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Chris Mburu  

Human Rights Activist

Chris Mburu has been doing human rights work for the last 20 years—first as an activist in his home country of Kenya; then while earning his LLM at Harvard Law School; and finally through work with such organizations as Amnesty International, Global Rights, and the United Nations.

Mburu's work has primarily involved training human rights activists in different parts of the world in how to become more effective in human rights advocacy. He has also worked for peacekeeping missions, working to protect victims of mass human rights violations including genocide.

Currently Chris Mburu is heading the anti-discrimination section of the UN Human Rights Agency, based in Geneva, Switzerland; his work involves conducting research on discrimination and intolerance that could result in the commission of serious crimes.

Speech Topics

A Small Act: How One Small Deed Can Make a World of Difference

The Right to Education: A Global Solution to Global Problems

Is education a human right? In this speech, Mburu explains how education is not only a human right, but an indispensable means of realizing other human rights. Using historical evidence to back up his argument, Mburu analyzes the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), which he believes to be the world’s most influential human rights instrument. Within this Declaration, the recognition of education as a fundamental human right under international law is not in doubt. Therefore, as an empowerment right, education is the primary vehicle by which economically and socially marginalized adults and children can lift themselves out of poverty and participate fully in their communities. This means the protection and promotion of the right to education is the responsibility of all, but it is mainly the responsibility of governments. Ensuring the enjoyment of the right to education by all children all over the world is therefore a global solution to a key and pressing global problem, that of lack of durable peace.

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