April 3 marks the first day of the 2011 Carter Center Human Rights Defenders Forum. The theme of this year’s forum is Religion, Belief, and Women’s Rights. Practitioners and researchers will spend four days discussing the role of women in political and religious leadership, the role of religious beliefs, traditions, and practices in advancing women’s rights, and networking and global solidarity. Speakers include former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay.
Participants include Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na’im of Emory University’s Law School; Azza Karam of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA); Rev. Timothy Njoya of Men for the Equality of Men and Women; Jacqueline Ogega of the Global Women of Faith Network; Molly Melching and Oureye Sall of TOSTAN; and other human rights leaders and religious scholars.
The formal conference on April 5-6 will be webcast live on the Carter Center’s website, and select portions of the conference will be live tweeted by Carter Center staff. Follow the Carter Center’s twitter feed @CarterCenter and join in the discussion at #Women’sRights11.
View the live webcast here.