Association of Human Rights Institutes
April 2024

Welcome to AHRI's April 2024 newsletter. We hope that this month's newsletter finds you all well. Please share the newsletter with anyone you think could be interested. While the aim of the newsletter is to share information about the work, events and opportunities of AHRI member institutes anyone can sign up to receive the newsletter on the AHRI website.

- AHRI Secretariat 

AHRI News

 

Statement on the War in Gaza

On 12 April 2024, the AHRI Executive Board adopted a Statement on the War in Gaza. The text of the statement is available in English and French. 

 

AHRI conferences

The next AHRI conference will be held in Lund, Sweden, 12-14 September 2024 on the theme 'human rights in a polarised world'. Selected papers and panels will be notified by 6 May when registration for the conference will also open. For further information see https://rwi.lu.se/ahri-conference-2024/

The 2025 AHRI conference will be on the theme organised crime and human rights and take place in Lima, Peru, 11-13 September 2025. The conference is organised by the Institute for Human Rights and Democracy at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru.

AHRI member institutes interested in organising the 2026 please contact Magnus Killander, magnus.killander@up.ac.za, for further information and expressions of interest.

AHRI Member News

 

Joint International Ph.D Programme in "Human Rights, Society, and Multi-level Governance"

The call for admission to the PhD Programme in Human Rights, Society, And Multi-Level Governance - 40th series a.y. 2024/2025 is open.

Deadline: May 13th 2024 at 1:00PM (CEST)

The Ph.D Programme in Human Rights, Society and Multi-level Governance is a three-year, interdisciplinary academic programme offered by the University of Padova (Italy) and run by an international board. The administrative structure is the Human Rights Centre “Antonio Papisca” of the University of Padova.

The course offers 7 positions:

5 Scholarships funded by the University of Padova
the research project must fall within one of the following areas:

Protection of human rights and advocacy from a multilevel governance perspective - with a focus on the role of actors;

Environment, human rights and social justice social justice - focusing on the psychosocial conditions of young people in relation to environmental crises and social inequalities in the 'Anthropocene Era';

Climate justice, political agroecology and sustainable development - with a focus on climate finance, the fight against poverty and just transition.

2 Places reserved for candidates with qualification obtained at Tangaza University College (Kenya)
Topic: Social transformation on security, peace building and sustainable development in Africa, Peacebuilding,and Development in Africa

Information and application procedures: https://bit.ly/phd_humanrights_2024 

 

Call for Expressions of Interest – Activist Pedagogies in Human Rights Education

Expressions of Interest are invited for a Special Issue / Section of the Journal of Human Rights Practice. This Special Issue will focus on new and emerging ways in which human rights curricula engage with practice, and specifically how such curricula incorporate activist knowledge, as one means of pluralising the forms of knowledge taught within universities and supporting activism and civil society. In doing so, we seek to go beyond traditional modes of activist and community engagement, such as legal clinics and placements, to identify and share novel forms of applied learning.

Expressions of interest are invited in the form of a short 500-word abstract (by 10 May 2024, if possible). This will be followed by a series of online workshops for the scholars and teaching initiatives selected for the Special Issue. Small amounts of funding are available to support relevant teaching-related research.

The Special Issue/Section will be co-ordinated by three of Journal of Human Rights Practice editors. Please submit
expressions of interest – a 500-word abstract, short biographical paragraph, and an indication of whether funding support is needed - to all of the relevant co-editors:

- Kristi Kenyon, Director of Human Rights Program, University of Winnipeg –
kr.kenyon@uwinnipeg.ca
- Corinne Lennox, Programme Director – MA Human Rights, School of Advanced
Study, University of London – corinne.lennox@sas.ac.uk
- Paul Gready, Co-Director, Centre for Applied Human Rights, University of York;
UNESCO Chair, Protection of Human Rights Defenders and Expansion of Political
Space – paul.gready@york.ac.uk

 

Human Rights Centre Online Summer School on Human Rights

 The Human Rights Centre at the University of Essex is delighted to present its pioneering online summer school on Human Rights, taught by an interdisciplinary faculty of leading academics and practitioners. The Human Rights Summer School is an ideal course for human rights professionals and postgraduate students who are looking to build their capacity to be successful human rights defenders and researchers. The teaching programme covers a range of research methods and skills necessary for successful human rights practice and professional development in a challenging world. In addition to modules covering various research methods, the curriculum includes sessions on advocacy, organisational management, coping strategies and practitioner case studies with an international focus. The programme also includes sessions that address growing challenges faced by human rights professionals and highlights opportunities to overcome them.


The course will take place from Monday 10 to Friday 21 June 2024 and the deadline for applications is 31 May 2024. For any enquiries, including discounts that are available for University of Essex students, please contact: hrcsummerschool@essex.ac.uk. For more information, please visit: https://www.essex.ac.uk/summer-schools/human-rights

 

Centre for Applied Human Rights Launch of New Guidelines on the Temporary Relocation of Human Rights Defenders within Universities

 

The UNESCO Chair in the Protection of Human Rights Defenders and Expansion of Political Space at the Centre for Applied Human Rights, University of York, would like to invite you to the launch of new guidelines on the temporary relocation of human rights defenders within universities. We are currently working to co-create these guidelines with universities across the world who offer temporary relocation to HRDs / activists at risk, and those interested in doing such work, as well as those who host HRDs in other ways, e.g. as staff or students. The event will take the format of panel discussions with guest speakers including UNESCO representatives, the UN special rapporteur on human rights defenders, and former fellows from the Centre’s protective fellowship schemes. The launch will take place in York on Friday 5 July - to confirm attendance please email hrdhub@york.ac.uk, deadline is 31 May 2024.


For colleagues at universities interested in developing relocation programmes who wish to attend, please get in touch as there may be assistance with travel costs. For more information, visit: https://www.yorkunescochairhrds.org/events

 

Institute of Human Rights (SIM) Summer School

The Netherlands Institute of Human Rights (SIM) will run its annual Summer School, International Human Rights Law: An Introduction, from 8 July to 12 July 2024 inclusive. The Summer School provides participants with an in-depth introduction into law and practices relating to: civil and political rights, economic and social rights, regional human rights systems, amongst other topical human rights issues. The course is taught by experts based at SIM, Utrecht University, through lectures, interactive working groups, a moot, amongst other activities. It is attended annually by professionals and students from across the global, with an interest in gaining expertise in human rights law.

Deadline for application is 19 June 2024. For further information, visit:

https://utrechtsummerschool.nl/courses/law/international-human-rights-law-an-introduction

 

3rd Edition of the Summer School: "Human Rights & Persons Deprived of Liberty"

Join the 3rd Edition of the Summer School 'Human Rights & Persons Deprived of Liberty', hosted by the ERC-IMPACTUM team, the Programme for Studies on Human Rights in Context, the Human Rights Centre at Ghent University, and the Global Campus on Human Rights. Ambitious students pursuing degrees in law, political science, public health, or criminology, as well as postgraduate students (masters, LLM, PhD, or postdoc), civil society organization members, and policymakers are invited to apply for the summer school.

Taking place on the Teams platform from the 18th to the 21st of June 2024, this summer course, curated by Prof Dr Clara Burbano Herrera (IMPACTUM, ERC, Ghent University) and Prof Dr Manfred Nowak (Global Campus of Human Rights), aims to equip participants with expertise in addressing structural challenges within prison systems through the lens of international human rights law, public health, criminal law, and practical application. Our goal is to foster positive change in the human rights landscape for individuals deprived of liberty both domestically and globally. Engage with esteemed academics from Europe, Africa, and North & South America who are at the forefront of this field, gaining insights into the multifaceted issues surrounding the human rights of persons deprived of liberty on local and international scales.

Participants from the Global South can apply for a scholarship that will fully cover the registration fee. Applications are open until Friday 3rd of May 2024. For course & application details: https://www.humanrightsincontext.be/international-human-rights-course

 

Summer Program of Advanced Studies on Human Rights and Humanitarian Law

The Academy on Human Rights and Humanitarian Law at the American University Washington College of Law invites applications for its 2024 summer school on advanced studies on human rights and humanitarian law which will hold from 27 May – 14 June 2024. The Program offers a broad spectrum of classes taught by over 40+ world-renowned faculty members in both English and Spanish over the course of three intensive weeks. Participants with a law degree and non-lawyers with a strong interest and tracked experience in the field of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law are welcomed to apply. Through this Program, the Academy on Human Rights and Humanitarian Law provides the unique opportunity to learn and engage with judges of the International Criminal Court (ICC), the International Court of Justice (ICJ), Special Rapporteurs and Committee members of United Nations, members of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, experts from prominent NGOs, and professors from all over the world. Deadline for application is 1 May 2024, find out more here

 

Bonavero Institute Student Fellowships 

The Bonavero Institute of Human Rights at the University of Oxford invites application for its Student Fellowships. The aim of the Bonavero Student Fellowships programme is to provide opportunities for students to apply and improve their knowledge of human rights law and to obtain a valuable platform to develop careers in this field. Students will have the opportunity to work with a range of organisations working in the field of human rights law, including the rule of law. These, among others, include senior appellate courts, world-leading NGOs and research institutions. The Student Fellowships Programme gives our students a chance to explore their professional options in a variety of otherwise unpaid placements, both within the UK and across the world. Deadline for application is 19 May 2024, find out more here.

 

Gordon Henderson Postdoctoral Fellowship 2024-2025

The competition for the Gordon F. Henderson Postdoctoral Fellowship 2024-2025 is now open. The Gordon F. Henderson Postdoctoral Fellowship is offered to a researcher who will spend one year at the University of Ottawa’s Human Rights Research and Education Centre (HRREC) to develop a research focus that is consistent with the Centre’s mandate and that promotes an innovative perspective. Multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches to the proposed research project will be given preference.

Details on the application process can be found on the HRREC website

Share news about events, publications and opportunities

As an AHRI member do you have something that you would like to share in the newsletter or on the AHRI website and social media? You can share information about your research and publications, past and upcoming events, scholarship opportunities etc. Please submit via the newsletter form or via email: administration@ahri-network.org. 

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