Ireland's former head of state to speak at UNT

Mary Robinson, the current U.N. high commissioner for human rights and a past president of Ireland, will speak at UNT April 25 as part of the 2002-03 Fine Arts Series.

Robinson's lecture begins at 8 p.m. in the University Union Lyceum. The lecture will be preceded by a brief press conference in the Diamond Eagle Suite in the University Union at 5:30 p.m. Tickets, which are on sale now at the Union Information Center or by phone at (940) 565-3805, cost $20 for the general public and $10 for senior citizens and UNT faculty and staff. UNT students get in free with a student ID.

Robinson, a lawyer, specializes in human rights, focusing specifically on constitutional and European human rights laws. After a seven-year term as president of Ireland, she was nominated for her current U.N. position by United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan. She is credited with helping the U.N. take huge steps in assimilating human rights into all actions taken by the group.

Robinson is also involved with realignment of the priorities of her office, where she is focusing more on the national and regional levels. Due to her efforts as high commissioner and as a human rights advocate, her office now monitors and provides assistance to more than 20 countries around the globe.

Prior to her time as high commissioner, Robinson took the presidential seat of Ireland in 1990, where her term as president focused on Irish relations with developing countries.

Other accomplishments of the former president's tenure include a visit to Somalia after the civil war and famine there in 1992. She was the first head of state to visit the tattered country after the crisis, and she received the CARE Humanitarian Award in recognition of her efforts. She was also the first head of state to visit Rwanda after the genocide there in 1994. Since then she has made two subsequent visits to the country, where she addressed the Pan-African Conference on "Peace, Gender and Development," carrying out her diplomatic theme of human rights.

Her extensive political career also includes a 20-year term in the Ireland Senate, as well as membership on the International Commission of Jurists from 1987 to 1990 and the Advisory Commission of Inter-Rights from 1984 to 1990.

BY JAMIE EDINGER paiswri1@unt.edu

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