pages: SocialServiceHumanRelationsBoard/2008-05-22.pdf, 1
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SocialServiceHumanRelationsBoard | 2008-05-22 | 1 | Social Service Human Relations Board Minutes of the Regular Meeting, Thursday, May 22, 2008 1. CALL TO ORDER and ROLL CALL: President Wasko called the meeting to order at 7:35 p.m. Present were President Wasko, Vice President Chen, Members Nielsen, Villareal, and Soglin. Member James was absent. Staff: Jones. 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: The minutes from April 24, 2008 were approved with recommended edits. M/S Nielsen, Villareal all other members agreed except Member Franz abstained. 3-A. DISCUSSION OF HUMAN RIGHTS PROTOCOL: Wasko-During our last meeting we generated a list of discussion items for future meetings. One issue identified for discussion was human rights. As the Sister City relationship with China grows there are many human rights issues that arise. We've heard a lot about Tibet during the torch run, however, there are other issues as well. On the east coast, you see demonstrators in the streets protesting China's treatment of their citizens. It took me a long time to get behind the Sister City work group because of the complexities of human rights in China. Now, I see the workgroup as a way to build understanding and I ask "how will we teach them"? As a Board, we spend a lot of time talking about social services. This agenda item is an opportunity to have a discussion about the other part of our work and to have a discussion about what it means to be a human relations board. What is our role in human rights? What action, if any, do we want to refer to Sister City Workgroup, or do we want to make a recommendation to the City Council? This is a philosophical discussion about what we are committed to in the human relations and human rights part of our work. Franz - Before we look at others, what about us? The world sees us as violators. If we are not willing to say country is totally screwed up in reaction to 9/11, we are being hypocritical to point out China's violations. Chen - When I was in China they seemed to know more about the United States' civil violations than we do. This is not a perfect world, but we can bring awareness. Our capacity as city committee does not allow to supervise the human rights policies of China. We can bring this up to the delegation and let them decide for themselves. Bringing awareness is our limit. Nielsen - I'm glad we are having this important discussion. We are in a public building on record, its exciting to bring these questions out our home and into government. I'm reviewing the UN Declaration on Human Rights, and I'm seeing its list of articles as an ideal that we're not meeting ourselves. I think we could talk about what we are working on and share our struggles and ideals rather than setting ourselves up as the teachers. Setting these ideals is something we're aspiring to and discussion points of what we're trying to get to. | SocialServiceHumanRelationsBoard/2008-05-22.pdf |