The World of Human Rights
Kristina Keenan and Ramsey Ben-Achour will discuss Human Rights from the viewpoints of historical context, international laws, personal experiences, getting involved, and links to Christian values.
Kristina Keenan is the head of Outreach Communications at The American University of Paris (AUP), the university where she also earned a BA in International and Comparative Politics. Kristina spent 6 years in the US Army where she trained and worked as an intelligence analyst. She served in two peacekeeping operations in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2003 and 2004, conducting interviews with locals in Sarajevo, Mostar, and surrounding villages. In 2008, Kristina worked for NATO’s strategic military headquarters in Belgium, known as SHAPE. She researched the narcotics problem in Afghanistan and provided security briefings to NATO’s national military representatives. Kristina returned to Paris in 2009 to work for The American University of Paris assisting with fundraising and alumni affairs, then became Manager of Outreach Communications in 2012. She will leave her position at AUP in the fall of 2013 to peruse an MA in Human Rights and Humanitarian Action at Sciences Po.
Ramsey Ben-Achour is the Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa at Heartland Alliance, a Chicago-based human rights organization. Ramsey has a BA from The American University of Paris in International and Comparative Politics and an MA from the London School of Economics in Political Science. In 2007, Ramsey worked as a journalist for InterPress services in the Palestinian Territories and also with the Palestinian Medical Relief Society. In 2008, he consulted for the Global Public Policy Institute in Berlin, then came to Washington DC in 2009 to work as a communications associate with the Development Gateway Foundation – an international organization devoted to making development aid more effective through information communications technology. Ramsey then decided to leave his office job and started looking for field work. He moved to Sri Lanka and found a position with Transparency International. In January 2010, Ramsey was requested to come to Haiti following the massive earthquake to work for Heartland Alliance. He worked as Country Director until 2012, when he relocated to Paris to start up a Middle East and North Africa office for Heartland.
Thurber Thursdays is an adult community gathering and growth time that is open to all. We share a meal at 18h30 and the evening program begins at 19h30.
