Harvard law professor to deliver human rights lecture Feb. 16

LAWRENCE — Henry Steiner, a well-known champion of human rights at Harvard Law School, will deliver the fifth annual International Law Students Association Human Rights Lecture, “Muslims in Europe: Multiculturalism, Cultural Clash, Human Rights,” on Thursday, Feb. 16 at the University of Kansas School of Law.

A reception at 2 p.m. will kick off the event, with the lecture scheduled to begin at 3:45 p.m. in 107 Green Hall. The talk is free and open to the public.

The lecture will examine increased Muslim immigration to Europe in recent decades from North Africa, the Middle East and South Asia, and nationalist reactions to this heightened presence. France, for example, has Western Europe’s largest Muslim population, but the country’s conservative president expelled a record number of immigrants in 2011 and has said that immigrants who wish to stay must conform to traditional French values.

Steiner founded the Human Rights Program at Harvard Law and directed it from 1984-2005, when he became professor emeritus. The Human Rights Program fosters coursework and student participation in human rights activities through its summer fellowships, clinical work, speaker series, applied research and scholarship. It also receives visiting fellows and serves as a vehicle for the International Human Rights Clinic, which allows students to travel abroad under clinical supervision and document human rights abuses and promote respect for the law. The clinic has released major reports on injustices in Burma, Brazil and Sierra Leone, and submits briefs to the Supreme Court.

During the course of his professorship, Steiner published extensively on a broad range of human rights issues. He co-authored three editions of “International Human Rights in Context: Law, Politics, Morals,” a widely acclaimed interdisciplinary coursebook released in 1995. He has also published many shorter pieces in collections and as articles.

Steiner has lectured or consulted in more than 30 countries.

KU Law’s International Law Society is organizing the event. ILS serves to educate the legal community about international legal issues, to promote international career opportunities and to stimulate direct action and dialogue related to international legal issues. This includes sponsoring speakers to visit the law school, support for the Jessup moot court competition, and coordination and dissemination of job opportunities in international law and business. Professors John Head and Raj Bhala are faculty advisers for the organization.