Womens’s History keynoter at Georgia Southern University focuses on human rights as a public health

February 21, 2008

Dabney Evans, executive director of the Emory University Institute of Human Rights, will be the keynote speaker for Women’s History Month at Georgia Southern University. Her presentation on Tuesday, March 4 at 7 p.m. in the Assembly Hall of Nessmith-Lane Building is free of charge and open to the public.

Evan’s lecture, ‘Without Discrimination: Upholding the Human Rights of Women & Immigrants,” will be unique in that she proposes universal human rights as a public health issue. Evans has worked extensively promoting human rights within the public health arena. Such work includes serving as Medical Education in Cooperation with Cuba (MEDICC) coordinator and collaborating with the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Department of Ethics, Trade, Human Rights and Health Law.

Immediately following the lecture, Evans will lead a discussion workshop personally organized around the human rights and health concerns of Georgia Southern University faculty and students.

“Sometimes it might not be obvious to students why they need to be concerned about human rights,” says Director of the Women’s and Gender Studies Department, Dr. Lori Amy. ‘A lot of us can think that there’s nothing we can do about it. Evans’ research shows us that, in fact, there are things we can do, and, moreover, it costs us more to not do address the human rights and health of our world population than it costs to address them.”

Evans’ lecture is sponsored by the Campus Life Enrichment Committee (CLEC), the Women’s and Gender Studies Program, Jiann-Ping Hsu College of Public Health, and the Center for International Studies.