Quarterly Newsletters

Global Africas: Gender, Representation, and the Maghreb

– November 11th and 12th –

This event will take place virtually and is free and open to the public

About Two Regimes

Two Regimes is the life’s work of two Ukrainian women: a mother, Teodora Verbitskaya (author) and her daughter, Nadia Werbitzky (professional artist).  Teodora wrote about her family’s life from 1927 to 1945 while living under the two regimes of Stalin and Hitler.  Mother and daughter were survivors and witnesses of two genocides: that of the Holodomor (man-made Famine 1932-33 under Stalin) and the Holocaust (1933-1945 under Hitler) while living in Mariupol, Soviet Ukraine.  The Two Regimes Collection contains 118 paintings, 150 sketches and a manuscript – now a book published posthumously titled “Two Regimes . . . A Mother’s Memoir of Wartime Survival” by Teodora Verbitskaya.

Valerie Scoon’s documentary, Invisible History: Middle Florida’s Hidden Roots sheds light on the hidden past of Middle Florida’s slave trade.

[Collaborators on the film can be found here. Photos from the film itself can be found here]

Commissioned by FSU’s Center for the Advancement of Human Rights, the film Threshold uses dance and 360-degree film technology to capture the journey of four women as they heal from their past traumas.

[More information on Malia Bruker can be found here. More information on Ilana Goldman can be found here]

Panel Discussion on Preventing and Understanding Human Trafficking of Youth with Vania Aguilar

Panel Discussion on Labor Trafficking in Florida with Terry Coonan

Ms. Vania Aguilar, program manager for The Center, was a panelist on an International Rescue Committee discussion on the Prevention and Understanding of Human Trafficking of the Youth.

Mr. Terry Coonan, director at The Center, was also a panelist during an International Rescue Committee discussion on Labor Trafficking in Florida.

The International Rescue Committee has an office in Tallahassee, please explore their website, IRC Tallahassee Website

A federal judge on Friday ordered the Trump administration to fully restore an Obama-era program designed to shield young, undocumented immigrants from deportation, dealing what could be a final blow to President Trump’s long-fought effort to end the protections.

Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis of the U.S. District Court in Brooklyn directed the administration on Friday to allow newly eligible immigrants to file new applications for protection under the program, reversing a memorandum issued in the summer by Chad Wolf, the acting secretary of Homeland Security, which restricted the program to people who were already enrolled. As many as 300,000 new applicants could now be eligible, according to the lawyers who pushed for the reinstatement.

The memo from the Department of Homeland Security also limited benefits under the program, including permits to work, to one year, but the judge ordered the government to restore them to a full two years. Judge Garaufis, who was appointed by President Bill Clinton, also said the government must find a way to contact all immigrants who are eligible for the program to inform them of the change.

As the world recognizes International Human Rights Day Thursday, the Center for the Advancement of Human Rights at Florida State University is in the midst of commemorating its own milestone — its 20th anniversary.

Twenty years ago, funds from an anonymous donor helped found the center. From those beginnings steeped in anonymity, the center’s work is now known around the world.

It has become a resource for state, federal and international policymakers looking to bolster human rights laws, such as those surrounding human trafficking. And center staff and students play an integral role in helping victims of human rights violations both in the United States and across the globe rebuild their lives.

Immigration has been a part of Daniela Donoso’s life since she and her family left Quito, Ecuador, for Miami when she was six months old.

Now, just months after graduating with her law degree from  Florida State University’s College of Law, she’s going to put that passion and education to work with the backing of a two-year, $100,000 fellowship from the Equal Justice Works Foundation to focus on immigration advocacy. Tallahassee law firm Greenberg Traurig, LLP and the Florida Bar sponsored Donoso’s application.

Welcome to our panel discussion celebrating #WorldRefugeeDay.

Welcome and Opening Remarks:

Ms. Una Bilic, Site Manager of the IRC in Tallahassee

Along with people of conscience the world over, the FSU Center for the Advancement of Human Rights family condemns without reservation the murder of George Floyd at the hands of uniformed police officers sworn to protect him. The tortured eight minutes and 46 seconds that it took a police officer to extinguish Mr. Floyd’s life forever changes our nation and our world.

As never before, the U.S. must now acknowledge what persons and communities of color have long known: that the protection and promise of America has not been a part of their birthright. The raw anger and anguish of demonstrators is not only justified—it is a call for America to look deep into its soul and question why the American Dream has too often been confined by race and privilege.