Summary Remarks from Laura Hebert

Summary Remarks

Laura Hebert Kahane U.N. Program at Occidental College Committee Co-Chair

Beyond offering critical support to the annual cohort of Kahane U.N. Program participants, the generosity of the William and Elizabeth Kahane United Nations Program Endowment has enabled Occidental to bring the United Nations back to our campus. In previous years, we’ve invited distinguished speakers to campus, held artistic performances and created spaces for the Oxy community to consider the local significance of U.N. ideas, norms and values. This has been a most unusual year, however, with the pandemic necessitating the continuation of remote instruction for the duration of the academic year and the suspension of all on-campus activities. Although this required the modification of our traditional “U.N. Week,” the Kahane U.N. Program at Oxy nonetheless organized a series of riveting remote events related to the program’s theme for the year, “Racial and Social Justice in Perilous Times,” as well as events featuring distinguished speakers with long U.N. careers as part of our Kahane United Nations Speaker Series.

The Kahane U.N. Program at Oxy held two events during our modified U.N. Week that engaged the annual theme. Kahane U.N. Program Director Cynthia Rothschild led an event titled “Bringing Progressive Agendas into the U.N. Human Rights System: A Conversation With Changemakers and Rebels.” The event featured Dominique Day, chair of the U.N. Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent and executive director of DAYLIGHT | Rule of Law • Access to Justice • Advocacy; and Victor Madrigal-Borloz, a Costa Rican attorney and U.N. independent expert on sexual orientation and gender identity. Their lively conversation centered on the challenges human rights advocates are confronting today when trying to address issues such as racist policing and the rights of LGBTQI+ people in light of the rise of authoritarian regimes and right-wing nationalism.

The second event, “Experiencing the U.N.: Learning, Unlearning, Relearning,” featured participants from the fall 2020 U.N. Program cohort–always a highlight of U.N. Week. The discussion was moderated by Jacques Fomerand, Kahane U.N. Program assistant director, with the panelists sharing their experiences of working with U.N. missions and agencies, including on issues related to racial and social justice.

A third theme-related event was held a month later, titled “Truth and Accountability Around Racial Justice in Los Angeles: Global Connections.” The event was co-sponsored by the Kahane U.N. Program and the Young Initiative on the Global Political Economy and centered on how local work to achieve accountability for racial injustices could benefit from global efforts to pursue truth and justice. The panel discussion was moderated by Diplomacy and World Affairs Professor Anthony Chase and featured Pablo Abitbol, coordinator of the Grupo Regional de Memoria Histórica in Colombia; Cristián Correa, senior expert with the International Center for Transitional Justice; and Ashley Quarcoo, visiting fellow with the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University.

In addition to racial justice-related events, we were honored to host two distinguished guests as part of the Kahane U.N. Program Speaker Series. Our own Jacques Fomerand gave a wonderful talk titled “To Fix or Not to Fix: Reflecting on the U.N. in Challenging Times.” The event centered on the recently published second edition of his influential book, The Historical Dictionary of Human Rights (Rowman & Littlefield 2021), and drew on his 26 years of working within the U.N. It was delightful to see so many U.N. Program alums join the Zoom event, including Oxy graduates from years ago, which reflects the lasting appreciation Kahane U.N. Program participants have for Jacques’ incredible depth of knowledge of the U.N. and his role as a mentor.

In addition to his own talk, Jacques facilitated an informal conversation with Stéphane Dujarric, the spokesperson for U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres. Dujarric previously served in the same position for SecretariesGeneral Kofi Annan and Ban Ki-moon, as director of news and media for the U.N. Department of Public Information and director of communications for the U.N. Development Program (UNDP). It was a fascinating event that offered invaluable insights not only into Dujarric’s own role within the U.N. but also the histories, priorities and vast responsibilities of the three secretaries-general with whom Dujarric has served.

It was an intellectually engaging spring for the Kahane U.N. Program at Oxy in spite of the limitations created by the pandemic, but we are looking forward to resuming our in-person events on campus next year.

The student Program Assistants (with special thanks to Darla Chavez Chavez) designed an Oxy-at-the-U.N. t-shirt in U.N. blue for the Group of ’20. Director Cynthia Rothschild and Assistant Director Jacques Fomerand model the shirts in these photos.