The Development Research Institute will host a conference titled “Development without Freedom? Justice, Human Rights, and Foreign Aid in Africa” on Thurs., April 16.

Image: Logos of the Development Research Institute
NYU's Development Research Institute will host a conference titled “Development without Freedom? Justice, Human Rights, and Foreign Aid in Africa” on Thurs., April 16, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at NYU’s Global Center for Academic and Spiritual Life. The conference will be hosted jointly with the Bard College Human Rights Project and the Rift Valley Institute, and is supported by the John Templeton Foundation.

New York University’s Development Research Institute will host a conference titled “Development without Freedom? Justice, Human Rights, and Foreign Aid in Africa” on Thurs., April 16, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at NYU’s Global Center for Academic and Spiritual Life, the Grand Hall, 5th Floor (238 Thompson Street [at Washington Square South]).

The international community provides aid, investment, and general budget support to governments of African countries, but fundamental human rights of individuals in the recipient nations are often dismissed. The conference will explore the consequences of rights abuses for long-term development in Africa, and feature dissenting voices that do not often receive a hearing in international development forums.

Conference speakers will include: Helen Epstein, a visiting professor of human rights and global public health at Bard College; David Pred, co-founder and managing director of Inclusive Development International; Frehiywot Samuel who was Chief Justice of Ethiopia’s SNNPR Supreme Court before leaving the country in 2006; Soleyana Shimeles Gebremichael, co-founder of the “Zone Nine” blogging group in Ethiopia; Stefan Dercon, a development economics professor at the University of Oxford; Jean Ensminger, a professor of social science at CalTech; Godber Tumushabe, associate director of Uganda’s Great Lakes Institute for Strategic Studies; Mareike Schomerus, a research fellow at the London School of Economics; and writer and former UN official Hugh Roberts. For a complete description of sessions and times, please visit the conference web site.

The conference will be hosted jointly with the Bard College Human Rights Project and the Rift Valley Institute, and is supported by the John Templeton Foundation.

The event is free and open to the public, but registration is required. For more information, call 212.992.7491 or email dri@nyu.edu. Reporters wishing to attend must RSVP to Kellie Leeson at dri@nyu.edu or 212.992.7491. Subways: A, B, C, D, E, F, M (West 4th St.).

EDITOR’S NOTE
The Development Research Institute (DRI) is devoted to rigorous, scholarly research on the economic development and growth of poor countries. An independent and non-partisan organization, DRI seeks to expand the number and diversity of serious commentators on the state of foreign aid and development. For more, go to http://nyudri.org/.
 

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