Najarian Lecture on Human Rights at Faneuil Hall
Endowed by the K.George and Dr. Carolann S. Najarian, the purpose of the Najarian Lecture on Human Rights at Faneuil Hall, offered in collaboration with academic institutions and human rights organizations, is to advance understanding of human rights issues and societal abuses worldwide and to increase awareness of the work of individuals and organization so that we are more actively engaged.
The setting is in tribute to the New England women and men - intellectuals, politicians, diplomats, religious leaders and ordinary citizens - who in the beginning of the 1890's at Faneuil Hall, heard eyewitness accounts of the atrocities taking place against the Armenian minority of the Ottoman Empire during the First World War and spoke passionately about the urgent need for intervention. Philanthropists nationwide raised over one hundred million in aid. This was America's first human rights movement.
Topics & Speakers:
2018 Incarceration: Untangling the Web of Injustice
Cherise Fannon Burden, Chief Executive Officer, Pretrial Justice Institute; Marc A. Levin, Vice President of Criminal Justice, Texas Public Policy Foundation & Right on Crime; Middlesex Sheriff Peter J. Koutoujian, President, Massachusetts Sheriffs' Association; Founding Member, Law Enforcement Leaders to Reduce Crime & Incarceration. Video
2016 Justice and Equality: Inspiring Activism
Harry Belafonte social activist and entertainer. Introduced by Roger Brown, President, Berklee College of Music. Video
2015 Call to Action: Then & Now
Peter Balakian, author, The Burning Tigris; Joyce Van Dyke's Friends of Armenia (commissioned for the lecture); Sarah Leah Whitson, Executive Director, Middle East & North Africa Division, Human Rights Watch Video
2014 Truth to Action: Media Freedom - Protecting Human Rights
Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh; Courtney Radsch, Advocacy Director, Committee to Protect Journalists; Ray Suarez, Al Jazeera America; Stephen Kurkjian, former Washington Bureau Chief and founding member, Investigative Spotlight Team, The Boston Globe; Thomas Mucha, Editor, GlobalPost
2013 Slavery and Human Trafficking
Siddarth Kara, Director of the Program on Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University; Cherie Jimenez, founder, EVA Center; Liam Lowney, Executive Director, Mass Office of Victim Assistance; Middlesex Sheriff Peter J. Koutoujian
2012 Immigrant Experience: On the Opening of Armenian Heritage Park
Ambassador Edward P. Djerejian Founding Director, James A. Baker III, Rice University; author, Danger and Opportunity: An Ambassador's Journey Through the Middle East Video
2011 An Ordinary Man
Paul Rusesabagina, Founder/President, The Hotel Rwanda Foundation, author, An Ordinary Man
2010 Inaugural: Speak Truth to Power
Kerry Kennedy, Founder and President, Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights; author, Speak Truth to Power: Human Rights Defenders Who are Changing our World Video
2015 Call to Action, Leo Gozbekian photo
