Hawaii lecturer leads national network for UN global review of US human rights record

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Written by Linda Hohnholz

HONOLULU, Hawaii – An historic global review of the United States’ record on human rights will take place on May 11, 2015, at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland.

HONOLULU, Hawaii – An historic global review of the United States’ record on human rights will take place on May 11, 2015, at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland. There, representatives of the 193 UN member states will engage in a dialogue with the Obama administration.

Hawaii Political Science lecturer and human rights advocate Joshua Cooper is the co-chair of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Task Force for the U.S. Human Rights Network, a coalition of over 300 NGOs organized into 20 working groups. Cooper is a lecturer at the University of Hawai’i at Manoa and West O’ahu campuses. As the volunteer director of the Hawai’i Institute for Human Rights, Cooper coordinates 20+ working groups comprised of many of the most recognized human rights organizations in America including; Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the American Civil Liberties Union, the Columbia University Human Rights Institute and New York and Georgetown Universities.

In March of 2015, Cooper coordinated a series of public events/demonstrations during the UN Human Rights Council meeting in Geneva, bringing together representatives of the 20+ working groups to lobby member states and to prepare for the historic May 11th review in Geneva. The working groups are focusing on the closing of Guantanamo Bay detention center, ending torture, ending violence against women in the military, assisting transgender women to ensure equality, creating a national human rights institution, and promoting healthcare, housing & education as fundamental human rights.

Cooper said, “These issues embody the vision of President Franklin Roosevelt as articulated in his January 6, 1941, State of the Union Address to Congress. These four fundamental freedoms are basic human rights that people everywhere in the world ought to enjoy; Freedom of speech, Freedom of worship, Freedom from want and Freedom from fear.”

On March 7, 2015, Cooper was a guest of Selma Alabama’s Mayor George Patrick Evans at the 50th anniversary of “Bloody Sunday” during the commemorative march across the historic Edmund Pettis Bridge with President Barack Obama and U.S. Representative John Lewis. Cooper is following up with other mayors across the country with future events planned in Los Angeles, New York City and Salt Lake City.

The results of the actual May 2015, UN review in Geneva will be included in Cooper’s new course in Ethnic Studies focusing on Race and Rights in America.

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Avatar of Linda Hohnholz

Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

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