FXB Center Director to Serve As New York State Health Commissioner; Dr. Natalia Linos Named Acting Director

Headshots of Dr. Mary T. Bassett and Dr. Natalia Linos

Today, New York State Governor Kathy Hochul appointed FXB Center for Health and Human Rights Director Dr. Mary T. Bassett as Commissioner of the New York State Department of Health. Dr. Bassett joined the FXB Center in 2018, following four years of service as New York City’s health commissioner. During her time at the FXB Center, Dr. Bassett strengthened the Center’s focus on structural racism both domestically and abroad, including…

Child Protection: Harvard FXB Online Course through HarvardX

Do you want to learn about child protection through a child-centered systems approach to prevention and response? Then our new online course may be for you. The FXB Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University (Harvard FXB) is delighted to announce the launch of a new free online course: “Child Protection: Children’s Rights in Theory and Practice” in cooperation with Harvard’s online initiative, HarvardX. The course is currently open…

Fall 2018 Work-in-Progress Seminar Schedule

Harvard FXB’s Work-in-Progress (WIP) Series will start the semester with a presentation from Dr. Satchit Balsari on recent Harvard FXB research with the Rohingya in Cox’s Bazaar, Bangladesh. WIPs are an opportunity for researchers to share their work while it is still in formulation. A WIP generally starts with a formal presentation, followed by a lively question-and-answer period. This fall they generally take place on Wednesdays, from 1-2PM, with Dr.…

Harvard FXB Child Protection Curricula: Harvard Credentials with Heart

By Rebecca Shin This past year the François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University (Harvard FXB) has broadened its child protection pedagogy through three focused initiatives.  At the end of June, we completed our first week-long Child Protection Executive Education Course, with leaders from UNICEF and their national partners.  Participants from 13 countries across Africa, South America, South and East Asia, Central Europe and the Middle…

Harvard FXB to Explore Romani Realities in the US

Thanks to a grant from the Cummings Foundation, the François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University (Harvard FXB) is launching a new research project focused on the situation of Romani people in the United States. Since 2012, Harvard FXB has implemented an innovative research and capacity-strengthening program related to the Roma, who have long been an ill-treated minority, facing persecution and, in the past, even slavery.…

Letter from the Director, Dr. Jennifer Leaning

Dear colleagues, In the two years since our last report, the major issues that drive our work have become more prominent and more exiguous. As of 2018, one of every 110 people on earth is either an asylum seeker, refugee, or internally displaced. The calamitous wars in Syria and Yemen, the ferocity of the Myanmar regime against its Rohingya citizens, extreme environmental volatility brought about by climate change, increasing political…

International Moves Can Provide Pathway to Rational, Just and Inclusive Migration Policy, Says Bhabha

picture of Jackie Bhabha talking

Harvard FXB research director Jacqueline Bhabha recently gave the Rethinking Open Society lecture at the Central European University in Budapest earlier this spring. Below is the first paragraph from CEU’s coverage of her talk: “It is hard to think of a time when public engagement with migration policy globally has been as evident or as polarized as it is now,” said Harvard Professor Jaqueline Bhabha, as she opened her Rethinking…

Spotlight on the Harvard FXB Field Education Internship Program

The Harvard FXB Field Education Internship Program is a university-wide program established in 2014 at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and the Harvard FXB Center for Health and Human Rights. The FXB Field Education Internship Program engages Harvard students in global community service and bridges connections between academia and practice in a university-wide effort. The program provides an opportunity for Harvard students to expand their knowledge of and…

Albina du Boisrouvray Receives France’s Highest Honor: Transforming Tragedy into Humanitarian Action

by Harvard FXB Staff On March 14, 2017, Albina du Boisrouvray was awarded the honor of Officier de la Légion d’honneur, France’s highest order of merit, in a ceremony at the Quai d’Orsay in Paris, France. Jean-Marc Ayrault, French Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Development, presided over the ceremony attended by close friends and family, including Bernard Kouchner, the founder of Médecins sans Frontières, with whom she worked for…

Does Power Listen to Truth in the Case of the Romani People?

By Margareta Matache, Jacqueline Bhabha, and Andrzej Mirga On March 14, in Fogarasi and Others v. Romania, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) condemned Romanian police officers for their inhuman treatment of a Romani family. According to this highly respected international human rights court, the EU member state’s conduct, as enacted by its law enforcement agents, constituted a breach of Article 3 of the European Convention, which provides that…

President of India Honors FXB Fellow*

Dr. Satchit Balsari received a prestigious 2016 Dr B.C. Roy National Award from Pranab Mukherjee, President of India, at a ceremony in New Delhi on March 28, 2017. He was honored for outstanding services in the field of sociomedical relief. Dr. Balsari has long had an affiliation with the FXB Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University, currently as a Research Fellow. He is also an alumnus of…

Dr. Jumana Odeh Honored with 2017 World of Children Award

Congratulations to FXB fellow, Dr. Jumana Odeh, for her selection as one of four 2017 World of Children awardees. The award recognizes her for her long-standing work at the Palestinian Happy Child Centre in Ramallah with children who have developmental and learning disabilities or neurological disorders. This award is particularly prestigious as it is the alumni award–given to former awardees for their substantial further contributions. Dr. Odeh had previously been…

In the News: FXB and the US Immigration Executive Order

Late afternoon Friday, January 27, 2017, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order changing US policies and procedures regarding immigration and refugees. The situation is in flux. On February 3 in Seattle, federal judge James Robart, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, issued a nationwide stay, temporarily stopping enforcement of the order and ordering airlines to allow affected passengers to fly into the United States. Since the…

FXB Center Overview

The François-Xavier Bagnoud (FXB) Center for Health and Human Rights is the first academic center to focus exclusively on the practical dynamic between the issues of health and human rights. Founded in 1993 through a gift from the Association François-Xavier Bagnoud, the FXB Center is a world leader in building a conceptual basis of the right to health and driving advocacy initiatives to incorporate human rights norms into international health…