Amnesty International leader to speak at University of Richmond as part of Jepson Leadership Forum

October 9, 2009

The head of one of the world’s most well-known human rights organizations will discuss “Hard Truths on Poverty and Human Rights” at the University of Richmond Oct. 23.

Irene Zubaida Khan, secretary general of Amnesty International, will speak at 12 p.m. in the Modlin Center for the Arts. Her talk is free and open to the public. It is the third event of the Jepson Leadership Forum’s 2009–10 season titled “The Common Good.”

Khan will discuss living in dignity, advocating for the rule of law, peaceful protest, and the need for a global, holistic, economic, social and cultural solution to poverty and human rights abuses.

She is the first woman, Asian, Bangladeshi and Muslim to lead Amnesty International. She was raised in the eastern part of Pakistan, now Bangladesh, and studied in Northern Ireland as a teenager. She later attended the University of Manchester and earned a law degree from Harvard University. She helped create several human rights organizations and then spent 20 years as the United Nations’ high commissioner for refugees.

Seating is first-come, first-served, and doors to the auditorium will open at 11:30 a.m.

For more information, call 804-287-6522 or e-mail jepson@richmond.edu. The Forum is produced by the Jepson School of Leadership Studies.