Two groups will receive Dodd Prize in human rights

The third biennial Thomas J. Dodd Prize in International Justice and Human Rights will be awarded jointly to the Center for Justice and Accountability and Mental Disability Rights International on Oct. 1.

The 11 a.m. prize ceremony, on the plaza of the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center, is the first of three human rights-related events that will open the month of October.

The second, which follows the ceremony, is a 1:30 p.m. program and book signing with U.S. Sen. Christopher Dodd, whose first book, Letters From Nuremberg: My Father’s Narrative of a Quest for Justice, will be released Sept. 11.

Then at 4 p.m. on Oct. 2, Harold Koh, dean of the Yale Law School and an internationally acclaimed leader in human rights, will deliver the 13th Raymond and Beverly Sackler Distinguished Lecture on Human Rights with a talk entitled, “Repairing our Human Rights Reputation.”

“Clustering these three wonderful events into a 24-hour period will allow the UConn community and guests a rare opportunity to immerse themselves in a variety of issues concerning human rights, which has become a very important part of UConn’s academic identity,” says Thomas Wilsted, director of the Dodd Center.

The Center for Justice and Accountability (CJA) is an international human rights organization dedicated to ending torture and other severe human rights abuses around the world, and advancing the rights of survivors to seek truth, justice and redress.

The San Francisco based non-governmental organization uses litigation to hold perpetrators individually accountable for human rights abuses, develop human rights law, and advance the rule of law in countries transitioning from periods of abuse.

Founded in 1998 with support from Amnesty International and the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture, the CJA has won judgments against a Bosnian war criminal, a mayor of Beijing, two Salvadoran ministers of defense and a vice minister of defense, a Honduran chief of military intelligence, a Chilean death squad member, and a Haitian parliamentary leader.

Pamela Merchant, director of CJA, will accept the center’s award.

Mental Disability Rights International (MDRI) is the world’s leading international human rights group dedicated to the protection of people with mental disabilities.