Co-sponsored by "The Baha'i Association of Columbia Law School"
1) "U.S. Policy and its Implications for Human Rights in Iran"
Gary Sick, Columbia University
Gary Sick served on the National Security Council staff under Presidents Ford, Carter and Reagan. He was the principal White House aide for Iran during the Iranian Revolution and the hostage crisis and is the author of two books on U.S.-Iranian relations. He is a member (emeritus) of the board of Human Rights Watch in New York and chairman of its Middle East and North Africa advisory committee.
2) "Women's Rights in Iran"
Elahe Sharifpour-Hicks, Director Human Rights and Policy Group
Elahe Sharifpour-Hicks is one of the leading commentators and advocates on human rights issues in Iran. She is the current Program Director of the "Human Rights and Policy Group" in New York. Prior to that, she worked at the "United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights" focusing on Iraq. She has also worked for "Human Rights Watch, Middle East and North Africa Division" where she conducted five unique human rights fact-finding missions to Iran.
3) "The Patterns of Human Rights Violations in Iran: The Implications for a New Human Rights Strategy"
Ramin Ahmadi, Yale University
Ramin Ahmadi is a Professor at Yale University and is one of the founders of the "Iran Human Rights Documentation Center". He has also founded the "Griffin Center for Health and Human Rights" and has developed numerous curriculum on Health and Human Rights at Yale University.
4) "Religious persecution as a crime against humanity"
Payam Akhavan, Yale University
Payam Akhavan is a Senior Fellow at Yale Law School and the Yale University Genocide Studies Program. He is President and Co-Founder of the Iran Human Rights Documentation Centre, and was previously Legal Advisor to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunals for former Yugoslavia and Rwanda at the Hague. He has advised the UN and Governments on transitional justice and human rights in Cambodia, East Timor, Eritrea, Guatemala, Peru, and Uganda.
For more info: Contact Nima Yousefian (Ny2120@columbia.edu)