Students Attend National Human Rights Conference

Mark Svensson and Tarik Abdelqader, co-chairs of the SUNY Rockland Anti-Slavery Committee, recently participated in the 2010 Northwestern University Conference on Human Rights (NUCHR), the largest student-run, student-attended human rights conference in the United States.

“Being selected as a delegate . . . was a great honor,” Svensson said. “I was proud to be able to represent the college there.”

“NUCHR was a great opportunity to represent SUNY Rockland and the SUNY system while advocating for the basic principles of human life,” Abdelqader said.      

Svensson and Abdelqader worked together with 40 undergraduate students from around the country at the conference. Attendees examined and discussed cultural relativism, the recognition of migrant populations, public health, economic development and national sovereignty, and prevailing attitudes on human rights issues.

Students at the Jan. 23 conference were from many schools, including Harvard, Carnegie Mellon, Michigan, and Princeton.

“The diversity of the students at the conference was amazing,” Svensson said. “It was a great privilege to be able to collaboratively work with students from so many colleges and universities.”            

One topic examined was “Urban Slums: The Shadow of the Humanitarian Generation.” The aim of the conference was to get each delegate to question whether inhabitants of these slums can be guaranteed human rights. They then discussed the responsibilities that international organizations and sovereign nations have in dealing with them.

The issue of human rights violations has interested Svensson since his freshman year on campus. After hearing former Sudanese slave and human rights activist Simon Deng
give a personal account of slavery in Fall 2008, Svensson was inspired to establish the SUNY Rockland Anti-Slavery committee.

For nearly two years, Svensson has worked to gain a better understanding of many human rights issues. His interest and passion has led him to conduct research topics like the ongoing crisis of modern day slavery, refugees, and the privatization of water.

While the conference provided the students with valuable information and firsthand perspectives on issues, one thing remains certain, Svensson said—there is no one solution to the many issues the conference addressed.

“While no individual can provide the solution for these dilemmas, collectively we possess the power to help make a difference,” he said.

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1 comments

Rockland_Outlook,JbJet24@verizon.net

Tue Mar 2 2010 01:20

Impressive!

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