Talk to Draw Attention to Crimes Against Humanity
March 14, 2011 - News Release
Alfred Orono Orono, a lawyer on the international team prosecuting the perpetrators of the Rwandan genocide, will give a public talk at the University of Guelph's War Memorial Hall March 22 at 7 p.m.
“The International Criminal Tribunal: Fighting Against Impunity” is hosted by U of G’s Human Rights and Equity Office (HREO), the C.J. Munford Centre, the Muslim Students' Association and Guelph Hillel.
“The number of countries in which people are seeking redress against current or former leaders seems to grow daily,” said HREO director Patrick Case. “Orono’s work and the topic of his lecture cannot be any more timely.”
Born and raised in Uganda, Orono fought as a child soldier against the military rule of dictator Idi Amin. After the military overthrew former president Milton Obote for a second time in 1985, Orono fled to exile in Kenya, Ethiopia and southern Sudan, where he spent several years in detention. In 1993, he escaped and fled to Kenya, where he lived as a refugee for two years.
In 1995, he was sponsored by the World University Service of Canada and studied criminology at the University of Alberta before becoming a lawyer. Ten years later, he joined the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in Arusha, where he now works in the appeals and legal advisory division in the office of the prosecutor.
In July 2010, he was elected to a two-year term as president of the staff association of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.
“We hope these events will help the University of Guelph community gain a greater understanding of the international court’s prosecution system and the challenges that the criminal tribunal faces in the search for justice, peace and equality,” said Joshua Ofori-Darko, co-facilitator of the C.J. Munford Centre.
Tickets for the talk are $5 and can be purchased at the University Centre information desk, the C.J. Munford Centre in MacKinnon 054, or at The Bookshelf in downtown Guelph. Tickets will also be available at the door.
Along with Orono’s talk, there was a March 16 screening of the film The Reckoning at 5:30 p.m. in Rozanski Hall, Room 105.
For more information, visit www.uoguelph.ca/cjmunford/Orono or email the C.J. Munford Centre at munford@uoguelph.ca.
For media questions, contact Communications and Public Affairs: Lori Bona Hunt, Ext. 53338, l.hunt@exec.uoguelph.ca, or Deirdre Healey, Ext. 56982, d.healey@exec.uoguelph.ca.
