On July 10, 2019, Professor R. Sudarshan of the O.P. Jindal Global University based in Sonipat/New Delhi, India met in Boston with Dr. Brenda Gael McSweeney, Director and a Founder of the BU-based UNESCO/UNITWIN Network on Gender, Culture, and People-Centered Development. R. Sudarshan, recently affiliated with our Network, shared the following concerning an upcoming conference on the right to development and a human rights-based approach to conservation of heritage.
This exciting initiative also opens up the potential for further collaboration between the work of our Network-affiliated Brighton-Allston Historical Society (BAHS) and that of Gurmeet Rai, also a Founder of our UNESCO/UNITWIN Network, given the resonances between their cultural heritage preservation and promotion of gender equality initiatives, and their respective track-records. Now the knowledge base of Professor Sudarshan, Founding Dean of the Jindal School of Government and Public Policy, will be enhancing these partnerships.
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| Professor R. Sudarshan |
"This entails going away from architects and experts, [rather] contacting local communities and people bringing intangible cultural heritage to life alongside conservation and protection of monuments and important places of historical and cultural significance.
Our university, the Jindal Global University, the School of Government and Public Policy where I am Dean, and the School of Art and Architecture where we have a Dean called Thomas Mical from the United States, are going to be the knowledge partners for ICOMOS, which is the UNESCO body that's responsible for the conservation of monuments. Gurmeet Rai is the President Designate of ICOMOS India.
The whole purpose of this [the human rights-based] approach is to correct and make adjustments for discrimination that has been consistent and prevalent over a long time. So the focus would be on discriminated communities; and women as a whole in all walks of life are often discriminated against. You can't have a human rights-based approach without putting women up front and center!
This [Conference] is going to happen on 19 and 20 July in the premises of the Jindal Global University."
This exciting initiative also opens up the potential for further collaboration between the work of our Network-affiliated Brighton-Allston Historical Society (BAHS) and that of Gurmeet Rai, also a Founder of our UNESCO/UNITWIN Network, given the resonances between their cultural heritage preservation and promotion of gender equality initiatives, and their respective track-records. Now the knowledge base of Professor Sudarshan, Founding Dean of the Jindal School of Government and Public Policy, will be enhancing these partnerships.
