On Monday, September 17th through Wednesday, September 19th 2018, the Centre for Human Rights, Migration, and Multiculturalism hosted its 3rd Annual Conference. The theme for this year’s conference is Narrating Human Rights: Issues of Migration, Discrimination, and Protection of Human Rights in Southeast Asia. This year, CHRM2 and University of Jember partnered with the National Human Rights Commission (KOMNAS HAM). Several institutions, such as Asia Justice and Rights (AJAR), Asia Center, National Committee on Violent Against Woman (Komnas Perempuan) and Migrant Care, participated in this successful agenda.
The conference began on Monday with the opening ceremony, as its initial agenda, featuring the attendance all of the speakers and honorary guests. The opening ceremony was introduced by karawitan, also known as a Javanese gamelan show. The honorary rector of the University of Jember concluded the ceremony with his formal opening speech.
On the following day, the conference participants headed to the Faculty of Teacher Training and Education on UNEJ’s campus- the primary location for the conference’s main events and panels. As Ahmad Taufan Damanik, the chairman of the National Commission of Human Rights, initiated the plenary session, the second day’s agenda began. The 3rd annual conference included various critical papers, followed by even more critical questions. On that same day, both Michelle Ford from Migrant Care and Galuh Wandita from AJAR shared their insight at the afternoon plenary session. All participants engaged with the agenda enthusiastically.
During the last day of the conference, we held several panel sessions, followed by a final plenary session led by James Gomez from Asia Center. Later that same day, the closing ceremony concluded the conference agenda, as live acoustic music contributed to a warm and celebratory atmosphere. Before departure, the UNEJ UKM Reyog team performed a traditional reog dance at the closing ceremony.
The organizer, CHRM2, hopes that the conference will promote a positive impact toward Human Rights development in the Southeast Asia region, and ultimately the world.
