Last night, I had the opportunity to hear Mary Robinson, the first female president of Ireland speak as part of SPA's Distinguished Speaker Series. I went into the talk only knowing this and wasn't really sure what to expect. I was very impressed by her biography, her extensive work on behalf of human rights, and the young age at which she started. I was also impressed that she spoke for a solid hour without taking a break or drinking water :) But seriously, the amount of work this woman has accomplished in such a short time span is to be commended. She spent the evening telling her story, how she got to the various posts and positions she occupied, all recounted in her memoir that was just released in the US.
She said that she owes her courage to her four brothers. Having to be the only girl in a family of five children would give most a reason to speak up. Her parents were both doctors; she pointed this out several times when explaining that politics were not in her family. After a year in Paris, a gap year her parents asked her to take before joining the nunnery, she decided against the Church and went to law school at Harvard, where things changed. She saw the power of young people standing up to have their voices heard and she was impressed. I want to point out that her family history is important to consider. No there wasn't a history of politics in her family and yes she was the only girl amongst four boys, but she had a privileged life. Her parents were doctors, they encouraged her to do what she desired and supported her with what she wanted, the watched out for her and wanted her to make the best decisions, she was smart enough to get accepted into Harvard Law School--she was a very lucky girl.
I was very impressed when she spoke about her work as the High Commissioner for Human Rights at the UN after 9/11. She talked about how she knew this situation would be very difficult to manage appropriately. She wanted to treat the terrorist attacks as crimes against humanity and charge the offenders as such. However, the language was not "crimes against humanity" it was a "war on terror." Without the definition or any regulations, the US was violating human rights when they went into Afghanistan to search for the offenders to fight a war on terror; President Robinson said that the US would have been in the right if they were trying to bring perpetrators of crimes against humanity to justice. When the US started decreasing their standards for human rights standards, it changed the world culture, other countries would look at the US and be able to justify their lack of respect for human rights, making the High Commissioner's job that much more challenging. It was enlightening to look at the after-effects of 9/11 from an outside perspective.
These are just two of the ideas I took away from Mary Robinson's presentation last night. Overall, I was very impressed with her work and am excited to see what her work on climate justice will do!
She said that she owes her courage to her four brothers. Having to be the only girl in a family of five children would give most a reason to speak up. Her parents were both doctors; she pointed this out several times when explaining that politics were not in her family. After a year in Paris, a gap year her parents asked her to take before joining the nunnery, she decided against the Church and went to law school at Harvard, where things changed. She saw the power of young people standing up to have their voices heard and she was impressed. I want to point out that her family history is important to consider. No there wasn't a history of politics in her family and yes she was the only girl amongst four boys, but she had a privileged life. Her parents were doctors, they encouraged her to do what she desired and supported her with what she wanted, the watched out for her and wanted her to make the best decisions, she was smart enough to get accepted into Harvard Law School--she was a very lucky girl.
I was very impressed when she spoke about her work as the High Commissioner for Human Rights at the UN after 9/11. She talked about how she knew this situation would be very difficult to manage appropriately. She wanted to treat the terrorist attacks as crimes against humanity and charge the offenders as such. However, the language was not "crimes against humanity" it was a "war on terror." Without the definition or any regulations, the US was violating human rights when they went into Afghanistan to search for the offenders to fight a war on terror; President Robinson said that the US would have been in the right if they were trying to bring perpetrators of crimes against humanity to justice. When the US started decreasing their standards for human rights standards, it changed the world culture, other countries would look at the US and be able to justify their lack of respect for human rights, making the High Commissioner's job that much more challenging. It was enlightening to look at the after-effects of 9/11 from an outside perspective.
These are just two of the ideas I took away from Mary Robinson's presentation last night. Overall, I was very impressed with her work and am excited to see what her work on climate justice will do!
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