News:

The Center for Human Rights and International Justice was featured in the most recent version of the Association of Jesuit Colleges & Universities' (AJCU) online newsletter, Connections. Read the article here.

Kevin Ahern, a Theology Ph.D student and participant in the Center's human rights seminar,  traveled to Vatican City to take part in the Forum of Catholic NGO's. Kevin was invited to present an overview of the reality of Catholic NGOs working at the United Nations. He was also asked to present the 87 diverse organizations including Jesuit Refugee Service and Catholic Relief Services to Pope Benedict XVI. Read Kevin's presentation here.  

Professor Daniel Kanstroom is quoted in a recent New York Times article, "Immigrant Workers Caught in Net Cast for Gangs" which describes how in a recent raid meant to be part of a crackdown on immigrant gangs, 10 of the 11 men arrested had no gang ties.

Catholic U. and the common good Commitment to the common good should have both intellectual and social impact on Catholic universities, says BC theologian Rev. David Hollenbach, SJ, who recently delivered an address on the subject.

"Two Misunderstandings About Immigration" Kanstroom Op-Ed appears on History News Network

Prof. Daniel Kanstroom Quoted in the Financial Times.

“No Need for a Warrant, You’re an Immigrant.” Prof. Daniel Kanstroom is quoted extensively in the New York Times on the lack of legal protections for the human rights of immigrants in the U.S. 

Kanstroom wins BC Law Faculty Pro Bono Award Professor Daniel Kanstroom was announced as the Boston College Law School 2007 Faculty Pro Bono Award winner at the event for his work in immigration and human rights. The Faculty Pro Bono award is given annually to a member of the faculty who best exemplifies the Jesuit tradition of service to others and who leads students by example to participate in law-related pro bono work.

M. Brinton Lykes, PhD, has been awarded the 2007 Marion Langer Award for distinction in social advocacy and the pursuit of human rights. She is being honored for her "innovative scholarship and humanitarian work in development of a psychology of liberation".

Mary Holper and BCIAP receive award for deportation defense work in New Bedford

Kanstroom Hosts Brazilian Delegation Director of the Law School’s International Human Rights Program and Associate Director of the Center hosted the delegation of visiting professors of law and social science, prosecutors, and human rights practitioners.

New Surge in War Against Immigrants  Director of the Center, Daniel Kanstroom, was featured in a recent radio broadcast discussing the state and federal immigration policies undertaken within the last year.

Lessons from the Wounded Edge Director of the Center, David Hollenbach, S.J., reported on the grassroots Church-based initiatives that are helping to transform Colombia from a troubled country into a school for peace in the August 11, 2007 issue of The Tablet.

Hafner Named Vice Provost for Undergraduate Academic Affairs Associate Director of the Center Donald Hafner, who has played a key role in building Boston College's successful fellowships program, was appointed as the University's inaugural Vice Provost for Undergraduate Affairs.

Senseless Deportations: Rachel Rosenbloom, supervising attorney for the Center's Post-Deportation Human Rights Project, published an op-ed piece in the March 25, 2007 edition of Washington Post discussing the U.S.' harsh deportation system.

Deportation Nation Outsiders in American History Associate Director of the Center, Daniel Kanstroom, has published a book on deportation and immigration law in the U.S.

More Than One Way of Dying: The Living Conditions of Forcibly Displaced People Violate Human Rights Director of the Center, Prof. David Hollenbach, S.J. published an article in the January 15, 2007 issue of America.

Kanstroom to Appear on Broadway The BC Law Professor and Associate Director of the Center made his debut in January in Conversations with Shakespeare, discussing themes of “Deportation, Exile and Banishment.”

Kanstroom Releases New CD The Center’s Associate Director and BC Law professor's "Moving Targets" contains new tracks as well as covers of various artists

Speakers:

John Prendergast: Ending the Crises in Darfur and Northern Uganda

Films:

Events:

December 4, 2007—Guatemalan Youth, Migration, and Return Ricardo Falla, S.J., a Guatemalan Jesuit anthropologist, and Ana Gutierrez Castro, a Guatemalan educator and researcher, delivered a bilingual presentation regarding Guatemalan youth identity and migration patterns between Guatemala and the U.S.  Read more here.

October 10, 2007 -- When the Sahara was Green
Farouk El-Baz, Director of the Boston University Center for Remote Sensing, delivered a lecture about the underground lake discovered in Sudan's Darfur region which could help end the conflict in the arid region. Read more here.

September 12, 2007—Nation of Immigrants or Deportation Nation?
Julia Preston, Pulitzer Prize-winning correspondent for the New York Times, joined Center Associate Director Daniel Kanstroom in a panel presentation on the effects of immigration laws related to deportation of non-citizen immigrants in the U.S.  Drawing upon her extensive experience in Latin America and in covering immigration issues in the U.S., Ms. Preston depicted the stories behind the harsh legal system described by Prof. Kanstroom.  Read more here.

April 25, 2007—Women as Warriors: Our Lives as Migrant Women                              Featuring photography by Latin American immigrant women living in New York City, this event was coordinated in conjunction with the Center for Immigrant Families, a collective of low-income immigrant women of color and community members in New York City committed to community organizing. The exhibit was part of an evening honoring slain Jesuit and Salvadoran social psychologist Ignacio Martín Baró, S.J.  The Ignacio Martín Baró Fund for Mental Health and Human Rights presented the award posthumously.  Read an article from Boston College’s The Heights newspaper here.

March 28, 2007 - Nightwind: A Colombian Reality                                             Combining theater with psychology and political protest, Hector Aristizábal embodies his story of arrest and torture at the hands of the Colombian military in a sparse, stark one-man dramatic presentation performance, Nightwind: A Colombian Reality. Nightwind was brought to the Bonn Studio at Boston College by the school’s Contemporary Theater group, with co-sponsorship by the Latin American Studies Program, the Counseling Psychology Program at the Lynch School of Education, and the Center for Human Rightes and International Justice. For more information, visit his website at www.imaginAction.org. Read more here.

February 27, 2007 - Communities Confronting Globalization
Manuel Mendez Guzman, a member of the Red de Defensores Comunitarios por los Derechos Humanos engaged in conversation with an overflowing crowd of students, professors, and community members about his work advocating for victims of human rights abuses in the rural Mexican state of Chiapas. Guzman explained that the objective of his travels to American universities is to raise awareness about the plight of the Chiapas indigenous community. The lecture was co-sponsored by the International Studies Program, the Latin American Studies Program, the Globalization and Inequality Series, and the Film Program. Read more here.

February 22, 2007 – Exhumations and Mental Health Issues in the Accompaniment of Families of the Missing in Latin America
Dr. Carlos Martín Beristain, a Spanish physician and psychologist with extensive experience accompanying communities in their recovery from mass violations of human rights, presented his alternative ideas for social reconstruction in the areas of prevention, care of victims, collective memory, and respect for human rights. Dr. Beristain teaches in the masters program in International Humanitarian Assistance at the Pedro Arrupe Institute of Human Rights at the University of Deusto, Bilbao, Spain. Read more here.

Conversations at Lunch:

November 9, 2007 - Kristin Butcher, Ph.D., Wellesley College
Dr. Kristin Butcher, Ph.D., is an economist, and a specialist in the economics of migration. Read more here.

October 12, 2007--Dr. Richard F. Mollica, Harvard Program in Refugee Trauma Richard F. Mollica, M.D., is Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School Professor, Director of the Harvard Program in Refugee Trauma, and author of Healing Invisible Wounds: Paths to Hope and Recovery in a Violent World.  Read more here.

March 23, 2007 - Dr. Michael Grodin, Boston University
The Center for Human Rights and International Justice hosted at Conversations at Lunch Dr. Michael Grodin, Co-Director of the Boston Center for Refugee Health and Human Rights at Boston Medical Center, which is a multidisciplinary center that provides services for refugees and survivors of torture and related trauma. Dr. Grodin is also a Professor of Health Law, Bioethics & Human Rights Health Law, Bioethics & Human Rights at Boston University School of Public Health. Read more here.

February 23, 2007 - Dr. Carlos Martín Beristain and Dr. Arancha García del Soto          
Dr. Carlos Martín Beristain, M.D., is a physician and psychologist who teaches in the masters program in International Humanitarian Assistance at the Pedro Arrupe Institute of Human Rights at the University of Deusto, Bilbao, Spain.  Dr. Arancha García del Soto, Ph.D., a psychologist, is Helen Hamlyn Senior Fellow at the Institute of International Humanitarian Affairs at Fordham University. Read more here.

February 16, 2007 –Dr. Jennifer Leaning, Harvard University
Jennifer Leaning, M.D., S.M.H. is Professor of the Practice of International Health at Harvard School of Public Health, Co-Director of the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, Director of the Inter-University Initiative on Humanitarian Studies and Field Practice, a Senior Advisor in International and Policy Studies at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, and an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Read more here.

January 19, 2007 – Nina Siulc, Vera Institute of Justice
Ms. Siulc is the Director of Research at the Center on Immigration and Justice at the Vera Institute in New York City. Her current projects include a national evaluation of the Legal Orientation Program, research on unaccompanied children, and design of a new data collection instrument to assess the extent of human trafficking in New York City. Read more here.