Beyond Borders: A Dialogue About LGBTIQA+ Human Rights Around the Globe

The Castan Centre for Human Rights Law is pleased to collaborate with Human Rights Watch to host a seminar featuring Rasha Younes, HRW's Interim Director of the LGBT Division at Human Rights Watch, in conversation with Professor Paula Gerber of the Monash Law Faculty. This event will involve Rasha and Paula analysing the global picture for rights protection for LGBTIQA+ communities around the world.

Rasha will highlight her recent reporting in the Middle East, North Africa and the US, including about efforts to keep social media companies accountable for the safety of their users, the gender-affirming care bans in the United States and new laws criminalising same-sex relations and trans identities in Iraq.

Join Rasha Younes and Professor Paula Gerber for a prescient discussion of the challenges facing the LGBTIQA+ global community, and the ramifications for LGBTIQA+ people in Australia.

Please note: This is an in-person-only event.

Speaker

Rasha Younes, Director LGBT Rights Program, Human Rights Watch

Rasha Younes is the Interim Director of the LGBT Rights Program at Human Rights Watch, investigating abuses against LGBT people in the Middle East and North Africa region. Prior to joining Human Rights Watch, Rasha was a Thomas J. Watson fellow, where she researched oral tradition as a form of activism in South Africa, Ireland, India, Germany, and the Czech Republic. She has previously worked on women’s rights issues for the Clinton Center for Women’s Empowerment in Morocco, the Women’s Center of Montgomery County, and the Norristown Courthouse in Philadelphia.

Rasha was also a Caux Initiatives of Change Scholar in Switzerland, a fellow for the Center of Peace and Global Citizenship in Philadelphia, and a researcher for the Arab Council for Social Sciences in Beirut. Rasha holds a master’s degree in Social Anthropology from Central European University in Budapest, and a bachelor’s degree in Cultural Anthropology from Bryn Mawr College

Commentator

Professor Paula Gerber, Castan Centre for Human Rights Law, Monash Law

Paula Gerber combines a sharp legal intellect with passionate advocacy, to fight for the dismantling of discriminatory systems around the globe. She is a law professor at Monash University, and an internationally renowned expert on human rights law and LGBTIQA+ people.

Paula has written and edited numerous books, journal articles and book chapters on human rights issues, including most recently the 3-volume collection Worldwide Perspectives on Lesbians, Gays and Bisexuals (2021) and the 2-volume collection Critical Perspectives on Human Rights Law in Australia (2021) (with Melissa Castan). She is also regularly featured in the Australian media, including on ABC Radio and TV and in The Conversation.

In her spare time, Paula is the Chair of Kaleidoscope Human Rights Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation that advocates for better protection of the rights of LGBTIQA+ people in the Asia Pacific.

From developing www.antigaylaws.org (basically the Google Maps of global LGBTQ+ legal landscapes) to leading Kaleidoscope Human Rights Foundation, Paula is on a global mission to overturn archaic laws and create pathways for equality and dignity for LGBTIQA+ people in every part of the world.

Contact us

Name: Castan Centre for Human Rights Law

E-Mail: castan.centre@monash.edu