A Discussion of Peacebuilding, Human Rights & Universality with Alex Neve & Kirsten Van Houten

Wed. Nov. 5 12:30 PM - Wed. Nov. 5 02:00 PM
Contact: global.college@uwinnipeg.ca
Location: Room 3RC060, Richardson College for the Environment and Science Complex

Global College will be hosting Alex Neve and Kirsten Van Houten for “A Discussion of Peacebuilding, Human Rights & Universality.” The event will be held on Wednesday, November 5, at 12:30 pm in Room 3RC060, Richardson College for the Environment and Science Complex. A book signing will follow the talk and books will be available for purchase at the event.

About the Speakers

Alex Neve is a renowned human rights advocate and the former Secretary General of Amnesty International Canada. He has a Masters of International Human Rights Law, With Distinction, from the University of Essex in the United Kingdom and a Bachelor of Laws Degree from Dalhousie University in Canada.

Alex is presently an adjunct professor teaching in the area of international human rights with the law faculties at the University of Ottawa and Dalhousie University, a Senior Fellow at the University of Ottawa’s Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, and a Fellow with the Atlantic Human Rights Centre at St. Thomas University. He is a Barrister and Solicitor, and member of the Law Society of Ontario. Since June 2022 he has been serving as a Commissioner with the Ottawa People’s Commission on the Convoy Occupation.

He has worked extensively for Amnesty International in Canada and globally in a number of different roles. He has served as a Member of Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Board; worked at the Centre for Refugee Studies at York University in Toronto, Canada; been a visiting professor at Osgoode Hall Law School at York University; practiced as a lawyer, primarily in the area of refugee law, in private practice and as staff lawyer with a community legal aid clinic; and was a member of the inaugural staff team that established the Sojourn House shelter for refugee claimants.

Alex has an honorary Doctorate of Laws Degrees from the University of New Brunswick, University of Waterloo and St. Thomas University in Canada. He has served as a Trudeau Foundation Mentor and has been awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal. Alex is an Officer of the Order of Canada.

Kirsten Van Houten

Kirsten Van Houten holds graduate degrees in International Development Studies from the University of Ottawa and Dalhousie University. She also holds a B.A. Combined Honours in Human Rights and Law from Carleton University. She recently completed postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Winnipeg and the University of Guelph and holds adjunct faculty appointments at the University of Guelph and the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs. Her research focuses on the contributions of local actors to peacebuilding and human rights in policy and practice. She is currently the Principal Investigator on a SSHRC Insight Development Grant that explores the contributions of women with disabilities to peacebuilding.

Kirsten also has extensive professional experience working in international development and human rights with Canadian civil society organizations and political parties. Through this work she has collaborated with local peacebuilding, development and human rights leaders in South Africa, Uganda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Philippines and Palestine.

Space is limited- please RSVP to global.college@uwinnipeg.ca to reserve your seat.