It was an unlikely duo who faced an audience at the University of Geneva (October 14) to share their thoughts on human rights: celebrated American author and Nobel laureate, Toni Morrison and Swiss renegade politician Dick Marty. Morrison, who received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1993 becoming the first black woman and African-American writer to receive the prize, and Marty were both there to receive an honorary doctorate from the University of Geneva. 

The two very different personalities delighted the university audience with their personal views on human rights. The American author spoke about the problem of women’s rights, especially black women’s rights, in a world that continues to be dominated by men while Marty denounced the continuing human rights violations he has chronicled over the past decade as a member of the Council of Europe.