NAFSA Observes Human Rights Day

Human Rights Day is recognized each year on December 10. The United Nations (UN) General Assembly declared this day as one devoted to the recognizing the “inalienable rights which everyone is inherently entitled to as a human being -- regardless of race, colour, religion, sex, language, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status”. In 2018, we celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This six-page document is the most translated document in the world, and it is available in more than 500 languages and dialects.

The Declaration of Human Rights proclaims the right to equal dignity and worth of every person. It is intended to empower everyone. And it directs us to stand up for our own rights, as well as the rights of others. NAFSA supports the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

To learn more, download the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

NAFSA Worldview Shares Powerful Stories in Support of Human Rights

NAFSA was honored to host numerous human rights advocates at its Annual Conference & Expo held in Philadelphia. We are pleased that we have the opportunity to share special conversations with three of these distinguished guests.

Moustafa Bayoumi, PhD

Moustafa Bayoumi, PhD, is the author of the critically acclaimed How Does It Feel To Be a Problem?: Being Young and Arab in America, which won an American Book Award and the Arab American Book Award for Non-Fiction. The book has also been translated into Arabic by Arab Scientific Publishers. His latest book, This Muslim American Life: Dispatches from the War on Terror, was chosen as a Best Book of 2015 by The Progressive magazine and was also awarded the Arab American Book Award for Non-Fiction.

In our NAFSA Worldview interview, Bayoumi shares his views on Muslim American race relations.

Doris H. Gray, PhD

Doris H. Gray, PhD, is the director of the Hillary Clinton Center for Women’s Empowerment at Al Akhawayn University in Ifrane, Morocco. She also serves as professor of gender studies in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences. She is the author of three books: Women and Social Change in North Africa: What counts as revolutionary?, Beyond Feminism and Islamism: Gender and Equality in North Africa, and Muslim Women on the Move. She is a recognized international speaker on gender and women’s rights issues in North Africa.

In our NAFSA Worldview interview, Gray shares her views on global women’s empowerment and social change in North Africa.

Emma Sky, OBE

Emma Sky is currently director of the Yale University World Fellows program and a senior fellow at Yale's Jackson Institute for Global Affairs, where she lectures on Iraq and Middle East politics. From 2007 to 2010, she served in Iraq as the political adviser to U.S. Army General Ray Odierno, and as the governorate coordinator of Kirkuk for the Coalition Provisional Authority from 2003 to 2004. Sky was made a member of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2003 and an officer of the Order of the British Empire in 2008 in recognition of her service in Iraq.

In our NAFSA Worldview Interview, Sky shares her views on Middle East relations and conflict resolution.