Speaker: Pierre Sané
Chair: Professor Christine Chinkin, Centre for the Study of Human Rights
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In 1996 the UN General Assembly declared that 'Eradicating poverty is an ethical, social, political and economic imperative of humankind'. For many years, UNESCO, as a UN specialised agency, has sought ways of tackling this objective from a range of perspectives, including that of human rights. In this lecture Pierre Sané will explore the linkages between human rights deprivation and poverty and the ways in which the human rights perspective can inform poverty eradication programmes.
Pierre Sané is Assistant-Director General for Social Sciences and Human Sciences, Ethics and Human Rights at UNESCO in Paris. As Assistant Director-General he is responsible for the development, execution and evaluation of UNESCO's 'Poverty and Human Rights' programme.
From October 1992 to April 2001, Mr Sané was Secretary General of Amnesty International. As such, Mr Sané has campaigned extensively to raise human rights concerns worldwide and to strengthen the human rights movement. Before joining Amnesty International, Mr Sané worked for 15 years in international development.
His academic background includes doctoral studies in political science at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada and a Masters of Science degree in public administration and public policy from the London School of Economics. He has published extensively on issues of development and human rights.