Join the Columbia University Center for Palestine Studies, the Institute for the Study of Human Rights at Columbia University, and the Center for Constitutional Rights for an in-person presentation at Columbia Law School by Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967.

The presentation will be followed by a panel discussion by legal and policy experts in the field.

SPEAKER
Francesca Albanese was appointed the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967 by the Human Rights Council at its 49th session in March 2022 and has taken up her function as of May 1, 2022. Ms. Albanese is an Affiliate Scholar at the Institute for the Study of International Migration at Georgetown University, as well as a Senior Advisor on Migration and Forced Displacement for a think tank, Arab Renaissance for Democracy and Development (ARDD). She has widely published on the legal situation in Israel and the State of Palestine and regularly teaches and lectures on international law and forced displacement at universities in Europe and the Arab region. Ms. Albanese has also worked as a human rights expert for the United Nations, including the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the UN Relief and Work Agency for Palestine Refugees.

PANELISTS
Elazar Barkan is Professor of International and Public Affairs at the Columbia School of International and Public Affairs. His research interests focus on human rights and on the role of history in contemporary society and politics and the response to gross historical crimes and injustices. His human rights work seeks to achieve conflict resolution and reconciliation by bringing scholars from two or more sides of a conflict together and employing historical methodology to create shared narratives across political divides and to turn historical dialogue into a fundamental tool of political reconciliation.

Maria LaHood is Deputy Legal Director at the Center for Constitutional Rights, where she represents Palestinian rights advocates facing suppression in the United States in cases such as Bronner v. Duggan, defending against a challenge to the American Studies Association’s resolution endorsing a boycott of Israeli academic institutions, and Jewish National Fund v. US Campaign for Palestinian Rights, a case challenging human rights advocacy under the Anti-Terrorism Act.

MODERATOR
Katherine Franke is the James L. Dohr Professor of Law at Columbia University and Director of the Center for Gender & Sexuality Law. She is also on the Executive Committees of Columbia’s Institute for the Study of Sexuality and Gender and the Center for Palestine Studies. She is among the nation's leading scholars writing on law, sexuality, race, and religion drawing from feminist, queer, and critical race theory.