Human Rights in the National Security Policies of the New Obama Administration: Prioritization, Co-option or Irrelevance?

Date 

Add to My Calendar Wednesday, January 23, 2013 12:00am

Location 

*This event is free and open to the public, but RSVP and a valid form of identification is required. RSVP here. The event will be followed by a reception with hors d’oeuvres and beverages. 

WHEN: Wednesday, January 23, 4:30pm-6:00pm
WHAT: A panel discussion titled "Human Rights in the National Security Policies of the New Obama Administration."
WHERE: NYU School of Law, Vanderbilt Hall, Greenberg Lounge,  40 Washington Square South, NY, NY

WHO: Vincent Warren, Executive Director of the Center for Constitutional Rights, and former national senior staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union; Anne-Marie Slaughter, Professor of Politics and International Affairs at Princeton University, former Director of Policy Planning for the Obama Administration, and author of The Idea that Is America: Keeping Faith with Our Values in a Dangerous World; Elisa Massimino, President and CEO of human rights advocacy organization Human Rights First, and national authority on human rights law and policy; moderated by Chris Hayes, host of MSNBC Up with Chris Hayes and author of Twilight of the Elites: America After Meritocracy

More information
Many human rights and civil liberties advocates hoped that the 2008 election of President Barack Obama would herald a sea change in national security and foreign policies by strengthening respect for fundamental rights at home and abroad.  Four years later, advocates now debate whether the first Obama Administration created a new bipartisan consensus on national security issues, and the extent of policy difference between the Obama and Bush Presidencies.  There has been no high-level accountability for torture, Guantanamo remains open, and secretive “targeted” killings by drones and other means have expanded.  Moreover, human rights were barely mentioned in the Romney-Obama Presidential debates. 

What role will—and should—human rights play in the new Administration’s foreign policy?  What will it take to improve respect for human rights while countering threats to security? What is the place of human rights—and concern for their violations abroad—in the American public consciousness?

Join us for this important amd timely discussion.

Last modified 

January 23, 2013