The SEFLIN 2022 Fall Meeting of the Membership Council will take place online via Zoom. Access instructions will be sent few days prior to the meeting.
Keynote by Robert Kesten, Executive Director, Stonewall National Museum and Archives.
America's Role in Ukraine from Freedom to War
Why have we have come to this moment in world history? How does the fighting in Europe with a Russian invasion of Ukraine impact us in the United States? What is the role the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in conflict? If we are serious about ongoing solutions locally, nationally, and internationally, the Declaration offers a unique pathway to a world that by respecting human dignity brings us closer to finding peaceful solutions to the problems we face.
Kesten was on the ground in Kyiv as preparations began for Ukraine to leave the Soviet Union where he worked with top officials, members of minority communities, the arts and cultural communities, and foreign governments.
In that time, he met with President George H.W. Bush and other global figures, drafted the official Ukrainian press release when Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev was put under house arrest in Crimea, encouraged Ukraine to become the first Soviet Republic (and first former republic) to decriminalize homosexuality, and produced the 50th Commemoration of the massacre at Babyn Yar, recently hit by Russian missile strikes.
In addition, Kesten conceptualized the United Nations Decade on Human Rights Education (1995-2004) which was approved unanimously by the UN General Assembly. He has traveled globally speaking on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, encouraging people to read it, know it, and claim it as the best way to preserve and strengthen democracy, hold government accountable, and ensure the dignity of every woman, man, and child everywhere around the world.
This project was funded under provisions of the State of Florida Library Cooperative Grant program, administered by the Department of State’s Division of Library and Information Services. For FY2022-23, 91% of the total costs for the SEFLIN Library Cooperative Grant program 2022-23 ($400,000) is supported by State of Florida money. The total budget of the project is $440,478