Logo of the Marjorie Kovler Center The United Nations Declaration of Human Rights can be found at: http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html

     With 2004 marking the end of the United Nations Decade of Human Rights, Drs. Anna Adams and Joan Marx decided to consider the historical reasons for the establishment of such a decade and to assess the progress that has been made in the last ten years. Their team-taught, interdisciplinary course focuses on issues of political and economic justice and incorporates fiction and testimonials, films and speakers, and research projects dealing with human rights for ethnic and religious minorities, women, homosexuals, labor organizers, and political dissidents. The Center for Ethics and Leadership provided support for several notable guest speakers who shared their experiences and insight with the class and the entire College community. Antonio Martínez, co-founder of the Marjorie Kovler Center for Survivors of Torture and president of The Institute for Survivors of Torture and Human Rights Abuses, Jennifer Harbury, author of Searching for Everardo: A Story of Love, War, and the CIA in Guatemala, and Peggy Healey, who teaches Human Rights law at Fordham University, provided moving testimonials to the horrors of human rights violations and the inspiring strength of survivors. The course ends with the opportunity to combine academic study with human rights activism by studying current cases of human rights violations in the Americas and writing letters on behalf of Amnesty International Prisoners of Conscience.