UBC News Digest

The UBC News Digest is a weekly summary of news stories about UBC people, research, learning, community, and internationalization initiatives. News Digest past issues are also available on-line.

Dec. 12, 2003

• Law professor recognized for work on UN Committee Against Torture
• Four first year students win $500 Sustainability Awards

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Law professor recognized for work on UN Committee Against Torture

Law professor Peter Burns was awarded the Renate Shearer Human Rights Award for 2003 by the United Nations Association of Vancouver and the B.C. Human Rights Coalition for his outstanding contribution to international human rights.

Burns was chair of the United Nations Committee Against Torture for the past six years. During that time, he engaged in UN missions to the Philippines, Malta, Russia, Albania, Cambodia, Serbia and Montenegro and represented the committee at UN world conferences on human rights in Vienna and Durban. The Committee Against Torture is elected by the states party to the Convention Against Torture (currently 134) and is charged with ensuring the effective implementation of that treaty. The committee is located at the UN Centre for Human Rights in Geneva.

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Four first year students win $500 Sustainability Awards

Four UBC students are the recipients of the new First Year Sustainability award. Darja Milidragovic (Faculty of Arts), Pablo Tseng (Faculty of Science), Ian Occguera (Faculty of Engineering), and Pailin Chongchitnant (Faculty of Agricultural Science), each won $500 from the Campus Sustainability Office (CSO) this year.

“We want UBC students to embrace sustainability as a way of thinking and take that with them into the communities where they live and work,” says Freda Pagani, director UBC’s Campus Sustainability Office. “The first step for new students who want to understand sustainability is to browse through our website. The four students who won the Imagine Awards have taken that first step. I hope they will feel inspired to continue on the journey towards building more sustainable communities.”

The CSO runs a variety of innovative initiatives designed to create a healthy community that values ecology, society, and economy. For more information on how to get involved with the CSO, visit www.sustain.ubc.ca.

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