Join us at noon ET (UTC -5) on Thursday, Nov. 11, 2021, to take part in a conversation illustrating how and why economic and social rights can and must be implemented during this tumultuous age.
Guests include:
- Radhika Balakrishnan, Professor, Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Rutgers University
- Phil Bloomer, Executive Director, Business & Human Rights Resource Centre
- Salimah Hankins, UN Accountability Coalition
- Karin Ryan, Sr. Advisor for Human Rights, The Carter Center, moderator
The pandemic has revealed and exacerbated global inequalities while the wealthiest few individuals have become even wealthier. Deadly effects of the pandemic have hit Black, Indigenous and People of Color the hardest while incitement of racial animosity and violence is perpetuated by autocratic figures throughout the world. Global economic systems and structures have proven unable to reverse the widening economic gaps between the wealthy and those struggling to survive. The panel will discuss these intersecting crises and propose a human rights approach that can recalibrate policies and the public discourse. This is the time for a fundamental change, especially in terms of how the economy works.
The Carter Center seeks to build on former President Jimmy Carter’s legacy of advancing human rights by addressing these issues as mutually reinforcing--equal economic and social rights, sometimes called “the forgotten rights”, are just as valid and urgent as equal civil and political rights. And until our societies act on these these rights as interdependent, we will not make progress. As President of the United States, Jimmy Carter signed several global human rights treaties, including the Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights and the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. He asserted at that time that human well-being requires that States meet their obligations to work for true equality in all spheres of life. The Carter Center in Atlanta has worked for nearly forty years to realize this vision.
Hello and welcome, please enter questions for the panel here.