The Distinguished Speakers Board and Cultural Events Board, in conjunction with CU Student Government, are collaborating with the Human Rights Foundation to bring the College Freedom Forum to campus on March 11, from 7-9 p.m. in the UMC鈥檚 Glenn Miller Ballroom. The event is free and open to the public and will feature four, TED-style talks from human rights activists from China, North Korea, Uganda and Bahrain. Doors are scheduled to open at 6:30. The talks will be followed by a Q&A session. Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis.
The event's speakers:
Park Sang Hak defected from North Korea in 1999 and is now a democracy activist. He is the chairman of Fighters for a Free North Korea, an organization that launches balloons containing human rights and pro-democracy literature into North Korea. He is also a member of the Democracy Network Against the North Korean Gulag and the Exile Committee for North Korean Democracy.
Kasha N. Jacqueline, a Ugandan lesbian and LGBTI activist, is the founder of Freedom and Roam Uganda (FARUG), an organization that offers refuge to members of the LGBTI community. Jacqueline has described the situation presently occurring in her country as a movement that threatens anyone labeled as a homosexual with imprisonment, exile or death.
Chen Guangcheng is a blind Chinese civil rights activist and self-taught legal worker.听 After bringing a lawsuit against Chinese authorities for excessive enforcement of the country鈥檚 one-child policy, he was sentenced to house arrest.听 In 2012, he escaped and fled to the U.S. Embassy in Beijing.听 He now lives with his family in the U.S. and is a visiting scholar at the New York University School of Law.
Maryam Al-Khawaja relates the stories of individuals who, in their desire for freedom, have been targeted by the Bahraini government as terrorists. Al-Khawaja is featured in the film, "We Are the Giant," which is part of the Sundance Film Festival.
For more information about the event or to make any special accommodations, please email either dsbchair@gmail.com听辞谤听spakers.coordinator.ceb@gmail.com.