Findlay, Ohio, Oct. 1, 2002 —The University of Findlay has collaborated with the Anne Frank in the World Fund of Toledo to bring three civil rights activists as keynote speakers in the “Speak Truth to Power” series.

The first presentation will be on Wednesday, Oct. 9, from 3 to 5 p.m. in Ritz Auditorium and will feature Marina Pisklakove from Russia speaking on domestic violence situations in her country.

Russian officials estimate that close to 15,000 women are killed and another 50,000 are hospitalized each year due to domestic violence. No legislation outlawing abuse, no enforcement mechanisms and no support groups or protective agencies for victims exist in Russia.

This situation is what prompted Pisklakove to found a hotline for women in distress in 1993. Her work expanded to establish the first women’s crisis center in Russia. She has lobbied for legislation banning abuse and worked with an openly hostile law enforcement establishment to bring aid to victims and prosecution of criminals.

Other speakers in the series include Kailash Satyarthi of India discussing the issue of child labor on Tuesday, Oct. 29, from 9:30 to 11:30 p.m. in Ritz Auditorium. Over the last decade, he has emancipated more than 40,000 people, including 28,000 children, from bonded labor, a form of modern-day slavery. More than five million children are born into slavery, and another five million children are sent to work when their parents receive a token advance.

Satyarthi rescues children and women from enslavement in the overcrowded, filthy and isolated factories where conditions are deplorable, with inhumane hours, unsafe working conditions, rampant torture and sexual assault. He is now out on bail after false charges were brought against him by a disgruntled carpet export company executive following Satyarthi’s appearance on an expose aired on European television.

The final speaker in the series is Martin O’Brien, a human rights activist from Northern Ireland, on Tuesday, Nov. 19, from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. in Ritz Auditorium. As executive director of the Committee for the Administration of Justice (CAJ), Northern Ireland’s foremost human rights organization, O’Brien has played a key role in bringing a cessation to the conflict that has divided Northern Ireland for decades.

Founded in 1981, CAJ offers hands-on support to victims of abuse and provides human rights lawyer with support and legal resources. O’Brien has played an important role in drafting the strong human rights provisions in the Good Friday Peace Agreement, signed in 1998 by all parties, that set forth a time table and structure to end sectarianism and created a new power-sharing government in the north. O’Brien is a pacifist, yet his life has been touched by violence. In 1999, a lawyer and member of CAJ’s board was killed by a bomb left under her car.

The entire series is free and open to the public.