Speaker tonight, Monday 29 Octobeer

Human Rights Speaker Oct. 29: Constantine on Stateless People

Oct 25, 2012 | Comments 0

Greg Constantine, an award-winning photojournalist currently based in Southeast Asia, will discuss the human rights issue of statelessness during a visit to Webster University Monday, Oct. 29.
Constantine’s work documents the plight of the stateless, or those who lack legal nationality to any country in the world. His most recent project, Nowhere People, documents the struggles of the Rohingya minority ethnic group in Burma, who have been stripped of legal citizenship by the government.
Constantine will discuss the issue of statelessness from his perspective as an American-born photojournalist. Through images and personal stories, his lecture will illustrate how this human rights violation impacts stateless populations throughout Asia.
Event Details
Lecture: 7 p.m., Monday, Oct. 29, 2012
Webster University’s Sunnen Lounge
Free and open to the public
Parking is available at the Garden Park Plaza, 568 Garden Avenue [Campus map]
To learn more about the Institute for Human Rights and Humanitarian Studies, visit www.webster.edu/humanrights. Constantine’s personal Web site is available at www.gregconstantine.com.

Statelessness and the Year of International Human Rights

Statelessness is highlighted by Webster’s “Year of International Human Rights” (YIHR), which focuses on the rights of indigenous peoples and stateless persons during the 2012/2013 academic year. The YIHR is coordinated by Webster’s Institute for Human Rights and Humanitarian Studies.
Now in its fifth year, the YIHR includes invited lectures, a common reading book, a film series, and a two-day human rights conference centered on the human rights theme.
Approximately 12 million people are stateless – they are not citizens to any country – despite the human “right to a nationality” that is outlined in international law. In fact, statelessness has been described as a “forgotten human rights crisis” that leads to exploitation and additional rights violations.
People without legal nationality often suffer from human rights abuse including the inability to travel, to work legally, to receive a basic education, and to access healthcare. The stateless are also vulnerable to abuse by government officials, including the police and immigration officers, and are at high risk for human trafficking and other rights-related problems.