Focus on law and minority rights

The legal rights of minority groups around the world will be examined in the conference "Minority Rights and International Law," to be held from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, May 4, in the Law School auditorium. The event is sponsored by the Center for International Studies.

The conference will bring together scholars and human-rights advocates to "consider what rights minorities have in the international legal order and to analyze the extent to which they are enforceable in practice," said Rashid Khalidi, Professor in Near Eastern Languages & Civilizations and Director of the Center for International Studies.

"Recent events such as the massacres of Tutsis in Rwanda, the hanging of Ken Saro-Wiwa in Nigeria and the Chiapas uprising in Mexico have increasingly focused attention on the vulnerability of minority groups within states," Khalidi said.

Conference participants will examine the problems of minorities in Nigeria, Rwanda, Mexico and Guatemala. They have been invited to discuss other problem areas, such as Bosnia and Chechnya, as well.

For more information, call 702-7721.