Yale Law School will host a lecture and panel discussion as part of the annual Alumni Weekend, Friday, Sept. 26 and Saturday, Sept. 27. Both events, free and open to the public, will take place at the Law School, Sterling Law Buildings, 127 Wall St.
In keeping with the weekend’s theme, “Yale in a Wider World: The International Role and Rule of Law,” Martin C.M. Lee, chair of the Democratic Party of Hong Kong, will present the Ralph Gregory Elliot Lecture on the topic “Freedom and the Rule of Law in Hong Kong” at4 p.m. on Friday in Rm. 127.
A panel discussion, “Revolution and Repair: Coming to Terms with the Injustices of Past Regimes,” will examine the aftermath of upheavals in South Africa, Chile and the former Soviet republics. The discussion will be held at 10 a.m. on Saturday in the Law School’s Levinson Auditorium.
A barrister by profession, Mr. Lee was first elected to Hong Kong’s Legislative Council in 1985. He fought for full democratic elections, opposed press censorship and sought to safeguard the rule of law. A former chair of the United Democrats of Hong Kong, the colony’s first political party, Mr. Lee founded the Democratic Party in 1994. The party leaders maintain that Hong Kong needs to develop democratic institutions and preserve freedom, human rights and the rule of law if the territory is to continue to prosper under the People’s Republic of China. In the 1995 elections (the last Hong Kong held as a British colony), Democratic Party candidates captured 85 percent of the popular vote, winning 19 seats and becoming the largest party in the Legislative Council. Beijing officials, however, said that the elections were “unfair and unreasonable” and “did not reflect the will of the Hong Kong people.” When Hong Kong returned to Chinese rule on July 1 of this year, Beijing disbanded the Legislative Council and replaced it with a Provisional Legislature.
Participants in Saturday’s panel will be Alex L. Boraine, vice chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in the Republic of South Africa; Jorge Correa, former executive director of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in the Republic of Chile; and Tina Rosenberg, foreign-policy editorial writer for The New York Times and author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning book “The Haunted Land: Facing Europe’s Ghosts After Communism.” The panel will be moderated by Professor Robert A. Burt of the Law School.
For further information about the Law School Alumni Weekend, please call the Law School at 432-1690.
