UBC News Digest

Dec 12, 2003

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

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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.