Co-sponsored by the UC Berkeley School of Information, the Center for Technology, Society & Policy, and the Human Rights Center.
Now more than ever, humanitarianism is being conducted at a distance. As humanitarian efforts shift from in-kind and in-person assistance to cash- and information-based assistance, how does this change what humanitarian work looks like? At this September 26 Matrix on Point panel, a group of experts will examine how technology raises new questions about the efficacy of humanitarian interventions, the human rights of recipients, and the broader power relations between donors and recipients.
The panel will include Daragh Murray, Senior Lecturer at the University of Essex Human Rights Centre & School of Law; Fleur Johns, Professor in the Faculty of Law & Justice at UNSW Sydney; and Wendy H. Wong, Principal’s Research Chair, Professor, Political Science, The University of British Columbia. The panel will be moderated by Laurel E. Fletcher, Clinical Professor of Law at the UC Berkeley School of Law, where she directs the International Human Rights Law Clinic.
This panel is part of the Matrix On Point discussion series, an event series focused on cross-disciplinary conversations on today’s most pressing contemporary issues. Offering opportunities for scholarly exchange and interaction, each Matrix On Point features the perspectives of leading scholars and specialists from different disciplines, followed by an open conversation. These events are free and open to the public.
If you require an accommodation for effective communication (ASL interpreting/CART captioning, alternative media formats, etc.) or information about campus mobility access features in order to fully participate in this event, please contact Chuck Kapelke or Eva Seto at matrixssdo@berkeley.edu with as much advance notice as possible and at least 7-10 days in advance of the event.
Panelists
Daragh Murray: Daragh Murray is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Essex Human Rights Centre & School of Law. He was recently awarded a UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship: ‘What does Artificial Intelligence Mean for the Future of Democratic Society? Examining the societal impact of AI and whether human rights can respond’. This four-year interdisciplinary project began in January 2020, and the project team will draw on expertise in human rights law, sociology, and philosophy. Current research has a particular emphasis on law enforcement, intelligence agency, and military AI applications, although the scope of the project is broader. Daragh’s research expertise is in international human rights law and the law of armed conflict. He has a specific interest in artificial intelligence and other advanced technologies, and in using human rights law to more effectively inform ex ante decision-making processes.
Fleur Johns: Fleur Johns is Professor in the Faculty of Law & Justice at UNSW Sydney working in international law, legal theory, and law and technology. She is also an Australian Research Council Future Fellow and, in 2021-2024, a Visiting Professor at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. She has published four books and has a forthcoming monograph under contract with Oxford University Press, co-authored with Caroline Compton, entitled #Help: Digital Humanitarianism and the Remaking of International Order. Fleur has held visiting appointments in Europe, the UK, the US, and Canada and serves on a range of editorial boards, including those of the American Journal of International Law and the journals Science, Technology & Human Values and Technology and Regulation. Fleur was elected to Fellowship of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia in 2020 and currently serves on its Executive Committee as International Secretary. Fleur is a graduate of Melbourne University (BA, LLB(Hons)) and Harvard University (LLM, SJD; Menzies Scholar; Laylin Prize). Her Twitter handle is @FleurEJ.
Wendy H. Wong: Wendy H. Wong studies global governance. She is particularly attentive to how non-state actors (e.g. nongovernmental organizations, civil society actors, social movements, and corporations) govern at the global and domestic levels. Her areas of interest are emerging technologies like AI, Big Data, human rights, and humanitarian assistance. Dr. Wong has written two award-winning books, penned dozens of peer-reviewed articles and chapters, and has contributed to outlets such as The Globe and Mail, The Toronto Star, and The Conversation. She has been awarded grants from the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada and Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, among other granting agencies.
Currently, she is Professor of Political Science at the University of British Columbia, Okanagan (Sylix Okanagan Nation Territory) and Principal’s Research Chair. Dr. Wong is a Member of the Royal Society of Canada’s College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists. She is currently on leave from the University of Toronto, where she is Canada Research in Global Governance and Civil Society and Professor of Political Science. Previously, she was Research Lead at the Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society at the University of Toronto. From 2012-2017, she was Director of the Trudeau Center for Peace, Conflict, and Justice at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy.
Laurel E. Fletcher (moderator) is Clinical Professor of Law at UC Berkeley, School of Law where she directs the International Human Rights Law Clinic. Fletcher is active in the areas of human rights, humanitarian law, international criminal justice, and transitional justice. As director of the International Human Rights Law Clinic, she utilizes an interdisciplinary, problem-based approach to human rights research, advocacy, and policy.
Fletcher has advocated on behalf of victims before international courts and tribunals, and has issued numerous human rights reports on topics ranging from sexual violence in armed conflict to human rights violations of tipped workers in the US restaurant industry. She also has conducted several empirical human rights studies, including of the impact of detention on former detainees who were held in U.S. custody in Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. She served as co-Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Transitional Justice (2011-2015). Fletcher was selected as a Herbert Smith Freehills Visitor to the Faculty of Law in the University of Cambridge for 2019.
Her recent publications include A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing? Transitional Justice and the Effacement of State Accountability for International Crimes, 39 Fordham Int’l L.J. 447 (2016); Refracted Justice: The Imagined Victim and the International Criminal Court, in “Contested Justice: the Politics and Practice of International Criminal Court Interventions” 302 (C.M. De Vos, Sara Kendall & Carsten Stahn eds., Cambridge Univ. Press, 2015); and Writing Transitional Justice: An Empirical Evaluation of Transitional Justice Scholarship in Academic Journals, 7 J. Hum. Rts. Prac. 177 (2015) (co-author: Harvey M. Weinstein). In 2009, she and Eric Stover published “The Guantanamo Effect: Exposing the Consequences of U.S. Detention and Interrogation Practices” (UC Press).