Carr Center Announces 2001-2002 Fellows

The Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at the Kennedy School of Government announced the arrival of the 2001-2002 Carr Fellows and Associates yesterday.

Formally opened in 1999, the institute is dedicated to the research and examination of foreign and domestic influences on human rights. As part of this mission, the center has created several fellowship positions which are filled annually by a select group of highly accomplished human rights workers gathered from around the world.

The program, now in its third year, has expanded rapidly. The center hosted three fellows in its inaugural year, eight last year, and this year 13 fellows will have the opportunity to study at Harvard.

This year’s visiting fellows are an eclectic mix of scholars, policy makers, authors and professors, including two who will be returning for a second year, Alyssa Bernstein and Lukas Haynes. Bernstein is an assistant professor of philosophy on leave from Ohio University, and Haynes served as a speech writer to former Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright and worked to promote international peace.

Now in his second year at the Carr Center, Haynes lauded the institute as “one of the premier human rights organizations in the world.”

Newcomers to the Carr Center include Diane Curran, who will be working on issues related to refugee protection and national security. Particularly in the wake of the events of Sept. 11, Curran said she feels her work has become all the more crucial.

“I’m really excited about this project, especially in light of recent events,” she said. “It’s important to focus attention on people who will be affected by national security issues.”

Curran is accompanied by 10 other newcomers to the Carr Center, including Kelly Askin, a legal consultant to the United Nations; Antonia Chayes, a specialist in conflict management in several international programs; Thomas Cushman, a sociology professor at Wellesley College and founder and editor of The Journal of Human Rights; Eitan Felner, the outgoing director of B’Tselem, the Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories; and Mario Gomez, a member of the law commission of Sri Lanka and a professor of public law, human rights and feminist legal studies at the University of Colombo.

The remaining fellows include Michael Kraus, a member of the Dante Fascell Fellowship Board of the U.S. Deparment of State; Sally E. Merry, a professor of anthropology at Wellesley College; Anne-Marie Slaughter, the Armstrong professor of international, foreign and comparative law at Harvard Law School; Adam Taylor, co-founder of Global Justice and the Student Global AIDS Campaign; and Cheryl Welch, chair of the political science and international relations department at Simmons College.

Each fellow will be hosting regular colloquia throughout the year, open to all members of the Harvard community.

Curran said she is looking forward to the experience.

“I’m really happy to be here with some very interesting people from a real cross section of research fields and experiences,” she said.

The 13 fellows seem optimistic about the expanding work of the Carr Center.

“The field is still a relatively new one and the Carr Center is pushing the boundaries in all academic respects,” Haynes said. “But it’s also creating an ideal space for academics to come together and advance their studies.”