NEWS & Open Calls – March 2021

Human Rights Department, Faculty of Law and Administration, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Poland

Nicolaus Copernicus University Human Rights Department lecture series on ‘Contemporary issues of human rights theory and practice. Global, regional and national perspectives’. Please see the website for further details.

Call for Applications: TELSP – Toruń Economic and Legal Summer Program

Dates: 4 weeks, 16 August 2021-12 September 2021

Deadline: 14 May 2021, 14:00 CET, applications open from 19 April 2021

The Faculty of Economic Sciences and Management and the Faculty of Law and Administration of the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, Poland, are pleased to welcome applications for the 1st edition of the TELSP program. TELSP is an opportunity for students to lead a 4-week-long summer research project in one of the projects available, such as ‘The crisis of representative democracy’, ‘Current challenges to human rights protection in Europe’, and ‘The 20th century and present critique as a basis to strengthen protection of democracy, rule of law and human rights’. Eligibility: Advanced undergraduate & PhD students from all countries. The Project is sponsored by the NCU. There is no tuition fee, successful applicants are offered accommodation and a daily allowance. Travel costs will not be reimbursed.

More details are available on the website.

Call for Papers: Comparative Law Review vol. 27 (2021)

Deadline: June 30th 2021

Comparative Law Review (ISSN 0866-9449) (‘CLR’) is an open access, peer-reviewed and refereed international journal published by the Faculty of Law and Administration at Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń (Poland) since 1989 (with some intervals). The scope of ‘CLR’ includes both private and public law, with particular focus on comparative studies. The Editors encourage authors to submit articles and shorter notes that are interdisciplinary in nature and/or analyse a legal problem from a comparative perspective sense largo. The Journal invites papers concerning both what is known as classic comparative law, as well as multi-aspect and multi-dimensional comparative law (comparative aspects of legal norms, institutions, branches of law, legal systems, families, and types of law, comparison from the perspective of time/space/evolution). Apart from that, we are open to publishing papers concerning only foreign law, provided that they can serve as valuable material for law-comparative studies. We particularly welcome proposals elaborating on how the comparative method is applied in domestic and international law-making and jurisprudence. Consequently, we invite original contributions on public international law (including IHRL and IHL) and EU law. By the same token, we welcome papers dealing with all fields of domestic law, legal theory and philosophy, as well as history of law.

For additional information, please visit the journal’s website: www.comparativelawreview.umk.pl

Academy on Human Rights and Humanitarian Law of the American University Washington College of Law, U.S.A

Call for applications: LLM in International Human Rights and Humanitarian Law

Deadline: 1 August 2021

Apply to the LL.M. in International Human Rights and Humanitarian Law at American University Washington College of Law (AUWCL). AUWCL is ranked #4 in International Law, and it is the only Law school in the U.S. to offer a hybrid LL.M. program in International Human Rights and Humanitarian Law with online and residential course components in both English and Spanish. This unique LL.M. is designed for practitioners and other human rights advocates who wish to pursue advanced studies in international human rights law and humanitarian law alongside their existing work responsibilities. AUWCL has built an outstanding reputation in this field, and it is highly recognized around the world. Moreover, its unique location in Washington D.C. offers unparalleled opportunities to legal professionals from the U.S. and worldwide. Students will meet world-renowned human rights experts who will become professional contacts for future work-related opportunities.

This degree is also offered in Spanish (LL.M. en Derechos Humanos y Derecho Internacional Humanitario). Students can select to take courses in English and Spanish or complete their LL.M. fully in Spanish.

Applications for Fall 2021 are now open! Applications are being reviewed on a rolling admission basis. Scholarship opportunities are available. The Deadline to apply for the Fall Semester is August 1, 2021. To learn more about the program, contact us at humanrightsllm@wcl.american.edu.

Apply here to the English LL.M. Program

Aplique aquí al LL.M. en Español

Centre for the Study of Human Rights Law, University of Strathclyde, UK

A Scottish Government National Taskforce for Human Rights Leadership, co-chaired by a Centre for the Study of Human Rights Law Professor, Alan Miller, has made 30 recommendations to introduce a new human rights framework for Scotland.

The Taskforce, co-chaired by Professor Alan Miller and Scottish Government Cabinet Secretary, Shirley-Anne Somerville, which also included Strathclyde’s Professor Elisa Morgera as a member and Dr Elaine Webster on the Taskforce’s Advisory Panel, was established in early 2019.

Its task was to set out a new statutory framework to bring internationally recognised human rights into domestic law following Brexit which was understood to have weakened the present framework of human rights and social protections and which gave impetus to the need of a new framework.

In a newly-published report the Taskforce makes a total of 30 recommendations which have been accepted by the Scottish Government.

Dependent upon the outcome of the Scottish general election in May the government will introduce in the next session of the Parliament a Bill to introduce the new framework.

It will introduce the internationally recognised rights such as the right to an adequate standard of living including adequate food and housing, the right to a healthy environment, the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, the right to social security and the right to take part in cultural life.

The full news item can be found on the Strathclyde website.

American University Washington College of Law’s Academy on Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, U.S.A

Call for Applications: Program of Advanced Studies on Human Rights and Humanitarian Law        

American University Washington College of Law’s Academy on Human Rights and Humanitarian Law is pleased to announce the 2021 Program of Advanced Studies on Human Rights and Humanitarian Law. Offering a robust program that includes 13 courses in English and Spanish, and bringing to you the top human rights experts in the field. Take advantage of this opportunity to learn, in real time, from experts that are actively addressing the most relevant and current issues in the human rights field. Participants will also network with mid-career professionals, human rights defenders and activists, and law students from all over the world!   

Follow links below for more information on courses, professors and registration.      

Courses: https://bit.ly/2Be9WjA

Professors: https://bit.ly/39dmENc

Registration: https://bit.ly/2v58mQ8

Human Rights Law Centre, University of Nottingham, UK

Event: Taking Stock of the European Social Charter at 60

Date: 28 April 2021

The University of Nottingham Human Rights Law Centre, together with the Roma Tre Centro Internazionale di Ricerca ‘Diritto e Globalizzazione’and the European Social Charter Department of the Council of Europe, invite you to an event marking the 60^th anniversary of the 1961 European Social Charter. Featuring expert speakers, this workshop will focus on ‘taking stock’ of the Charter and the work of its supervisory body – the European Committee of Social Rights – so far. The event will take place on line on 28 April, 10:00-13:30 GMT.

The European Social Charter system is the oldest and most wide-ranging instrument providing for social rights in Europe. From the gender pay gap to the rights of migrants and unaccompanied children, from older persons’ rights to right to strike, the Charter has proved a living instrument capable of engaging with the challenges faced by Europeans in the 60 years since its adoption. Despite this, the system remains frequently neglected and misunderstood both by social rights and human rights law actors. This event will both celebrate and critique the European Social Charter system in light of the legal, social and political factors that have shaped it since 1961.

Speakers will address:

• Key thematic areas in terms of the European Social Charter, including older person’s rights, children’s rights, the right to health, and equality and non-discrimination
• The European Social Charter’s contribution to a European model of social rights
• Key institutional developments throughout the history of the system – and the reasons for those developments

Confirmed speakers include:  

See the website for online registration.

FRA (European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights)

Call for Applications: LLM in International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights

Deadline: 29 January 2021 (for applications with a scholarship) and 26 February 2021 (for applications without a scholarship).

Applications for the 2021-2022 academic year of this programme are open!

Selected recent publications:

·    Crime, safety and victims’ rights – Summary – Fundamental Rights Survey, Currently available in EN; further languages to come in 2021

Selected upcoming publications:

·    End of March: report onPresumption of innocence: procedural rights in criminal proceedings

·    April: FRA Opinion on equality in the EU 20 years on from the initial implementation of the equality directives

Selected recent events:

·   Beginning of March: Fundamental Rights Forum 2021: website and call for proposals launched. Do you have an idea for a session that could help shape the human rights agenda for the years to come? Then, we want to hear from you – visit the website.

Selected upcoming events:

·    End of April: Anniversary event on the EU Charter in Warsaw, national follow-up event to the EU level event of 7 December 2020 (similar events were already held in France, Hungary, Spain and other countries will follow).

Other information of interest:

·    Check FRA publications here.

·    Check FRA news here.

·    Subscribe to the FRA newsletter here.