Even though the United Nations drafted a Universal Declaration of Human Rights 60 years ago, major human rights issues still exist around the world, some students and faculty said.
The West campus’ Social Justice and Human Rights Master’s Program and the Light of Hope Institute of Phoenix held a conference Wednesday in the La Sala Ballroom exploring refugee rights.
“The primary purpose [of the conference] was to bring people together so they can begin to discuss human rights issues in local institutions,” said C.T. Wright of the Light of Hope Institute. “We have to eliminate some of the injustices that exist in today’s society.”
One of the few surviving Holocaust victims, Magda Herzberger, presented the keynote speech of the conference.
“I was an eyewitness to the horrible tragedies that happened during the Holocaust,” she said. “I am very grateful to the Almighty that my life was spared so I could talk about the unjust suffering of all of those perished people.”
Herzberger survived internments at four Nazi concentration camps, including Auschwitz.
“Each week, I met the execution squad,” she said. “It was a miracle, truly, that I survived Auschwitz.”
Through lectures, music and poems, Herzberger was able to express the depth of her experiences as a refugee of World War II.
“Through all these many years of my life, I kept my promise to God to keep alive the memory of the Holocaust by relating my experiences through [my work],” she said.
Twice during the conference, the audience broke up into small discussion groups that covered topics ranging from the International Rescue Committee to refugee education.
Political science senior Yasameen Aboozar led a discussion about women and refugee rights in Afghanistan.
Aboozar said there are a number of factors that contribute to the refugee situation in Afghanistan.
“The government is kind of confused right now,” she said. “They don’t have a good policy for trying to fix this situation.”
Because Afghanistan has a simbolic government, in the eyes of other nations and the U.N Afghan men and women do not meet the eligibility for obtaining refugee status, Aboozar said.
Refugee aid money allotted by the U.S. has either never made it into refugees’ hands or it’s not enough, she said.
“The war has been going on for 30 years,” she said. “A lot of Afghanis have been left in the dark.”
Conference attendant and social work senior Becka Wilson is a member of an organization that works with refugee settlement programs.
“This is an important issue to educate people about,” she said. “[Refugees] are very resilient people, and we should keep ground-level perspectives of their situations.”
Reach the reporter at jodi.cisman@asu.edu.
