Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Freedom Fighters in unexpected people and places

SMU is quickly evolving into a more full throttle "liberal arts" education. I know the university has technically been this way for the majority of its existence, but I am finally wholeheartedly believing those words. Granted, I don't think SMU will ever truly become a liberally minded institution, but hey, you never know :)  To be one of the few universities to offer a minor in human rights is exceptional, no doubt about it, and according to Dr. Rick Halperin, Director of the Embrey Human Rights Program here at SMU, we will soon be the only university to offer a Human Rights major! How about that, I may have to come on back for grad school...

Anywho, I am always interested in the speakers who come to visit SMU, the on-campus events that are held, and the significant increase in action ever since construction of Bush Library began. It is hard to support an administration whose politics and decisions I did not necessarily support or agree with, but it's not fair to hold grudges. George and Laura Bush have recently done so much for SMU, in addition to their work in Afghanistan. Mrs. Bush has spearheaded the effort to increase liberty in the recently democratized Afghanistan, free of the Taliban, specifically in order to promote women's freedom and advance their economic opportunity. Through my human rights minor, I was invited to attend the Afghan Conference at SMU, properly titled "Building Afghanistan's Future." I got to attend a dinner, followed by words from both George and Laura Bush, leading up to the opening panel discussion "Promoting Women's Freedom." Panelists included:
Asila Wardak Jamal, Director General of Human Rights and International Women's Affairs in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Afghanistan;
The Honorable Zalmay Khalilzad, President and Chief Executive Officer, Gryphon Capital Partners, Former United States Ambassador to Afghanistan, Iraq and the United Nations; 
and The Honorable Melanne Verveer, Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women's Issues, U.S. Department of State Co-Chair, U.S.-Afghan Women's Council.

Each of the panelists was able to speak, followed by  joint discussion, and then questions from the audience. Of the many issues discussed, this was highlighted: "Afghanistan must make the critical decision to include and protect the rights of all of its citizens, both men and women, or risk the inevitable return to instability and failure by oppressing and excluding women from fully contributing to society. The prevalence of intimidation and violence against women raises important questions for those working to establish this young democracy." Ms. Jamal made it clear that many Afghan women "express serious concerns that their rights will be bargained away as a price for peace with the Taliban, erasing hard-won gains in acess to education, health care and political and economic opportunity. As the process unfolds, the safeguarding of these basic human rights will be critical." 
This conference opened my eyes to a dilemma which I knew existed, but had never so thoroughly experienced. It's opportunities like these at SMU that I will sorely miss once I graduate. Thankfully I still have a year ahead of me, and hopefully many more progressive Afghan conferences to come...

You go, girl.

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