[psych-hr] Continuing the Discussion on Psychology and Human Rights

Greetings and a very happy third millennium to all!

I realize it's been a long time since you have heard from me or received any 
communications.  My apologies.  I was out of the country several times last 
Fall and then Anne Anderson and I, in consultation with Frank Elbers who has 
been helping us since the beginning, have done a lot of thinking about where 
to go with this discussion. 

This e-mail lays out the decisions we have reached.  They are summarized 
below and outlined in more detail at the end of this e-mail:

-- We will open up the discussion to a much larger group of individuals, 
including not only psychologists but human rights activists and others who 
are interested in the topic of psychology and human rights.
--  We will encourage participants to use the listserv as a means of 
exchanging ideas and information and, as appropriate, garner support for 
local policy initiatives in their own countries on the topic of psychology 
and human rights.
-- The listserv may also be used to share announcements regarding 
conferences/resources available that are related to the theme of psychology 
and human rights
--  We may, as the interest/need arises, enter into an extended discussion on 
a topic of interest to members of the group
--  I, as moderator, will be responsible for screening incoming e-mails and 
deciding which should go out on the listserv.
--  I will also periodically "take stock" of the discussion and summarize 
what we have learned, addressed.
--  All interchanges will be posted on our home page for review at any time

One important caveat: I want to emphasize that, with this reorientation and 
opening up of the listserv, we are talking about an exchange of ideas and 
information. This llist serve is NOT to be used to have psychologists prescribe 
courses courses of action.  This would be an inappropriate use of this 
listserv, given that to prescribe a course of action the psychologist(s) would 
have to have more in depth knowledge of the situation than could possibly be 
communicated over the internet.

I look forward to hearing your reactions to what we are now proposing  If I 
hear nothing from you I will assume you are in agreement with what is 
outlined above and would like to remain on the listserv.  If you want me to 
remove you from the listserv because what we are proposing does not interest 
you (which I hope is not the case), please let me know.
 
Warm regards to all,
 
Marcy Bernbaum 

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

MORE DETAIL ON EACH OF THE POINTS SUMMARIZED ABOVE:

1.  WE WILL OPEN UP THE DISCUSSION TO A MUCH LARGER GROUP OF INDIVIDUALS.  
 
As of August of this year we had 20 excellent people on the listserv.  
However, you are all busy and not always able to participate, even if you may 
in principal want to.  To keep a lively interchange going we have, therefore, 
decided to open the discussion to individuals interested in the topic of 
dealing with human rights violations from a psychological perspective in 
conflict/post-conflict societies. They may well be psychologists but they 
also may be human rights activists and/or others interested in the topic.  
Frank has offered to connect us with other listservs in the human rights 
arena in order to invite others to join. We hope to eventually enroll a 
minimum of 200-300 people.  Needless to say, we encourage each and every one 
of you to invite others that you know, and think would be interested, to join 
the discussion.
 
 2.  WE WILL ENCOURAGE PARTICIPANTS TO USE THE LISTSERV AS A MEANS OF 
EXCHANGING IDEAS AND INFORMATION, AS APPROPRIATE GARNER SUPPORT FOR LOCAL 
POLICY INITIATIVES IN THEIR OWN COUNTRIES ON THE TOPIC OF PSYCHOLOGY AND 
HUMAN RIGHTS.  
 
 --  A number of you, as psychologists, are already working in the human 
rights arena.  You may want to use this discussion to exchange ideas and 
information with other psychologists around the world on thorny 
issues/challenges that arise in your work to see if others have had similar 
challenges and what they propose based on their experience. 
 
 --  Similarly, some individuals who join the group (example, a human rights 
activist working with an NGO) may want to present experiences on a thorny 
issue where psychological perspectives on the human rights arena might be 
very helpful.
 
 --  In addition, a psychologist (or another person) may be working with 
others in his/her country to promote a policy reform of some type related to 
human rights where information and diverse perspectives from individuals 
around the world --especially psychologists working in human rights--might be 
helpful.

 3. THE LISTSERV MAY ALSO BE USED TO SHARE ANNOUNCEMENTS REGARDING 
CONFERENCES/RESOURCES AVAILABLE THAT ARE RELATED TO THE THEME OF PSYCHOLOGY 
AND HUMAN RIGHTS
 
Periodically opportunities arise to share this type of information. When they 
do, I as moderator, will be happy to post the announcement(s) on the 
listserv. 
 
4.  WE MAY, AS THE INTEREST/NEED ARISES, ENTER INTO AN EXTENDED DISCUSSION ON 
A TOPIC OF INTEREST TO SEVERAL IN THE GROUP.  
 
 As we do this, the discussion will have its own special identification.  In 
other words, you would see [psych-hr] followed by a specific topic. This 
would identify the discussion so that you can follow it, if you choose to do 
so.
 
 5.  I, AS MODERATOR, WILL BE RESPONSIBLE FOR SCREENING INCOMING E-MAILS AND 
DECIDING WHICH SHOULD GO OUT ON THE LISTSERV. 
 
 If, for example, someone comes in wanting to share the latest information on 
human rights violations in a given country (which does not full under this 
discussion group), I will go back to the person and indicate this is not the 
right group for posting this e-mail.  I would probably add that, if the 
individual had something he/she wanted to share on the rights violations in 
that country that had to do with the specific topic of the discussion group, 
he/she would be welcome to send a revised e-mail and I would post it.  
 
 6.  I, AS MODERATOR, WILL PERIODICALLY "TAKE STOCK" OF THE DISCUSSION AND 
SUMMARIZE WHAT WE HAVE DONE/ADDRESSED.  
 
 Depending on the amount of e-mail traffick, I would do this once every month 
or two or three. This will give people who are enrolled in the listserv a 
chance to see what has been discussed and, if they missed something they are 
interested in, they can go to our home page to find the discussion.
 
 7.  FINALLY, ALL INTERCHANGES WILL BE POSTED ON OUR HOME PAGE FOR REVIEW AT 
ANY TIME.
 
 Frank Elbers has updated our home page to a very interactive mode.  I 
encourage all of you that have the capacity to do so, to go take a look at 
the home page. It's very impressive. You can now go in and do a search by 
topic of interest. The  link by the way, is 
http://www.hrea.org/lists/psychology-humanrights-l/