Access to Information as a Human Right

Access to information is fundamental human right. In particular, access to government records can begin to address and shed light on past human rights violations, and help inform better policy for mass atrocity prevention. This talk will cover two case studies--Guatemala and Rwanda - to provide examples of what 'access to information' actually looks like and why it is important. Sponsored by: The Center for Law, Diversity and Justice at Fairhaven College of Interdisciplinary Studies About the Lecturer: Emily Willard is research fellow at the University of Washington Center for Human Rights on the 'Unfinished Sentences' projects conducting research on El Salvador and is a PhD student at the Jackson School of International Studies, researching women's involvement in armed groups in Central America. Previously, she worked at the National Security Archive in Washington D.C. on the Genocide Documentation Project, and also the Guatemala, Mexico, El Salvador, and Colombia documentation projects, filing Freedom of Information Act requests for documents to be used as evidence in human rights trials, and advocating for access to information as a human right.