Welcome to AHRI's April's newsletter. We hope that this month's newsletter finds you all well. The calls for paper submissions for the 2023 AHRI Conference is now open! Please find more information on this years conference, including dates, deadlines and more, below. 

- AHRI Secretariat 

The Annual AHRI Network Conference for 2023 will be hosted by Pedro Aruppe Human Rights Institute, The University of Deusto. 

The conference will take place September 7-9, 2023. The theme of the conference will be ” Human Rights Defenders Under Seige.”

The call for papers invites scholars, human rights defenders, and institutional representatives to contribute to reflect on the topics by submitting an abstract on one of the 4 thematic panels. 

The deadline to submit an abstract is 21 April, 2023. Successful applicants are expected to submit a paper from 4000-6000 words. 

Abstracts can be submitted to ahri2023@deusto.es Click the link below to look at the full call and stay updated using the conference website, using the second link/.

The UGent Human Rights Research Network (HRRN) is an interdisciplinary research consortium aimed at societal impact. It brings together the researchers of Ghent University and associated university colleges working on human rights. The consortium currently consists of 65 professors and their research groups totalling more than 200 members.

The HRRN has two main objectives: promoting interdisciplinary cooperation in human rights research, and fostering the societal impact of this research in close cooperation with societal stakeholders. It offers a framework in which expertise and inspiration are shared and strengthened, in which meetings and discoveries take place, and where new plans are created and supported.

Follow the link below to learn more about what the  University of Ghent HRRN is doing. 

FRA ( European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights ) 

Recent publications:

• 6 April: Roma survey 2021 now also available on data explorer

• 22 March: Report “Implementing the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: Human rights indicators”, helps independent national monitoring frameworks to fulfil their monitoring responsibility set out in Article 33 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD)

Selected upcoming publications:

• Your rights matter: people with disabilities. The report will pull together the disability-related data from FRA’s Fundamental Rights Survey.

Selected recent events:

• 21 and 22 March: FRA held a hybrid meeting with NHRIs and the European Network of National Human Rights Institutions (ENNHRI). FRA also invited its National Liaison Officers and EU Charter Focal Points. They discussed challenges and opportunities in applying the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and in monitoring the fundamental rights aspects to the rule of law. The discussions pointed to the need of increasing capacity of legal professionals in applying the EU Charter. This includes a possible role for NHRIs in monitoring how the spending of EU funds complies with the Charter. FRA will further address numerous promising practices, but also challenges, in its regional cooperation project, ‘Supporting National Human Rights Institutions in monitoring fundamental rights and the fundamental rights aspects of the rule of law’. The EEA and Norway Grants funds the project. The meeting was followed by a study visit from 23 to 29 March. Here FRA held capacity-building and peer-to-peer learning sessions with national project partners. The partners are National Human Rights Institutions from Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Latvia, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia. The focus was on promoting the national use of FRA’s e-learning Charter tool, optimising rule of law monitoring and developing guidance on the role of NHRIs in the context of EU funds monitoring. 

• 20 and 21 March: Over two days, judges, prosecutors and court staff were at FRA for a training seminar focusing on the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. There will be presentations and practical workshops looking at the Charter in the national context. The European Judicial Training Network organised the event together with FRA. It runs from 20 to 21 March. What is new is FRA’s updated Charter app promises a one-stop-shop for fundamental rights for mobile devices. It offers easy access to the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights in all EU languages in a mobile-friendly format.

Selected upcoming events:

• 25 April: FRA will hold one of its monthly webinars for civil society organisations participating in the Fundamental Rights Platform (FRP). It will introduce FRA’s ‘Guardianship of unaccompanied children’ trainers’ manual and related e-learning course. It follows an earlier webinar on 29 March. In this first webinar, FRA experts introduced the FRA ‘Fleeing Ukraine: Displaced people’s experiences in the EU’ report and related survey. It offered an update on FRA’s Ukraine-related work. By way of regular thematic webinars, FRA aims to encourage civil society organisations to learn more about FRA’s activities. It also seeks allows others in civil society to interconnect to exchange experiences and practices, and create synergies.

Other information of interest:

•   Check FRA publications here. 

•  Check FRA news here. 

• Subscribe the FRA newsletter here. 

• Subscribe for free to the Charter e-course at: FRA e-learning (europa.eu)

Norwegian Centre for Human Rights, Norway

News

Nordic Journal of Human Rights

Nordic Journal of Human Rights issue 40(4) is out. The Nordic Journal of Human Rights published a new issue. Issue 40(4) contains 4 scientific articles and 2 book reviews covering a wide variety of relevant issues in the human rights field. You can access the issue using the link below.

Human Rights Centre, University of Essex, UK

Short Course Focuses upon Conflict and International Law 

31 July- 4 August 2023

The Human Rights Conflict and International Law – A Field-Based Training Course will cover a range of topics related to the field of humanitarian aid, UN and diplomatic work.

Taught by leading practitioner in the field, Dr Conor Foley, the programme runs over five days and consists of a mixture of lectures, interactive exercises, skills and scenario-based activities, equipping participants with a realistic grounding in the challenges they are likely to face in the field.

All participants who successfully complete the course will receive a University of Essex, Human Rights Centre certificate.

The design of the course requires limiting enrolment to a maximum of 40 participants.

Use the link below to sign up for the course.

• Call: TELSP- Toruń Economic and Legal Summer Program, Human Rights Department, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Poland
• Call: ' How to Find the Brakes on a Slippery Slope?', Netherlands Institute of Human Rights ( SIM), University of Utrecht, Netherlands
• Event: Conflict and International Law: A Field- Based Training Course, Human Rights Centre, University of Essex, UK
• Event: Research Seminar on the Council of Europe Human Rights Day, Åbo Akademi University, Finland 
• Call: International Human Rights Law: An Introuction Course, Netherlands Institute of Human Rights ( SIM), University of Utrecht, Netherlands

Human Rights Department, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Poland

Call for Applications

Deadline: 20 April, 2023

TELSP - Toruń Economic and Legal Summer Program

Dates: 4 weeks, 14.08.2023-10.09.2023

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 3rd edition of the TELSP program. TELSP is an opportunity for students to develop a research project (under the supervision of NCU Faculty members) during a 4-week-long summer fellowship. Applicants may choose from a range of research areas, e.g.:

1. Criminal responsibility of corporations for acts against  environment (student’s home country and Poland) 
2.  Human rights law – an idea or a practical concept? 
3. Remote working in tax law: Evaluation of legal regulation and case law in the context of economic and social change
4. International human rights standards and their national implementation 
5. The future of constitutionalism in time of crisis 
6. The use of information and telecommunication technologies (ICT) in public tasks realization in selected countries
7. Democracy and the Digital: The Need for the New Social Contracts 
8. Current issues in maritime law 

Eligibility: Advanced undergraduate 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. 

Apart from the projects, once a week we will organize an invited lecture and a lunch or dinner for the entire group. We will also offer short trips / sightseeing in the Toruń area on selected weekends. All students will be asked to give 15-minute presentations about the results of their projects at the end of their stay in Toruń.

For more information follow the link below. 

Netherlands Institute of Human Rights (SIM), University of Utrecht, Netherlands

Call for Abstracts

Deadline: 15 , May 2023

'How to Find the Brakes on A Slippery Slope?'

When a country enters a phase of rule of law backsliding, it often finds itself on a slippery slope that seems to lead inexorably to a full-blown rule of law crisis. The Montaigne Centre for Rule of Law and Administration of Justice and the Netherlands Institute of Human Rights (SIM) of Utrecht University organise a workshop to explore different ways of finding the ‘brakes’ on such a slippery slope, by investigating the linkages between rule of law backsliding and international human rights law and mechanisms. Deadline for abstract submissions is 15 May 2023.

We invite proposals for papers comprising an abstract (of a maximum 350 words). These should be submitted, together with a cover letter by May 15, 2023, in one single PDF document. The cover letter should include a one-paragraph CV (of a maximum of 200 words) and explain in a few sentences the context of the paper: i.e. whether it is part of a PhD project, whether it is based on undertaken empirical research or part of ongoing research etc. Accepted contributors will be asked to provide a draft paper before the workshop. The selection process will be based on both the abstract's quality and its relation with other submitted proposals. Decisions on accepted papers will be made by early June 2023. After the workshop, we will invite a selected number of authors to submit their paper to be part of a special issue of an international, peer-reviewed journal or an edited volume with a renowned publisher (details will follow).

See more on how to submit your abstract by following the link below.

Human Rights Centre, University of Essex, UK 

Event 

31 July - 4 August 2023

Conflict and International Law: A Field-Based Training Course

The Essex Human Rights Centre presents a week-long practical development course, covering a range of topics related to the field of humanitarian aid, UN and diplomatic work. Taught by Human Rights Centre Fellow and leading practitioner in the field, Dr Conor Foley, the programme runs over five days and consists of a mixture of lectures, interactive exercises, skills and scenario-based activities, equipping participants with a realistic grounding in the challenges they are likely to face in the field.

31 July to 4 August : Colchester Campus
Use the link below to find out more and to register.

Netherlands Institute of Human Rights ( SIM), University of Utrecht 

Call for Applications

Deadline: 14 June, 2023

International Human Rights Law: An Introduction Course

The Netherlands Institute of Human Rights (SIM) will run its annual Summer School, International Human Rights Law: An Introduction, from 3 July to 7 July 2023 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, armed conflict, and regional human rights systems. The course is taught by experts based at SIM, Utrecht University, through lectures, interactive working groups, a moot, and excursion. It is attended annually by professionals and students from across the global, with an interest in gaining expertise in human rights law. Further information about the Summer School can be found using the below link. 

• Call: Comparative Law Review, Human Rights Department, Faculty of Law, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Poland

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

Call for Papers

"Comparative Law Review" vol. 29 (2023) - CfP

Deadline: 1 April, 2023

"Comparative Law Review" is inviting submissions for its next volume (29), which will be published in December 2023. The deadline for submissions for CLR vol. 29 is 1st of April 2023.

CLR (ISSN 0866-9449, e-ISSN 2391-7644) is a gold open access, peer-reviewed and refereed international journal published by the Faculty of Law and Administration at Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń (Poland). CLR is the fist Polish legal journals indexed Scopus. 

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. 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 and EU law. We warmly welcome contributions form AHRI network affiliated researchers.

Read the full call using the link below.