GABRIELA ADAMESTEANU, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF OF ROMANIA'S MAIN POLITICAL AND CULTURAL WEEKLY, WILL SPEAK AT BARD HALL IN NEW YORK CITY ON SEPTEMBER 13 The topic of her talk is "Gender Politics and Trafficking of Women and Children in Eastern Europe Today"

ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y.-Gabriela Adamesteanu, the editor-in-chief of 22 magazine, Romania's main political and cultural weekly, will speak at Bard Hall in New York City on the topic of "Gender Politics and Trafficking of Women and Children in Eastern Europe Today." The talk, presented by the Bard Globalization and International Affairs Program, will take place on Thursday, September 13, at 6:15 p.m. in the multipurpose room of Bard Hall, 410 West 58th Street, New York City. Norman Manea, the noted exiled Romanian writer and Bard College's Francis Flournoy Professor in European Studies and Culture, will introduce the program. Reservations are required for the talk as seating is limited; R.s.v.p. by calling 212-333-7575.

"The trafficking of people for prostitution and forced labor is one of the fastest growing areas of international criminal activity . . . the overwhelming majority of those trafficked are women and children," writes Francis T. Miko in Trafficking in Women and Children: The U.S. and International Response, a U.S. Department of State's Congressional Research Service Report of May 2000. The report names the former Soviet Union as the largest new source of trafficking for prostitution and the sex industry, with more than 100,000 persons trafficked each year from that region. An additional 75,000 or more are trafficked from Eastern Europe.

Gabriela Adamesteanu was awarded the annual prize of the Romanian Writers' Union in 1984. She was the editor of the literary publishing house Cartea Romaneasca (Bucharest) from 1984 through 1990. Adamesteanu is the vice president of the Romanian PEN Center, the president of the Foundation for Culture and Human Rights, and a member of the Group for Social Dialogue in Bucharest. She was an honorary fellow in writing at the University of Iowa's International Writing Program in 1990, a member of International PEN Women Writers' Committee, and a member of Women's Edition, Population Reference Bureau. Adamesteanu was also awarded the annual prize of the Romanian Writers' Union for a Young Author in 1975, and the annual prize of the Romanian Academy in 1976. In addition to Romanian she speaks English and French.

"I am an exception [in Romania]. All the top media jobs are held by men. The reason for me is that my magazine is edited by intellectuals who all have confidence in me," said Adamesteanu at the 2000 International Women's Media Foundation in Washington, D.C. "In my country, the women are as conservative or more conservative than men. They are reluctant to be in these positions."

The Bard Globalization and International Affairs Program offers students in their third or fourth year of college a unique opportunity to live in Manhattan and study with eminent scholars, journalists, and leading figures in the field of foreign relations. James Chace, director of the program and the Paul W. Williams Professor of Government and Public Law and Administration at Bard, explains, "As the world capital of media and international finance and the home of the United Nations, New York offers a singular opportunity for undergraduates to spend a semester combining academic study with work as interns in international financial, human rights, and policy-setting organizations."

All programs in the Fall 2001 Speakers Series begin at 6:15 p.m. in Bard Hall and require reservations, as there is limited seating. The next talk in the series is on Thursday, September 20, and the topic is "Foreign Policy Under George W," with Charles Kupchan, a senior fellow in the Council on Foreign Relations and a former staff member of the National Security Council, and Max Boot, Op-Ed page editor of the Wall Street Journal. On Thursday, October 4, Jeff Madrick, editor of Challenge magazine and contributor to the New York Times column "Economic Scene," will deliver a talk titled "Should the American Model be a Worldwide Model?" Christopher Isham, producer of ABC World News Tonight, will speak on the topic of "International Crime" on Thursday, October 25. On Thursday, November 15, Ian Bremmer, president of the Eurasia Group, will speak on "The Putin Factor." The 2001 Speakers Series concludes on Thursday, December 13, with a talk on "Covering the Balkan Wars" by Laura Silber, senior policy adviser with the Open Society Institute and former foreign correspondent of the Financial Times, and Dr. Thant Myint-U, policy analyst, Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affaris, United Nations, and former spokesman for Bosnia-Herzegovinia Command, United Nations Protection Force, Sarajevo.

This event was last updated on 09-05-2001

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