The prohibition of torture after 9/11? Erosion of basic human rights standards

The recipient of the University of Oslo human rights award for 2005, Theo van Boven, speaks
at the University Oslo, ‘Gamle Festsal’ , Karl Johans gate 47, on January 26th at 1700 hours.

Theo van Boven, former director of the UN Division on Human Rights and later the special rapporteur on torture (among many other tasks) is an outstanding personality in the international institutions for human rights protection.

The award ceremony is open for all interested.
Invitations and program can be obtained at the Norwegian Centre for Human Rights, tel. 22842001.

Earlier in the day – from 12.30 to 14.00 -
an internal seminar with Theo van Boven will be held
at the Norwegian Centre for Human Rights (Universitetsgaten 22-24):

The challenges facing the United Nations human rights procedures

Theo van Bovens remarks will be followed by a discussion.

Human rights are facing challenges we had thought were long since overcome. A quarter century ago, the Argentinian military, claiming to protect national security, were engaged in what was called a ‘dirty war’ against persons they labeled terrorists, and against other oppositional elements. Similar brutality was observed in several other Latin American countries. The rule of law was set aside, persons disappeared or were brutally tortured, maltreated, or liquidated. The United Nations responded by establishing mechanisms to report on and confront torture, disappearances, and extralegal execution.

The violations subsided for some time, but after ‘nine-eleven’ 2001 we have seen troubling reemergence of some of the same challenges. While they do not yet have the same scope and intensity, the warning signals are there and need to be taken seriously. Nobody is better placed to discuss these issues than Professor Theo van Boven (University of Maastricht) who was the United Nations Director of the Division of Human Rights when around the 1980s the mechanisms were initiated to counter disappearances, torture and the other gross violations. Theo van Boven has held many prominent positions in the international human rights bodies, and has been the UN rapporteur against torture until the end of 2004.

NB: This an internal NCHR seminar, but with a limited possibility for others to attend. Interested persons should make inquiries to the NCHR head of information, Christian Boe Astrup (c.b.astrupatnchr.uio.no, replacing“at” with “@”), or by phone: 91690046