How Not to Fight Mexico's Drug War

Monday, June 28, 2010 University of California, San Diego

6:30 pm - 7:45 pm

Cost: free, students; $10, public

Ken Roth will address whether human rights concerns should be a factor in withholding U.S. funding that supports Mexico’s fight against drug cartels (Merida Initiative). He will discuss the direct impact of the drug war on Mexican society and the nexus between drugs, security and human rights. In 1993, Roth became executive director of Human Rights Watch (HRW), one of the largest human rights organizations in the world, which conducts fact-finding investigations into human rights abuses in over 80 countries. A graduate of Yale Law School and Brown University, Roth was drawn to the human rights cause by his father's experience fleeing Nazi Germany in 1938. He began working on human rights after the declaration of martial law in Poland in 1981, and soon became deeply engaged in fighting military repression in Haiti. In his years as executive director, Human Rights Watch has quadrupled in size, while greatly expanding its thematic and geographic reach. Event will be held at University of California, San Diego's Institute of the Americas in Hojel Hall of the Americas Auditorium. Visit the Institute of the Americas website for map and parking information. Free for all students, press or faculty. Click here to register and indicate your affiliation in the notes section $10 per person for public. To register using electronic payment, click here. To pay cash at the door, click here to register Presented by Human Rights Watch and Institute of the Americas. Co-sponsored by Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice; San Diego World Affairs Council; Trans-Border Institute; and United Nations Association, San Diego

Joan B. Kroc Institute For Peace & Justice | ipj@sandiego.edu | (619) 260-7509

Poems from Guantanamo

Tuesday, May 4, 2010 Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice Theatre

7:00 pm - 8:30 pm

Cost: Free

A dramatic reading of selections from Poems from Guantanamo: The Detainees Speak will be followed by a panel presentation and then Q & A.  Co-sponsored by Amnesty International, San Diego.

IPJ | ipj@sandiego.edu | 619-260-7509

IPJ Film Series: Killer's Paradise

Tuesday, April 20, 2010 Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice Theatre

7:00 pm - 9:00 pm

Cost: Free

Since 2000 nearly five thousand women have been murdered in Guatemala, a country with just 14 million people. “Killers’ Paradise” uncovers one of the most emotionally-wrenching hidden human rights abuses taking place, while exposing the impunity allowed by an inept judicial system. The IPJ invites you to view this film that documents the stories of victims’ friends and families and the testimonies of police officers and investigators, rapists and gang members. Despite the frustration, anger and great sadness and loss, women and men are coming together for a common fight in the name of their daughters, wives and sisters. Following the film there will be a panel discussion and then Q & A, with Christauria Welland, PsyD, clinical psychologist, and Jill Covert, alumna of the Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies. Welland works with men in treatment for intimate partner violence and has carried out trainings in Guatemala to prevent such violence. Covert conducted the field research for her MA in Peace & Justice Studies, in Guatemala, resulting in a capstone project entitled “Women in Zones of Conflict: Femicide in Guatemala.” The event will be introduced by Maria Pilar Aquino, STD, professor in Theology and Religious Studies. Co-sponsored by Copley Library and Department of Theology and Religious Studies. Please note that the film is unrated.  Harrowing scenes may make it unsuitable for younger viewers.