Voices Against Torture: Writers and Lawyers on the Way Forward (12/16)

A few years ago, PEN launched the Campaign for Core Freedoms to protect personal privacy and governmental transparency and to promote U.S. policies that preserve and defend human rights here and abroad. The election of Barack Obama last week has led to some promising reports, but other indications (noted below) suggest this campaign won't run out of work to do any time soon.

So next month, Dahlia Lithwick will moderate a panel of writers and lawyers on the roles that lawyers and writers have played and continue to play in exposing human rights abuses and in reminding nations of their human rights responsibilities. Joining Dahlia will be

• Jane Mayer, staff writer for The New Yorker and author of The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned Into a War on American Ideals

• Anouar Benmalek, author of The Lovers of Algeria and co-founder of The Algerian Committee Against Torture

• Scott Horton, Professor of Law, Columbia Law School, and contributor to Harper's

• Elisa Massimino, Executive Director and C.E.O. of Human Rights First

The panel will be hosted by PEN and the American Constitution Society for Law and Policy (ACS). The panel will begin promptly at 6:30 p.m on Tuesday, December 16th, and will end at 7:45 p.m., followed by a wine and cheese reception.

This event is free and open to the public. If you'd like to come, please register today.

When: Tuesday, December 16, 2008, 6:30 pm-8:30 pm
Where: Judson Memorial Church, 55 Washington Square South, New York, NY

(The drawing by Fernando Botero above was published in the Virginia Quarterly Review.)