IACHR
Press Release
IACHR and McGill University co-organize event on Race, Discrimination and Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in North America
November 18, 2013
Washington, D.C. – A Special Forum on Race, Discrimination and Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in North America will be held in Montreal, Canada, November 22 to 23, 2013, co-organized by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and McGill University.
Specifically, on the part of the Commission, the forum is organized by the Office of the Rapporteur on the Rights of Afro-Descendants and the Unit on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, both headed by Commissioner Rose-Marie Antoine. In addition, it was organized with the cooperation of the Labour Law and Development Research Laboratory, a unit within the Faculty of Law at McGill University.
“The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has a special interest in analyzing the intersectionality between race, discrimination and economic, social and cultural rights, in their interplay in the United States and Canada,” Commissioner Antoine said. “Through this forum we will gather crucial information and perspectives on this issue, from some of the experts that have thoroughly studied these issues.”
“We are very thankful to McGill University and to the Labour Law and Development Research Laboratory for their support, which made possible the organization of this event. In my capacity as Rapporteur on the Rights of Afro-Descendants and as Coordinator of the Unit on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, I look forward to the richness of the contributions and the debates of such important issues,” said Commissioner Antoine.
Commissioner Antoine will give the keynote speech under the title “Setting the stage – an overview of race, discrimination and Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in North America.” Other panels will include presentations and discussions on race and the criminal justice system, discrimination against indigenous peoples in North America, race and discrimination in matters of health, housing and education, race discrimination in the workplace, and race and religious accomodation in the workplace. Commissioner José de Jesús Orozco Henríquez, IACHR Chair, and Commissioner Dinah Shelton, IACHR Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, will also take part on the event.
A principal, autonomous body of the Organization of American States (OAS), the IACHR derives its mandate from the OAS Charter and the American Convention on Human Rights. The Inter-American Commission has a mandate to promote respect for human rights in the region and acts as a consultative body to the OAS in this area. The Commission is composed of seven independent members who are elected in an individual capacity by the OAS General Assembly and who do not represent their countries of origin or residence.
No. 88/13