A alumna from the University of Â鶹´«Ã½ at Hilo represented her homeland, the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI), at a United Nations meeting on human rights held in Geneva, Switzerland, this fall.
Tamelia Rang, who graduated in December 2024, serves as human rights coordinator at the Ministry of Culture and Internal Affairs, RMI. Before stepping into that role, she was nominated to represent the RMI as a delegate at the U.N. 60th Session of the Human Rights Council.
The annual meeting ensures that underdeveloped countries and states, in particular those without permanent representation in Geneva, are able to participate and contribute to the work of the U.N. Human Rights Council.
“Participating in the council sessions enabled me to better advance and promote human rights issues that are of primary importance for my region and country, such as climate change, the Nuclear Legacy, gender equality, and right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment,” said Rang.
‘I want to thank you’
For UH Hilo professor Su-Mi Lee, the timing was striking. She was getting ready to lead her students through a U.N.-style climate-change exercise while her former student was contributing to an actual U.N. meeting.
“I am very proud of her,” Lee said.
Rang said she frequently finds herself drawing on the lessons and values she absorbed in Lee¡¯s classes.
“I wanted to thank you,” said Rang in an email to Lee, “as all of these (lessons) were very instrumental in helping me contribute and participate meaningfully in international spaces.”
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—By Susan Enright