ND Law School presents panel on women’s rights

By EMMA VALES news writer

notre dame law school presented a panel discussion Thursday morning titled “protecting a ll women’s r ights in the developing world” in the eck hall of law, co-sponsored by the Klau institute for civil and human rights, nd law’s international human rights society, women’s legal Forum, black law students association, hispanic law student association and middle eastern law students association. prior to the start of the event, the hallway outside of the lecture hall where the discussion took place was lined with informative posters made by individual members of the ll m international human rights law class of 2023, providing opportunities to learn of women’s rights in situations across the developing world in the middle east.

The discussion highlighted the Taliban’s war against women and girls in a fghanistan. The panel featured speakers including commissioner margarette macauley of the inter-a merican commission on human rights,

Tahmina sobat ‘20 ll m., and roqia samim ‘22 ll m., as well as discussant christine venter, director of the legal writing program at notre dame law school and closing remarks by Jennifer mason mcaward, law school professor and director of the Klau institute for civil and human rights. The discussion was moderated by diane desierto, global affairs professor and faculty director of notre dame law school ll m program in international human rights law.

By CATHY DOHERTY news writer

a t the end of last semester, s aint m ary’s campus leaders announced changes to students’ meal plans: m eal swipes can no longer be used for snack items in the g rabn - g o, and students will have the opportunity to buy additional flex points.

o n d ec. 13, g loria Jenkins, dean of students, sent an email to all s aint m ary’s students regarding meal plan changes that would be occurring starting in the spring semester. The email highlighted changes being made to flex points and the g rab- n - g o program. p rior to this semester, students were unable to add more flex points to their account if they ran out. Jenkins announced in her email that for one week in the semester, students will have the opportunity to purchase more

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“Unruly Catholic Feminists” Stapleton Lounge macaulay was the first to speak on the panel. in addition to being the current Jamaica commissioner of the inter-a merican commission on human rights, she was also formerly a judge on the intera merican court of human rights and is the organization of a merican states (oas) special rapporteur on Persons of a frican descent and against racial discrimination. macaulay passionately spoke about how “women’s rights are the future of human life,” because women quite literally are the ones who carry the future of human life inside of them. The women in a fghanistan are victims of receiving less education than men and are unable to hold the same positions of power as the a fghan men. she stated that she “blames the men” for the issues of women’s inequality in a fghanistan, as they are the ones who hold the power to sustain real change. macaulay’s call to action was that “we have to do something on an equitable basis” to create change. next to speak on the panel was notre dame LL.m. 2020 graduate Tahmina sobat. sobat is now a doctoral candidate at the roqia samim, a notre dame 2022 LL.m. graduate, was next to speak on the panel. samim is the first Global human rights Fellow at the notre dame Law school LL.m. program in international human rights Law, and she was formerly with the United nations mission to a fghanistan. she presented several devastating pictures and videos that demonstrated the harsh ways that a fghan girls are treated behind closed doors of a fghan universities, as well as how the a fghan girls work to protest and rage against the Taliban. she ended with the important call to action that “ignoring a fghanistan is not a solution,” but rather, “there is a dire need to act against this deep and widespread discrimination based on gender in a fghanistan,” she said. closing remarks were delivered by law school professor christine venter followed by mason mcaward. venter acknowledged that it is easy to be overwhelmed by all of the struggles that the a fghan girls and women face, but “the struggle continues, and we can say that we are choosing hope,” she said. mason mcaward left the audience with an important question regarding the way that notre dame students and faculty will grapple with the questions regarding women’s rights issues that all three of the speakers addressed.

5 p.m. - 6 p.m.

Professors discuss prose, poetry and faith.

University of minnesota and was formerly with the a fghanistan independent human rights commission. sobat was very enthusiastic to return to campus, and recently wrote a letter calling for a fghan women’s protections from the United nations human rights system that was featured by the special report for human rights defenders.

The main question that she addressed was asking how we can achieve some kind of transnational solidarity despite the bad experiences of attempts at transnational solidarity that have resulted in war.

“Transnational solidarity can happen in a situation where we should be aware of the inequalities of power, the relations of power and these spaces of solidarity should take the projects of imperialism, colonialism and settler colonialism seriously,” she said.

“how will those questions form you into a graduate of notre dame who does something as a citizen, as a voter, as an advocate to advance the rights of women around our globe?” she asked.

Contact Emma Vales at evales@nd.edu