Human Rights

HRI presents a special lunch time conversation on the November 23, 2009 "Maguindanao massacre" with Jessica Evans, who works on the Philippines for the Asia Division of Human Rights Watch. With the May 2010 elections fast approaching, international and domestic awareness of political killings raised by the Maguindanao massacre in which 57 people were killed, and one of the most powerful and abusive families from central Mindanao removed from office, the next six months provides human rights advocates with a unique opportunity to push for systemic reforms to address extrajudicial killings in the Philippines. During this talk, she will look at the underlying causes of the Maguindanao massacre, the failures of the central government that allowed it to occur, and the inadequacy of the central government's response to this mass killing. She will also look at the problem of political killings more broadly in the Philippines and consider the Philippine government's ongoing failure to effectively investigate these killings and prosecute perpetrators.

Prior to joining Human Rights Watch Jessica was a human rights lawyer in Fiji, monitoring human rights violations since the 2006 coup d'état and advocating for accountability and reform. Previously, Jessica has held a range of legal positions in Western Australia. Jessica obtained her BA (Politics and International Relations) and Law degree (Hons.) at Murdoch University in Western Australia. A Fulbright scholar, she obtained her Masters in Law focusing on human rights law at Columbia University. Upon graduation she was awarded the Henkin-Stoffel Human Rights Fellowship.

Pizza lunch will be served.