Wellington Speakers
Boris van Beusekom - Human Rights Network
Des Brough
Former Chair, National Consultative Committee on Disarmament.
Paul Bruce
Paul Bruce has been involved with the Latin human rights issues for over 30 years, through work with CORSO and Amnesty International in the 70s, and in various roles in the Latin America Solidarity Committee based in Wellington. While working in La Paz as a climatologist in 1976 and 77 for the Bolivian Government, Paul lived in Los Barrios and teamed up with community groups and a team of Doctors and agricultural advisors. Paul returned for a further 6 months at intervals over the following 10 years living with miners in Siglo XX and visiting new miner settlements in the lowlands. He researched the impact of the neo-liberal reforms of 1981 and human rights abuses, and interviewed officials connected with the US Drug Enforcement Agency interventions in Bolivia and connections to the contragate scandals involving the carriage of cocaine to the USA, publishing articles in the Listener and
several daily newspapers.
Andrew Campbell
Andrew Campbell is the Lead Organiser for Finsec, the Finance Sector Union, in the Wellington region. He has a background in student activism and was the Co-President of the New Zealand University Students' Association for two years prior to becoming a union organiser. Andrew has an interest in developing international union cooperation in order to take on trans-national corporations by improving workers rights globally.
Gordon Campbell - Journalist
David Capie
David Capie is a Lecturer in International Relations. His research interests focus on international relations theory and conflict and security issues, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region. His areas of specialization include regional security in Southeast Asia, small arms and light weapons, and armed groups. David's books include The Asia-Pacific Security Lexicon (with Paul M. Evans) and Under the Gun: The Small Arms Challenge in the Pacific (Victoria University Press, Wellington, 2003.
Helder da Costa – VSA
Brian Easton
Brian Easton is an independent scholar who researches, writes, works as a consultant and teaches in economic, social statistics, public policy and New Zealand Studies.
Andrew Gibbs
Andrew Gibbs has been involved as a community advocate/researcher seeking recognition & healthcare for the Paritutu community exposed to Vietnam levels Dioxins linked to 24D/245T (AKA Agent Orange); also raising public awareness of New Zealand’s historic food chain exposure to the same Dioxins & subsequent health effects; and lobbying the NZ government to refocus & seek redress from DOW for damage, as opposed to shielding DOW from its responsibilities.
Dean Hapeta
Dean Hapeta, of Ngati Huia and Ngati Raukawa/Toa/Te Atiawa, is a musician, writer, film and video producer, director, and editor. He first started his career in Wellington band, Upper Hutt Posses with the song "E Tu" and has since laid the groundwork for some of the best local music of the past decade.
Jose Herrera
Edwina Hughes
Edwina is Coordinator of Peace Movement Aotearoa, the national networking peace organisation, and Co-Convener of the International Working Group on Demilitarisation and Disarmament, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom. Her particular interest is in decolonisation and demilitarisation and how international human rights law can be used to progress this.
Paul Hunt
In 1998, Paul Hunt - a national of New Zealand - was elected by the UN to serve as an independent expert on the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1999-2002). Between 2001-2, at the request of Mary Robinson, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, he co-authored draft Guidelines on Human Rights Approaches to Poverty Reduction.
In 2002, he was appointed UN Special Rapporteur on the right to health -- the first appointment to this new human rights mechanism. As Special Rapporteur, he endeavours to help States, and other actors, to better promote and protect the right to health. In his work, he has chosen to focus in particular on poverty, discrimination and the right to health. An independent expert, he undertakes country missions and reports to the UN General Assembly and UN Commission on Human Rights.
Dr Rachel Kumar
Rachel Simon-Kumar has researched, taught and published in the field of development and rights. Her particular interests are in the gender dimensions of human rights. She currently works in government and lectures part-time at Victoria University.
Victoria Mason
Victoria Mason lectures in Human Rights in the School of History, Philosophy, Political Science and International Relations at Victoria University. She has previously taught at Curtin, Melbourne and Monash Universities in Australia. Her major teaching and research areas are the politics and history of the Middle East and South Africa and human rights. Her most recent publications examine the treatment of Muslims in Australia, Britain and New Zealand, particularly in the post 9/11 environment.
Rev Dr Michael McCabe
Director of The Nathaniel Centre (The New Zealand Catholic Bioethics Centre)and Parish Priest of Saint Joseph’s Mount Victoria.
Dennis McKinlay - Director, Unicef
Angela Meyer - Speakers’ Panel Facilitator
Val Morse
Valerie Morse is a Wellington based peace activist, American dissident and
anarchist. She is a member of Peace Action Wellington and works to
mobilise resistance to the US occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan, as well
as on wider issues relating to New Zealand's militarisation and weapons
production.
Andrew Murray
Andrew Murray, of Fertility Associates, is a Fellow of the Royal Australia and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, having originally trained in New Zealand. Andrew is a member of the academic staff at Wellington School of Medicine, University of Otago and is one of the Consultant Obstetricians and Gynaecologists at Capital and Coast Health, Wellington Hospital. Andrew’s private practice is based at Fertility Associates rooms at Wellington where he sees obstetric, gynaecology and infertility patients.
Bernard Narakobi - High Commissioner, Papua New Guinea High Commission
Carol Nelson
Carol Nelson is a Trustee of the Human Rights Network. She works in international development, both within New Zealand and in the Pacific region. Her field work is primarily with women's organisations and takes her to Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea. In 2001 she worked for the UN on the first free election in Timor Leste (East Timor).
Jeremy Randerson – Speakers’ Panel Facilitator
Guy Redding – NZ AID
Robert Reid - UNITE
Verica Rupar
Verica Rupar teaches journalism and diversity reporting at Victoria University of Wellington. She has worked as a reporter, editor, and foreign correspondent in Serbia, Slovenia, Hungary and New Zealand.
Alan Samson
Alan Samson's responsibilities lie mainly with the internal Graduate Diploma in Journalism and various extramural and internal papers within the Graduate Diploma in Applied Journalism, also offered as part of the Bachelor of Communications. He teaches (among others) Media Law and Ethics.
Lewis Scott
Lewis Scott is an American-born fiction writer, anthologist and jazz poet whose work has been heavily influenced by the sound of both jazz music and the black church. Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Gwendolyn Brooks describes Scott's work as "exquisite, distinct, definitely unique poetry," while Bruce Mason calls it "haunting and disturbing."
Michael Smith
Mike has been Director of Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand since November 2004. Prior to that Mike was Chief Financial Officer of the NZ Red Cross. Mike has both a personal and a professional interest in human rights issues. Caritas, the Catholic agency for Justice Peace and Development is involved in justice and human rights issues both within NZ and an international context. Caritas is sponsoring the film “Lost Children” which looks at the rehabilitation of child soldiers in Northern Uganda.
Elizabeth Stanley
Lizzy is a Lecturer in Criminology at Victoria University of Wellington. She researches and teaches in the areas of state crime, human rights and transitional justice. Over the last few years, her research has focused on the 'truth' and 'justice' mechanisms established in Timor-Leste and how torture victims in the region have experienced the transition to democracy.
Imon Star – AKA Olmecha Supreme
¨olmecha supreme¨ is imonstar/murk108 of nuvonesia/rhombus accord. as a worldsmythe/musician poet and self styled sonic anthropologist he has won some acclaim in the form of accolades for his mpc battling skills, the combined efforts of aaron beck (www.apbworks.co.nz) in visualizing the sonic playground, and his mc production work with wellington, new zealand dub and bass outfit rhombus (www.rhombus.co.nz).
Ced Simpson
Ced Simpson has been the director of Amnesty International's New Zealand section since 1997. After joining AI as a member in 1980 he held various leadership positions in Australia, before moving to London to manage the movement’s global development program 1988-93. He has led AI delegations to APEC and Commonwealth Heads of Government Meetings and has been the Chair of Amnesty’s International Directors Forum. He is currently Convenor of the Association of Commonwealth Amnesty International Sections, Convenor of the Human Rights Network of New Zealand Trust, a Life Member of the Human Rights Foundation of New Zealand, and a member of the New Zealand Human Rights Commission's Advisory Council for the national Action Plan for Human Rights.
Stephen Tollestrup - Director, Tear Fund NZ
Peter Watson
Peter Watson has been involved in human rights and peace issues since he was a teenager in the 60's. His major current involvement is as National Secretary of Peace Brigades International Aotearoa/NZ.
Terence Wood
Terence Wood works for both Victoria University and Dev-Zone (a Wellington based NGO). As part of his work at Victoria, Terence takes a tutorial on the Narmada Dam project; while Dev-Zone stocks a variety of resources on the Narmada Dam, dam projects in general, and human rights issues.
|
