commitment to human rights and humanitarian law standards even as the struggle against terrorism continues.
In this newsletter, you can read more about the ICJ's initiative and our recent activities at Realizing Rights to bring a human rights perspective to issues of Trade, Health, Migration, Women's Leadership and Corporate Social Responsibility.
We encourage you to stay up to date with our activities by visiting our website ??? www.RealizingRights.org ??? and welcome your comments and contributions.
- Mary Robinson, September 2006
President, Realizing Rights: The Ethical Globalization Intitiative |
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 | Fostering Equitable Trade and Development |
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Aid for Trade: Perspectives from Africa 
Based on experiences during visits to Tanzania and Ghana earlier this year, Realizing Rights convened a meeting in Geneva on Aid for Trade to ensure that the perspectives of African business and civil society leaders were heard at the WTO. Read the summary of the meeting and our full submission to the WTO Aid for Trade Task Force which made its formal recommendations to the WTO General Council on July 27. |
| |  Mary Robinson Speaks about the Doha Breakdown on KCRW???s ???To the Point??? 
Mary Robinson discussed the collapse of the Doha trade talks that has broken the promise of help for poor nations. What will that mean for the development prospects of developing countries or the prestige and potency of the western world? |
| | Mary Robinson writes foreword in new report: In the Public Interest 
Basic public services are key to ending global poverty. "In the Public Interest", a new report from Oxfam and WaterAid calls on developing country governments to devote a greater proportion of their budgets to building these vital services - and for rich countries to support their plans with increased, long-term aid commitment. |
| Strengthening Efforts to Realize the Right to Health |
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The Geneva Forum on Health 
A three day international conference in Switzerland: The Geneva Forum "Towards Global Access to Health", provided an opportunity for 1,000 participants from over eighty countries to present and explore innovative partnerships and programmes facilitating access to health. Mary Robinson shared with the conference team some of the main challenges at hand when it comes to access to health for all... |
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XVI International AIDS Conference 
The XVI International AIDS Conference took place from August 13 - 18 in Toronto, Canada.
26,000 people participated in the conference, including leaders from governments, the science sector, civil society, people living with HIV, youth and women???s groups, the private sector and the entertainment sector. Mary Robinson attended many roundtables, events and satellites during the conference. |
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Parliamentarians for Women's Health (PWH) Website Launched 
Learn more about how elected officials from Botswana, Kenya, Namibia and Tanzania are using their roles as public figures, legislators, budgeters, and spokespeople to improve women's access to HIV/AIDS related health services in their countries.
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| | Symposium in Honor of Allan Rosenfield 
Mary Robinson participated as a panelist at a symposium held in Columbia University entitled: "Taking a Stand: Challenges and Controversies in Reproductive Health, Maternal Mortality, and HIV/AIDS". Dr. Allan Rosenfield has pioneered innovative programs in reproductive health, maternal mortality, and the treatment of HIV-infected women, men, and children. |
| Promoting More Humane Migration Policies |
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The Other Side of the Wall 
The UN special session on international migration and development offers the US and other leading nations "an opportunity to begin talking about the reality of migration: as a regional and global phenomenon; as a challenge of shared responsibility and common interests between governments of the global north and south; and as a vital component in addressing human security, human development and human rights..." |
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UN General Assembly High Level Dialogue on International Migration and Development 
For the first time in its history, the United Nations is holding a special High Level Dialogue on International Migration and Development on the 14th and 15th of September at the UN in New York. Realizing Rights has been contributing to the preparatory activities in a number of ways... |
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 Migration and Human Rights 
The United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) gathered experts on the topic of ???State Control to Shared Responsibility: International Migration and Human Rights???. Mary Robinson was selected to provide the civil society perspective to realizing migrants??? rights. |
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Mary Robinson Special Guest at Helsinki Process Meeting in Mexico on International Migration 
Mary Robinson was the special guest of the Mexican government and other supporters of the Helsinki Process on Globalization and Democracy which are organizing follow up activities addressing migration and development.
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 Mary Robinson delivers inaugural address at NYU conference 
The Department of Immigration Studies at New York University (IS@NYU), the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies, Harvard, and the Pew Hispanic Center convened a one-day conference of international scholars to explore "A Human Rights Approach to Migration" in the United States. Watch Mary Robinson???s keynote address. |
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Philadelphia Migration Seminar Focuses on ???Creating Community Through Collaboration??? 
Mary Robinson delivered a keynote address articulating the need for communities to positively embrace the migration of people. The event, sponsored by the Welcoming Center and Realizing Rights, brought together members of civil society to discuss how to integrate immigrant populations into Philadelphia???s neighborhoods.
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| Encouraging Women's Leadership |
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Women Leaders Intercultural Forum 
On September 24-26, forty women leaders from the arts, business, government, academia, international organizations and non-profit sectors will gather in New York to launch the Women Leaders Intercultural Forum. The idea is simple: women leaders from across cultures, sectors and generations must increase leadership ties in an unprecedented way to achieve a more secure world. |
| | Women Leaders' Conference in Jordan 
Prominent women leaders from around the globe gathered at the Dead Sea in Jordan from Sunday, June 11th to Tuesday, June 13th to attend the first conference of the Global Women's Action Network for Children.
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| | Realizing Rights: Visit to Senegal 
Mary Robinson paid a two-day visit to Dakar, Senegal in July. She was invited as a member of the Board of the African Women???s Millennium Initiative on Poverty and Human Rights (AWOMI) to join a conference on ???Accountability Now: Economic Policies, Poverty and Women???s Health???. The conference marked the end of a month-long course for young African women leaders who participated in the Conference. |
| Influencing Corporate Social Responsibility |
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The United Nations Global Compact Board 
The inaugural meeting of the United Nations Global Compact Board, to which Mary Robinson has been appointed, was held on the 28 June 2006 at UN Headquarters in New York. The meeting was officially opened by the Secretary-General, Kofi Annan. Download the background note, the agenda and the full meeting report here. |
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???Responsible Business Practices and the Role of Public Policy??? 
What works, what doesn???t and what is next for CSR? On May 11th, Realizing Rights participated in a roundtable event on Responsible Business Practices and Public Policy, hosted by the German Marshall Fund along with the Swedish Embassy. A broad mix of business, government, NGO and think tank experts were in attendance, which made for a productive and trenchant dialogue on Corporate Social Responsibility. |
| | Initiative for Global Development Annual Summit 
America's foremost business leaders gathered from June 14th - 15th to discuss and debate the role of the private sector in eradicating extreme global poverty as the Inititiative for Global Development held its annual summit in Washington DC. |
| | Business Leaders Initiative on Human Rights - 3rd Report 
The latest report from the Business Leaders Initiative makes the case for a common framework on business and human rights and advocates for the need for much greater clarity on the nature and scope of the human rights responsibilities of all businesses, regardless of where in the world they are operating and regardless of their sector.
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| Realizing Rights: In the News |
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Mary Robinson urges U.S. to change course in War
In the week that US President George W. Bush admitted to secret CIA
prisons, Mary Robinson spoke to PBS News about the effects of US
policies around the world since 9/11 2001 and called on the
administration to change its course in the so-called 'war on terror.'
Download an mp3 or podcast of the interview, view the transcript or read more. |
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Mary Robinson interviewed by Madrid11.net 
In an interview with Madrid11.net, Jon Bright talked to Realizing Rights President Mary Robinson about the ???war on terror???, the current stand-off in Gaza, and why she thinks George Bush would be happy to shut down Guantanamo... |
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Mary Robinson awarded Prince of Asturias Prize 
Mary Robinson became the first woman to win the Asturias Social Sciences award by the foundation run by Crown Prince Felipe, heir to the Spanish throne. The jury selected Robinson for ???dedicat[ing] her intense life to overcoming the obstacles which prevent many from enjoying human rights, to achieving stable international relations and to introducing humanist principles into the globalized world of our time.??? |
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UN Small Arms Review Conference: WMDs in Slow Motion 
Mary Robinson contributed an opinion piece in the UK based newspaper, The Guardian, about the plans of the US and other states to abandon a deal to control the deadly small arms trade. |
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Mary Robinson interviewed on Sky News about Lebanon 
Mary Robinson discussed the humanitarian crisis in Lebanon and the importance of women???s leadership in achieving human security in both the Middle East and globally. |
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"Our Legal Duty Is To Make Poverty History" 
Mary Robinson and Paul Hunt contributed an opinion piece to the New Zealand Herald on May 11th. They argued that developed nations have an obligation to pursue policies leading to robust civil rights beyond their own borders. |
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