Human Rights Leader Promotes Campus Initiative

 

On September 26, the University of Wisconsin-Madison launched its human rights initiative program with a presentation by Mary Robinson, former president of Ireland and the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.  The speech was given as this year’s Mildred Fish-Harnack Human Rights and Democracy Lecture.

Mrs. Robinson is the honorary chair of the Business Leaders Initiative on Human Rights, an organization formed in 2003 to develop a corporate response to human rights.  

She is a tireless advocate for businesses assuming more responsibility in advancing human rights, proclaiming that there is a direct connection between a company’s success and the promotion of human rights.  Two main goals of the organization include integrating human rights into the management of businesses, and raising human rights awareness into the mainstream consciousness of the global business community. 

Through an initiative that Mrs. Robinson helped launch this year through the Business & Human Rights Resource Center, she has urged companies to adopt human rights policy statements.  This request reflects a general recognition that she has regarding businesses having become major power centers, often times wielding as much, if not more, influence than government institutions.

“A better future would require that we think in new ways about our individual and shared responsibilities to humans.” – Mary Robinson