Donia Human Rights Center Panel. Twenty Years after 9/11: Challenges to Human Rights Protection from Terrorism and Counter-terrorism

Please note: This panel discussion will be offered in person on the University of Michigan Ann Arbor campus at Hutchins Hall, Room 250 (625 State Street) and will be simultaneously available via Zoom Webinar.

This event is free and open to the public, but registration is required if you intend to participate virtually. Once you've registered, the joining information will be sent to your email. Register at: https://myumi.ch/r8ze4

A light reception will follow the panel at Hutchins Hall for in-person attendees. The Donia Human Rights Center will follow state, local, and University of Michigan guidelines for in-person events.

The anniversary of the September 11 attacks provides an opportunity to reflect on their legacy for the protection of human rights. A panel of international experts will address the implications of the attacks for the victims of terrorist acts as well as for those caught up in counter-terrorism actions by governments. We will also explore the challenges to and opportunities for cooperation among governments and international organizations to protect human rights in this context.

Featuring:

-Karima Bennoune, Martin Luther King, Jr. Professor of Law, University of California Davis; Visiting Professor of Law, University of Michigan Law School; UN Special Rapporteur on Cultural Rights

- Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, Regents Professor and Robina Professor of Law, Public Policy and Society, University of Minnesota Law School; Professor of Law, Queens University, Belfast, Northern Ireland; UN Special Rapporteur on the Protection and Promotion of Human Rights while Countering Terrorism

-Andrea Prasow, Deputy Washington Director, Human Rights Watch

Moderator: Steven R. Ratner, Bruno Simma Collegiate Professor of Law; Director, University of Michigan Donia Human Rights Center

This event is co-sponsored by: Center for Middle Eastern and North African Studies, University of Michigan Law School, Program in International and Comparative Studies, and Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy Weiser Diplomacy Center.

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Karima Bennoune, Martin Luther King, Jr. Professor of Law, University of California Davis; Visiting Professor of Law, University of Michigan Law School; UN Special Rapporteur on Cultural Rights

Karima Bennoune holds the Homer G., Angelo and Ann Berryhill Endowed Chair in International Law and is a Martin Luther King, Jr. Professor of Law at the University of California, Davis, School of Law. During academic year 2021-21, she will be a visiting professor at the University of Michigan Law School. She has served as the United Nations Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights since November 2015. In 2017, she served as an expert in the reparations phase of the groundbreaking Al Mahdi Case before the International Criminal Court concerning intentional destruction of cultural heritage in Mali. A former Legal Advisor for Amnesty International, her field missions throughout her career have included Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Cyprus, Egypt, Lebanon, Mali, Malaysia, Maldives, Niger, Pakistan, Poland, Serbia and Kosovo, Southern Thailand, Tunisia and Tuvalu. Her book, “Your Fatwa Does Not Apply Here: Untold Stories from the Fight Against Muslim Fundamentalism,” which recounts the stories of people of Muslim heritage working against extremism, won the 2014 Dayton Literary Peace Prize. The TED talk based on the book has been viewed by over 1.5 million people. Professor Bennoune serves on the scholar advisory board for Muslims for Progressive Values.

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Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, Regents Professor and Robina Professor of Law, Public Policy and Society, University of Minnesota Law School; Professor of Law, Queens University, Belfast, Northern Ireland; UN Special Rapporteur on the Protection and Promotion of Human Rights while Countering Terrorism

Professor Fionnuala Ní Aoláin is concurrently Regents Professor and Robina Professor of Law, Public Policy and Society at the University of Minnesota Law School and Professor of Law at the Queens University, Belfast, Northern Ireland. She has previously taught or held visiting positions at Harvard Law School, Columbia Law School, Princeton University, and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Professor Ní Aoláin is the recipient of numerous academic awards and honors including the Leverhulme Fellowship, British Academy Awards, Fulbright scholarship, the Alon Prize, the Robert Schumann Scholarship, a European Commission award, and the Lawlor fellowship. She is an elected fellow of the Royal Irish Academy. She has published extensively in the fields of emergency powers, counter-terrorism and human rights, conflict regulation, transitional justice and sex based violence in times of war. Her book Law in Times of Crisis (CUP 2006) was awarded the American Society of International Law’s preeminent prize in 2007 - the Certificate of Merit for creative scholarship and her published work has been extensively recognized for its path-breaking contributions and its rigor. Professor Ní Aoláin is currently the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Protection and Promotion of Human Rights while Countering Terrorism (2017-), and was re-elected for a second term in August 2020.

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Andrea Prasow, Deputy Washington Director, Human Rights Watch

Andrea Prasow, deputy Washington director, at Human Rights Watch, conducts advocacy before the US government on global human rights issues, with a particular focus on national security and foreign policy. Prasow frequently appears on domestic and international radio and television, and has published in a wide range of print and online media outlets, including Politico, The Hill, and Foreign Policy.

Prior to joining Human Rights Watch, Prasow was a defense attorney with the Office of Military Commissions. She served as assistant counsel for Salim Hamdan in the only contested military commission trial to date. Prasow was previously an associate at a New York law firm where, in addition to representing large corporations in complex civil litigation she served as habeas counsel for ten Saudi detainees at Guantanamo. Andrea holds an Honors B.A. from the University of Toronto in political science and a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center. She is admitted to practice in the State of New York and the District of Columbia.

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Steven R. Ratner
Bruno Simma Collegiate Professor of Law, University of Michigan Law School; Director, Donia Human Rights Center, University of Michigan

Steven Ratner is the Bruno Simma Collegiate Professor of Law at the University of Michigan Law School and the Director of the University of Michigan’s Donia Human Rights Center. His research addresses a range of public international law issues, including the normative orders concerning armed conflict, regulation of foreign investment, individual and corporate accountability for human rights violations, and the intersection of international law and global justice. He has served on two expert panels of the UN Secretary-General addressing post-conflict justice in Cambodia and in Sri Lanka and is a member of the U.S. Department of State Advisory Committee on International Law. A former member of the Board of Editors of the American Journal of International Law, he is also a member of the international Working Group on Business and Human Rights Arbitration, which is promoting arbitration as a way to provide a remedy for human rights violations by business entities. His most recent book is The Thin Justice of International Law: A Moral Reckoning of the Law of Nations, issued by Oxford University Press in 2015. The fifth edition of his casebook, International Law: Norms, Actors, Process (Kluwer Law, with Jeffrey Dunoff and Monica Hakimi), was published next year.

If there is anything we can do to make this event accessible to you, please contact us at umichhumanrights@umich.edu. Please be aware that advance notice is necessary as some accommodations may require more time for the university to arrange.