Human Rights Advocacy Focus of Conference Set for April 1 at Southern Miss

The Center for Human Rights and Civil Liberties at The University of Southern Mississippi will host the 2017 Human Rights Conference Saturday, April 1 from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. The conference, “Human Rights around the Globe,” is free and open to the public and will be held on the first floor of the Liberal Arts Building on the Hattiesburg campus. Refreshments will be served from 11:30 a.m. - noon.

Human rights advocacy is the central theme of the conference, at which several Southern Miss student groups will be featured. Included will be research presentations of issues related to one or more of the 30 articles in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which can be found on the United Nations website, www.un.org.

Keynote speaker Daniel Davis of the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, Ala. will address attendees at noon. The Center, at which Davis is Campus Coordinator, opposes hate and bigotry while seeking justice for the most vulnerable members of society through advocacy.

Southern Miss graduate Blake Feldman, advocacy director of the American Civil Liberties Union based in Jackson, will provide advocacy training. The conference schedule also includes an information and networking fair, breakout sessions and a human rights debate.

“One can expect to learn about various topics on human rights, such as the history of lynching in the South and sex trafficking in the United States,” coordinator Gary McDonald said. “There will also be an opportunity to network with human rights and international student organizations during our human rights fair.”

For more information, contact Gary McDonald at 601.508.6131 or by email at gary.mcdonaldFREEMississippi.