Amnesty leader to give UoM Chancellor’s Human Rights Lecture
Media Release, Thursday 23 November 2006
The Executive Deputy Secretary General of Amnesty International, Kate Gilmore, will be returning to her alma mater when she delivers the 2006 Chancellor’s Human Rights Lecture at the University of Melbourne next Wednesday 29 November.
Ms Gilmore’s lecture – “Human Rights in Tough Terrain: Stories for the Australian Bush” - will discuss Australia’s role in the quest for global human rights.
“These are tough times for human rights”, she says. “Universal values are under attack globally from the policies and practices of the “war on terror”. Australians too are drawn into this territory as once again they ask “What values define us as a nation?” and “What does this mean for us, for immigrants and for their children?”
Ms Gilmore will argue that the real challenge is not how to sign the world up to Australian values but how to assert and defend the global values of human rights; values that must find expression in Australia, as elsewhere.
Kate Gilmore graduated from the University of Melbourne with professional qualifications in Social Work, and has an academic background in the fields of psychology, sociology and gender studies. She has published in the areas of violence against women, women’s health and cultural diversity.
Until 2001, Ms Gilmore was the National Director of Amnesty International Australia after nearly a decade in senior management of health services including the Royal Women’s Hospital, Melbourne. During this time she established a centre for the support of rape victims and helped establish the Victorian Foundation for Survivors of Torture.
The Chancellor's Human Rights Lecture has become a feature of the University of Melbourne calendar since its inception in 2002 under then Chancellor Fay Marles. Previous lectures have been delivered by former PM Malcolm Fraser, High Court of Australia Justice Michael Kirby, Timor-Leste President Xanana Gusmao and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and former President of the Republic of Ireland Mary Robinson. The current Chancellor is Mr Ian Renard.
Bookings are required for this lecture. Email community-relations@unimelb.edu.au or phone 8344 3885.
Who: Kate Gilmore, Executive Deputy Secretary General, Amnesty International
What: Chancellor’s Human Rights Lecture 2006: “Human Rights in Tough Terrain: Stories for the Australian Bush”
When: Wednesday 29 November at 6-7pm
Where: Theatre A, Elisabeth Murdoch Building, University of Melbourne Parkville Campus
MEDIA ENQUIRIES:
For interviews with Kate Gilmore
Karen Trentini, Media and Public Affairs, Amnesty International Australia
Tel: 02 9217 7620 / 0422 869 439
About the Chancellor’s Human Rights Lecture
Katherine Smith, Public Relations, University of Melbourne
Tel: 03 8344 3845 / 0402 460 147
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