Presented by: The University of San Francisco Center for the Pacific Rim and Its Ricci Insitute. Cosponsored by: The John Paul II Peace Institute and the Department of Law, Fujen University, Taipei, Taiwan; the University of San Francisco College of Arts and Sciences; and the Center for Global Law and Justice at the University of San Francisco School of Law.

Admission: $30 including lunch; $15 without lunch. USF students, faculty, and staff, free of charge for conference only. Luncheon space limited to 90 persons. Checks should be made payable to the USF Center for the Pacific Rim and mailed to the Center at: 2130 Fulton Street, San Francisco, CA 94117-1080. Your registration must be received by March 25 to reserve a space.

Call the USF Center for the Pacific Rim at (415) 422-6357 or email elbers@usfca.edu for more information or to register.

Generously funded by the John Paul II Peace Institute and a grant from Professor Liu Chu-Chin, Department of Law, Fujen University; the Kiriyama Chair for Pacific Rim Studies and the EDS-Stewart Chair for Chinese-Western Cultural History at the USF Center for the Pacific Rim and Ricci Institute; and a grant from the University of San Francisco Jesuit Foundation.

Noted scholars from East Asia, North and Central America, and Europe will discuss different cultural contexts and approaches for formulating and representing the human rights idea in the countries of East Asia and North America.

Some years ago the big question in intercultural human rights was universalism versus particularism (e.g., the 'Asian Values' debate). This debate has subsided as the universality of human rights has emerged in general as the most plausible argument. However, there is still room—and need-- for different cultural approaches to human rights and for a new discourse for talking about human rights in a more culturally nuanced way than the universalist model provides.

In this conference we hope to highlight a topic that has as yet received scant attention: the way in which the representation and discussion of human rights affects the content of the discourse.
A unique feature will be the interdisciplinary dialogue, in a comparative context, about a globally important issue conducted by scholars from economics, law, history, politics, sociology, and Asian studies from countries on both sides of the Pacific.

SCHEDULE

8:15 to 8:45am - Registration & Continental Breakfast

9:00 to 9:25am - Opening Ceremony
Rev. Stephen Privett S.J.
President, University of San Francisco
Prof. Barbara Bundy
Executive Director, Center for the Pacific Rim
Judd Iversen, J.D.
Director, Center for Global Law & Justice
Rev. Dr. Edmund Ryden S.J.
Director, John Paul II Peace Institute

9:25 to 9:35am - Introduction
Framing the Issues
Rev. Dr. Edmund Ryden S.J.
Director, John Paul II Peace Institute
Assistant Professor, Graduate School of Law, Fujen University, Taipei, Taiwan

9:35 to 10:45am - Session One
Chair: Prof. John Nelson
Dept. of Theology & Religious Studies USF

9:35am - Focus on Japan
Prof. Koji Tonami
Professor of Law, Faculty of Law, Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan

10:00am - Focus on Korea
Prof. Thomas Hung-Soon Han
Dean, Graduate School and Professor of Economics
Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, Seoul, Korea

10:25 to 10:45am - Question Time

10:45am - Coffee Break

11:00am to 12:20pm - Session Two
Chair: Prof. Stephen Uhalley, Jr.
USF Center for Pacific Rim and Ricci Institute

11:00am - Focus on China
Dr. Marina Svensson
Assistant Professor of Chinese History and Culture in the Department of East Asian Languages and Rsearch Associate in the Center for East and Southeast Asian Studies, Lund University, Lund, Sweden

11:30am - Focus on Taiwan
Dr. Jolan Hsieh
Assistant Research Professional, Center for Urban Inquiry
Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona
Rev. Dr. Edmund Ryden SJ
Director, John Paul II Peace Institute
Assistant Professor, Graduate School of Law, Fujen University, Taipei, Taiwan

12:00 to 12:20pm - Question Time

12:30pm - Lunch

1:00pm - Keynote Speech
Right and Wrong Ways to Question Human Rights Universalism
Prof. Edward Friedman
Hawkins Chair Professor of Political Science, University of Wisconsin, Madison

2:00 to 3:50pm - Session Three
Chair: Rev. Benoit Vermander SJ
Taipei Ricci Institute

2:00pm - Focus on the U.S.A.
Prof. Lawrence Friedman,
Marion Rice Kirkwood Professor of Law, Stanford University

2:30pm - Focus on Mexico
Maria E. Villareal
Executive Director, ECPAT-Guatemala
Member of the Human Rights Commission of the International Peace Research Association, Guatemala City, Guatemala

3:00pm - Focus on Canada
Dr. Susan Henders
Assistant Professor of Political Science, York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

3:30 to 3:50pm - Question Time

4:00 to 5:40pm - Plenary Session
Chair: Prof. Barbara Bundy
USF Center for the Pacific Rim

5:45 to 6:30pm - Reception
For all attendees, speakers and chairs

7:00pm - Banquet

COST

General Admission, (symposium and reception): $15.00
Seniors and students: $10.00
USF students, faculty and staff: Free
Reservations required.

To reserve your place or for more information, please email us, or call the Center for the Pacific Rim at (415) 422-6357.