WFU to Host Amnesty International Conference
Human rights activists from across the state will gather for Amnesty International’s 1998 state conference to be held at Wake Forest University Feb. 21-22.
The international human rights organization will hold the conference to increase awareness of human rights issues. The conference is open to the community and is being hosted by the Wake Forest chapter of Amnesty International.
Journalist Allan Nairn, who has covered U.S. foreign policy and human rights since 1980, will be the keynote speaker for the conference. Nairn won numerous awards for his coverage of a 1991 massacre of East Timorese people by the Indonesian army. His articles have appeared in The New Yorker, the Washington Post, The New York Times, USA Today and various other magazines and newspapers.
The conference begins at 12 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 21, in Benson University Center. It will include a series of lectures and workshops on such topics as the sociology of war and war crimes; human rights in Latin America, Sudan and Central Africa; and the death penalty. Guest speakers will include Jennie Burnet, winner of a 1997 Patrick Stuart Human Rights grant who will discuss human rights issues in Rwanda, and Elmoiz Abunura, a political refugee from Sudan.
At 8 p.m. Saturday night, Amnesty International members will present poetry, ethnic dances, theater and music.
Registration for the conference is $15; $10 for students. Participants may register Saturday morning. The charge is $2 for those who plan only to attend the Saturday evening performance.
For additional information, call Dipti Singh, the president of Wake Forest’s Amnesty International chapter, at 758-1470.
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