Robert F Kennedy Memorial

For Immediate Release March 5th, 2008
Contact: Jeffrey Buchanan 202-463-7575 ext 241
buchanan@rfkmemorial.org

Human Rights Defenders Attend Conference on Right to Identity in the Americas
Rights & Democracy and RFK Memorial Center for Human Rights hosted a conference with American University Washington College of Law Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law on March 7th in Washington, DC. The event featured international defenders from the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Peru and Bolivia and representatives from the United Nations, Organization of American States and Inter-American Development Bank.

Washington, D.C.-- Human rights defenders from across the Americas discussed “The Right to Identity in the Americas and the Role of Civil Society” at a Washington, DC, conference on March 7, 2008, at American University Washington College of Law. The event was co-hosted by Rights & Democracy, the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights (RFK Center), and American University Washington College of Law Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law.

This spring RFK Center and Rights and Democracy will produce a report on the conference's findings.

National identification and civil registration have become heated topics throughout the Americas. Recent elections have brought to light the fact that many citizens do not have access to national legal identity and the proper paperwork to prove their citizenship status. The right to be recognised as a citizen by the state, and to have that state ensure the registration of one’s civil status from birth to death, are minimum guarantees which allow citizens to participate in democracy and claim their international human rights, ranging from due process to access to education.

The Organization of American States, the Inter-American Development Bank and UNICEF have begun seeking solutions and partnerships to promote civil registration. Still citizens’ right to a legal identity is being violated by the state in a number of countries, either by omission or commission. This conference brought together grassroots human rights defenders, members of civil society, and representatives of international organizations to address major issues on the path to helping citizens of the Americas realize their right to identity. The human rights defenders and representatives discussed the role of civil society from a rights-based approach.

Opening Remarks, Dean Claudio Grossman, American University Washington College of Law

Panel 1: Violations of the Right to Identity in the Americas
Moderator: Marselha Gonçalves Margerin, Program Officer, RFK Center

· Roxanna Altholz, Associate Director of the International Human Rights Law Clinic at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law
· Sonia Pierre (Dominican Republic), 2005 RFK Human Rights Award Winner and Director, Movement of Dominican Women of Haitian Descent (MUDHA)
· Colette Lespinasse (Haiti), Coordinator, Support Group for Repatriates and Refugees (GARR)
· Sofia Macher (Peru), Former Commissioner of the Truth and Reconciliation Committee and now Director Institute of Legal Defense (IDL)
· Ramiro Llanas Moscoso (Bolivia), Foro Boliviano de Medio Ambiente y Desarrollo (FOBOMADE) and Centro de Estudios Agropecuarios (CESA)

Panelists TBD representing the Organization of American States, the United Nations, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and Inter-American Development Bank