[legal-professionals] Amnesty International-USA Legal network meeting (Cincinnati, Feb. 2-29, 2004)

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL LEGAL NETWORK BIANNUAL MEETING & JOAN FITZPATRICK
HUMAN RIGHTS CONFERENCE

I'm pleased to announce that in 2004, the Amnesty International USA Legal
Network's biannual meeting will be held in conjunction with the Joan
Fitzpatrick Human Rights Conference on the weekend of February 27-29 at
the University of Cincinnati Law School.

The late Joan Fitzpatrick was a scholar and advocate who made innumerable
contributions to the advancement of human rights. A long-time member of
Amnesty International, she was one of the founders of the Legal Network in
the US and a member of the movement's policy development committee. For
more information about Joan, please refer to the attached obituary,
written by AI's Secretary General Irene Khan and published in The Guardian
(UK).

The conference will honor Joan by advancing knowledge and coordinated
action on the issues and causes that were dear to her. It will be
co-chaired by Paul Hoffman, Chair of AI's International Executive
Committee, and Bert Lockwood, Director of the Urban Morgan Institute for
Human Rights.

Some of the panel topics include: updates from the litigators involved in
suing torturers and other human rights abusers in US courts, and a related
discussion on the Bush Administration's efforts to eliminate such
remedies; violence against women, and the next steps needed to eradicate
it; the current status of the International Criminal Court, and strategies
for persuading the US government to change course and support it; and
recommendations for action as AI broadens the scope of its work to address
abuses of economic, social and cultural rights.

The conference will bring together an extraordinary group of legal
scholars and activists to honor and carry forward the work of an
extraordinary individual. If you would like to receive further information
about the conference as it becomes available, please send a "send me
updates about the Joan Fitzpatrick conference" message to
<legal@aiusa.org>.