CURA, ASC Host Talk With Human Rights Watch Executive Director
The Institute on Culture, Religion, and World Affairs (CURA) and the African Studies Center, affiliated centers of the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, hosted a September 13, 2019 talk with Ken Roth, Executive Director of Human Rights Watch, on best practices in human rights research and advocacy.
Roth’s talk was the keynote address of the conference “The Legacy of Alison Des Forges for the Human Rights Movement & Academia.” Alison Des Forges was a historian of Rwanda who became a leading voice for human rights in the context of the 1994 genocide of the Tutsi.
Author of “Leave None to Tell the Story,” a Human Rights Watch report recognized as the definitive account of the genocide, and winner of the MacArthur “Genius” Prize, Des Forges was killed in a plane crash in 2009. The conference honored her legacy by exploring the relationship between human rights research and advocacy.
Boston University’s Institute on Culture, Religion, and World Affairs (CURA) brings together a multi-disciplinary community of scholars to encourage and support research on the role of religion in public affairs. Established in 1985, CURA is the oldest center for the study of religion and world affairs in the United States. Supported by a substantial endowment and grants from funders such as the Henry Luce Foundation, the Templeton Foundation, the Bradley Foundation, the Kroc Institute for International Peace, and the Metanexus Foundation, CURA has sponsored over 140 research projects on five continents that have led to the publication of over 145 books. Learn more about CURA here.
Founded in 1953, the Boston University African Studies Center has provided a strong foundation in African studies to generations of university professors, economists, health workers, government officials, development personnel, diplomats, and numerous others.