BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:icalendar-ruby CALSCALE:GREGORIAN X-WR-CALNAME:Courage Under Fire: Documenting Belarus' Human Rights Crisis X-WR-TIMEZONE:Pacific Time (US & Canada) BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20261014T050923Z UID:tag:localist.com\,2008:EventInstance_34833514453940 DTSTART:20201014T170000Z DTEND:20201014T181500Z DESCRIPTION:The USC Dept. of Political Science and International Relations invites you to its first Politics & Human Rights in Eurasia series event.\ n\nABOUT THIS EVENT\n\nJoin USC POIR and the USC Global Policy Institute f or “Courage Under Fire: Documenting Belarus’ Human Rights Crisis" on W ednesday\, October 14 at 10:00 a.m. PST/1:00 p.m. EST/7 p.m. CET. This web inar and Q&A\, moderated by USC professor Steve Swerdlow\, invites human r ights defenders and journalists to share their observations and experience s from Belarus' frontlines.\n\nThe conversation will be moderated by USC p rofessor Steve Swerdlow.\n\nRegister here to receive the Zoom link — thi s form will also be provided in your confirmation email.\n\n—\n\nFor nea rly two months Belarus has been gripped by unprecedented protests for poli tical change sparked by the August 2020 presidential election of incumbent candidate Aleksandr Lukashenko\, who has ruled Belarus since 1994 with an iron fist. Following widely falsified results at the polls on August 9\, largely peaceful protests have called for free and fair elections and an e nd to Lukashenko’s dictatorial rule. Human rights groups have documented Belarusian security services’ use of excessive and brutal force against protesters\, in addition to the detention of thousands and widespread tor ture in places of detention.\n\nThe European Union and United States have condemned the ongoing violence\, with the Baltic states imposing personal sanctions. Meanwhile\, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Eu rope has initiated the Moscow Mechanism which allows for an international\ , independent investigation of serious human rights abuses.\n\nOur speaker s — Belarus-based journalist and Atlantic Council fellow Hanna Liubakova and Human Rights Watch Russia Program Director Tanya Lokshina —have bee n documenting Belarus’ human rights crisis. They will share their perspe ctives on Belarus’ unprecedented social and political transformation and outline steps the international community and civil society organizations can take to mitigate the violence.\n\n \n\nSpeakers\n\nTanya Lokshina\, a ssociate director for Human Rights Watch’s Europe and Central Asia divis ion\, is based in Moscow. Having joined Human Rights Watch in January 2008 \, Lokshina authored several reports on egregious abuses in Russia’s tur bulent North Caucasus region and co-authored a report on violations of int ernational humanitarian law during the 2008 armed conflict in Georgia. Her recent publications include a range of materials on Russia’s vicious cr ackdown on critics of the government and on violations of international hu manitarian law during the armed conflict in eastern Ukraine. Lokshina is a recipient of the 2006 Andrei Sakharov Award\, “Journalism as an Act of Conscience.” Her articles on human rights issues have been featured in p rominent Russian and foreign media outlets\, including CNN\, the Guardian\ , Le Monde\, the Moscow Times\, Novaya Gazeta\, and the Washington Post. L okshina’s books include Chechnya Inside Out and Imposition of a Fake Pol itical Settlement in the Northern Caucasus. In 2014\, her article on the a busive virtue campaign against women in Chechnya was published in Chechnya at War and Beyond (Routledge Contemporary Russia and Eastern Europe Serie s).\n\nHanna Liubakova is a freelance journalist and researcher from Belar us. She is currently a journalist with Outriders\, an international multim edia platform that produces in-depth multimedia and interactive reporting and focuses on solutions journalism. She also works as a journalism traine r and mentor. She started her career at the only independent Belarusian TV channel where she worked as a correspondent and TV presenter. Hanna has r eported from various countries and regions\, including Belgium\, UK\, Pola nd\, France\, and Chechnya. She was a recipient of the Václav Havel Journ alism Fellowship at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in Czechia\, as well a s a World Press Institute Fellowship in the United States. Hanna received a degree in Art History from The Jagiellonian University in Krakow\, Polan d in 2010 and a Master of Art with distinction in International Journalism from Brunel University in London in 2017. She was awarded the Peter Caws Prize for best postgraduate dissertation.\n\nDiscussant\n\nRobert D. Engli sh is Associate Professor of International Relations\, with joint appointm ents in Environmental Studies and Slavic Languages and Literatures. He tea ches courses on Russia and the former Soviet Union\, Central Europe\, tech nology and conflict\, and the environment and global security. He holds a PhD from Princeton University\, and previously taught at the Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies and also worked a s a policy analyst in the U.S. Department of Defense. English is author or editor of three books including Russia and the Idea of the West: Gorbache v\, Intellectuals\, and the End of the Cold War (Columbia\, 2000) as well as articles in such journals as International Security\, Diplomatic Histor y\, Foreign Affairs and The National Interest.\n\nModerator\n\nSteve Swerd low\, esq. is Associate Professor of the Practice of Human Rights in the D epartment of Political and International Relations at the University of So uthern California. A human rights lawyer and expert on the former Soviet r egion\, Swerdlow was Senior Central Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch\ , heading the organization’s work on Uzbekistan and Tajikistan\, and fou nding its Kyrgyzstan field office. Swerdlow has worked as a consultant wit h the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the International La bour Organization (ILO). Earlier Swerdlow was a fellow in the U.S. State D epartment’s Young Leaders for Public Service program in Russia and worke d as a human rights monitor for the Union of Council for Soviet Jews (UCSJ ) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Russia. Swerdl ow practiced law in San Francisco at Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein\, LLP\, and served as law clerk to the Honorable Judge Dean Pregerson of the United States District Court for the Central District of California. Swer dlow received his J.D. from the University of California\, Berkeley School of Law and M.A. in International Affairs from Columbia University's Schoo l of International and Public Affairs with a certificate in Post-Soviet St udies from the Harriman Institute.\n\nCo-sponsored by the USC Department o f Political Science and International Relations\, the USC Global Policy In stitute\, USC's Human Rights Minor\, Delta Phi Epsilon and the USC Departm ent of Slavic Languages and Literatures. LOCATION: SUMMARY:Courage Under Fire: Documenting Belarus' Human Rights Crisis URL;VALUE=URI:https://calendar.usc.edu/event/courage_under_fire_documenting _belarus_human_rights_crisis CATEGORIES:Lecture / Talk / Workshop CATEGORIES:Event Highlights END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR