News

The ERC-IMPACTUM team, the Programme for Studies on Human Rights in Context, the Human Rights Centre, Ghent University, and the Global Campus on Human Rights are pleased to invite highly motivated students that are achieving their degree in law, political sciences, public health, or criminology, or postgraduate students (masters, LLM, PhD or postdoc) as well as staff of civil society organisations and policymakers to the 2nd  Edition of the Summer School ‘Human Rights & Persons Deprived of Liberty’.  

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This summer course will be held on the Zoom/Teams platform from the 27 to the 30 of June 2023. 

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Curated by Prof Dr Clara Burbano Herrera (IMPACTUM the ERC, Ghent University) and Prof Dr Manfred Nowak (Global Campus of Human Rights), the course aims to provide participants with suitable expertise on structural problems around prisons from the perspective of international human rights law, public health, criminal law, and practice as well as contribute to the improvement of human rights of persons deprived of liberty in their homeland and around the world. 

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Participants will have the opportunity to interact with world-leading academics from Europe, Africa and North & South America working in this field, gaining awareness of complex issues related to the human rights of persons deprived of liberty nation-wide and world-wide.

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Applications are open until Tuesday 2 May 2023. 

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Apply now: Summer School online application platform.  

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More details: Download the Summer School Program 

The Academy on Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, American University (USA) has announced the Honour Jury for the Human Rights Essay Award 2023, including our Human Rights in Context Director Prof Clara Burbano-Herrera! The judges are in charge of selecting the winners and honorable mentions of the 2023 Edition. The topic 2023: Equality and Human Rights: Confronting Racial Discrimination. More information: here

We are excited to have Charlotte Vercammen joining the IMPACTUM & Human Rights in Context teams! Together with other 4 researchers and under the supervision of Prof Clara Burbano Herrera, Charlotte will spend the next few years studying the impact of Urgent Measures in protecting at-risk detainees in Latin-America. 

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On this ocassion Prof Dr Larissa Bombardi is our guest speaker. She will give a presentation entitled “Geography of Asymmetries and Chemical Colonialism - A Brazilian Woman Geographer and Human Rights Defender in Exile”, in which Larissa will shed light on where socio-legal and political context stands today with regard to double standards in pesticide exports and its impact on the right to health and human rights defenders. We would like to express our gratitude to the Central and South America Platform (CESAM) and Human Rights in Context team for the co-organisation! 

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Panelist: Prof Dr Larissa Bombardi

Chairs: Prof Dr Yves Haeck - Prof Dr Clara Burbano Herrera

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Time I Place

Tuesday, 21 February, 16:00-19:00

Auditorium E, Sint-Pieterniewstraat 41, T2 Technicum Blok 2 (Campus UFO)

We wish you a healthy and joyful holiday season. We look forward to seeing you in the New Year. 

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Warm regards, Abrazos,

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Human Rights in Context Team

Prof Clara Burbano Herrera presented her ERC Project 'IMPACTUM' at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law on 14 October 2022. We would like to thank Prof von Bogdandy (Director Max Planck Institute), Prof Dr Mariela Morales and all colleagues for the kind invitation and enriching discussions.

We are delighted to announce that the book ‘The Participation of Victims in International Criminal Proceedings: An Expressivist Justice Model’ by our postdoc researcher Alessandra Cuppini is finally out!  This book contributes to the debate on the role afforded to victims before international criminal courts by providing an in-depth discussion on issues related to victims’ participatory rights from the perspective of expressivist foundation of international criminal justice, international human rights law and victimology. 

Available at: http://routledge.com/9781032104553

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Use code FLE22 to receive 20% off your purchase!​

​The Human Rights Committee organised on 19 July a closed meeting with the drafters of The Nijmegen Principles and Guidelines on Interim Measures for the Protection of Human Rights, including Profs Burbano Herrera and Haeck. 

We trust this important meeting will contribute to the real protection of persons in danger around the world.

A big thank you goes out to all professors who presented thought-provoking lectures on highly topical issues concerning persons deprived of liberty. Thank you also to our participants, and our co-directors Profs Manfred Nowak & Clara Burbano-Herrera for organising this summer course. Last but not least thanks to Alessandra Cuppini and Aurélie Van Baelen for the amazing support.

Human Rights in Context team was invited to participate in the "Expert Panel Discussion: International Dialogue of Experiences and Best Practices for the Construction of a National System for Human Rights Defenders and Journalists in Mexico". Our Director Prof Clara Burbano Herrera talked about the importance of the Inter-American Human Rights System in protecting journalists and human rights defenders in the Americas. The event was organised by UNESCO and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mexico on 7 June 2022. The event was live-streamed.

The Human Rights in Context team warmly congratulates our Director Prof Clara Burbano Herrera for this academic achievement. We are proud that the European Research Council (ERC) has recognised Dr Burbano Herrera’s academic work, through awarding her research and innovation funding aimed at advancing scientific knowledge.

With the ambitious research project IMPACTUM, Prof Burbano Herrera aims to assess from an interdisciplinary perspective the impact of urgent measures in protecting at-risk persons. Previous studies on urgent measures have focused on the procedural legal aspects. But what about the practical, financial and political constraints that hinder the implementation of urgent measures?

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By studying the full context in which urgent measures are applied, the project aims to develop a 'critical normative impact framework' useful to provide a deeper theoretical analysis, as well as insight into how to formulate urgent measures to maximise their practical protective effects.

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We are convinced that the project “Assessing the impact of urgent measures in protecting at-risk detainees in Latin-America” (IMPACTUM) will uncover and present new knowledge on emerging issues with urgent measures that are currently unaddressed in academia and in practice.

Join us! Panel Discussion: 'Best Practices in the Regional Protection of Human Rights'.

Moderator Prof Killander, Research Director, University of Pretoria.

Panelists: Prof Frans Viljoen, Director Human Rights Centre, University of Pretoria, Prof Yves Haeck, Director, Human Rights in Context Ghent University, Dr Nkatha Murungi, Vice-Director Human Rights Centre, University of Pretoria, Prof Clara Burbano Herrera, Director Human Rights in Context, Ghent University. 

The event will take place on Friday 8 April 2022, Pretoria, South Africa.

 In commemoration of International Women’s Day three blog posts have been published. Thanks to our wonderful colleagues Alejandra Vicente and Julie Bardeche from REDRESS, Valentina Montoya from the University de Los Andes, and Ineke Boerefijn from the Netherlands Institute for Human Rights for their relevant insights. Read the blog posts here

Join us to our first Expert Workshop of 2022 entitled 'Captured by the Past: Monuments - Conflicts - Law'.

Over the centuries, totalitarian regimes removed monuments they did not agree with. Should democracies follow this path? 

Convenors:

Dr Alina Cherviatsova, Prof Yves Haeck, Prof Clara Burbano Herrera, and Prof Eva Brems

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• Day:   Friday 21 January

• Time: From 10:00h until 18:00

• Virtually via zoom

• Registration: https://webappsx.ugent.be/eventManager/events/Monuments

As the year ends, we at Human Rights in Context would like to thank you for making 2021 an exceptional year for us. We truly  appreciate your participation in our academic events, as we strive to organize relevant and timely activities on the most pressing issues facing the world. We wish you a warm and happy holiday season. Our team looks forward to another academic year working towards a more inclusive and equitable world.

Desmond Tutu died today (26 December) aged 90. Tutu has always been an inspiration for our academic work. Our deepest condolences to his loved ones and the entire human rights network.

Prof Dr Yves Haeck (Rapporteur), Prof Dr Clara Burbano Herrera (Registrar), Prof Em Johan Vande Lanotte (Initiator), and Prof Dr Rik Van de Walle (Rector of Ghent University) play an active role in the Turkey Tribunal.

In recent years, human rights violations have increasingly been reported in Turkey, a Council of Europe member state, following the coup attempt. Various international human rights bodies have confirmed this, sometimes even in very sharp terms. That is why the Turkey Tribunal, a “people’s tribunal”, was created. 

Victims, witnesses, and experts were heard by the Tribunal in Geneva from 20 until 24 September 2021. Following an intensive week, the Tribunal, composed of Prof Em Dr Françoise Tulkens (President), Prof Angelita Baeyens, Prof Dr Ledi Biancu, Prof Em Dr Giorgio Malinverni, Prof Dr John Pace, and Justice Prof Dr Johann Van Der Westhuizen, delivered its Opinion, establishing that Turkey has committed serious human rights violations. 

While the Tribunal is not a body that issues legally binding decisions, its ruling has high moral authority. All documents, the testimonials, and the opinion of the judges have been published. In this way, the Tribunal has informed and raised awareness towards the issue among the international community. 

Profs Burbano Herrera and Haeck (Human Rights Centre, Ghent University) said: “We feel honoured to have been part of this important event for the human rights community, and for having helped to bring a kind of justice to the victims and their families (…). We would also like to express our gratitude to everyone who has contributed to the Turkey Tribunal for their commitment and hard work”.

More on the Turkey Tribunal: https://turkeytribunal.com

On the photo the Judges and Registrars of The historical Turkey Tribunal, including Prof Dr Clara Burbano Herrera. The Tribunal was created in 2020 to investigate the increasing number of allegations of human rights abuses committed by the Turkish government in recent years. Video 

During the past years and following a conference co-organised by Radboud University, Ghent University and Università Napoli 2 in Nijmegen in 2015, our Directors Prof Clara Burbano Herrera and Prof Yves Haeck were part of a group of experts in drafting the “Nijmegen Principles and Guidelines on Interim Measures for the Protection of Human Rights”. We are proud to share these Principles and Guidelines with you and we hope they will contribute to the effective protection of persons currently in extreme and imminent danger around the world! You can read the Guidelines on this link

Team member Dr. Alina Cherviatsova, Marie Sklodowska-Curie, project: “To Destroy or To Preserve: Monuments, Law and Democracy in Europe”, participated in the webinar  ‘Memory Politics Through National Lenses’ which explores how the 20th century’s past is (re)interpreted by different countries. The event took place on 22 October. More info here and here

Our Director Prof Clara Burbano Herrera together with Alicia Homs Ginel (Member of the European Parliament) participated in the event "The Situation of Human Rights Defenders in Latin-America: The Effects of the Pandemic and the EU strategy". Prof Burbano discussed the current situation of danger of human rights defenders in Latin-America, and how their work is essential for the advancement of democracy, human rights and the rule of law. The event took place on Wednesday 30 June @ 17h. You can watch the event on this Link

Human Rights in Context together with the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law (Heidelberg, Germany), organised an expert meeting within the framework of our collaborative work entitled 'Dialogues ICCAL in CONTEXT'. The expert meeting with the Ecuadorian Constitutional Court aimed to grasp, directly from the judges, how the constitutional adjudication worked in a society characterised by deep-rooted social exclusion and inequality. In this regard, one of the most salient features of the Ecuadorian Constitutional jurisprudence is the proactive and creative methods - including the integration of Inter-American Human Rights standards - to keep the Executive accountable during the COVID-19 Pandemic. You can watch the event on this link.

Our Directors Prof Yves Haeck and Prof Clara Burbano Herrera together with Prof B. Menzur (Member UN Committee on the Rights of the Child) participated in the Roundtable 'Regionalisation of Children's Rights'. The event was organised by Prof K Hanson and Prof R. Ruggiero (University of Geneva). The event took place on 20 May 2021.

Our Directors Prof Yves Haeck and Prof Clara Burbano Herrera participated in the international Conference 'Rule of Law from Below', organised by Utrecht University. The event took place on 29-30 October 2020.

We are happy that our book "Human Rights Behind Bars: Tracing Vulnerability in Prison Populations Across Continents from a Multidisciplinary Perspective" Clara Burbano Herrera and Yves Haeck, (eds)​ The Hague, Springer, 2022, 355p has been published. ​

We would like to express our gratitude to our excellent co-editors Yves Haeck and Clara Burbano Herrera and all the authors who shared their experiences and views regarding prisons. They are: Manfred Nowak, Flavia Piovesan, Yves Haeck, Tom Daems, Clara Burbano Herrera, Manu Krishan, Silvia Serrano, Kresimir Kamber, Christine Bicknell, Mariela Morales Antoniazzi, Bernice Elger, Pedro Villareal, Jörg Pont, Stefan Enggist, Heino Stöver, Hans Wolff, Katerina Sechidou, Aurélie Van Baelen, Alessandra Cuppini, Helene Seaward, Tenzin Wangmo, Bronwyn Naylor, Sharon Shalev, Par Engstrom, and Tom Pegram.  

Luna Negro and Alberte Hansen have joined our team! They will do research on topics related to the rule of law, prisons and human rights. We are glad to have you both among us! 

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Our team together with the International Network for Human Rights Europe (RIDHE) co-organised the seminar: 'Human Rights in Nicaragua'. We were able to exchange and debate on the situation of human rights in Nicaragua, the rule of law, democracy and prisons.
 

Panelists: Elthon Rivera Cruz, Thomas Aubineau, Marta Castillo, and Prof Dr Clara Burbano Herrera 
 

Time I Place 

Thursday, 9 February, 12:00 - 14:00

Faculty of Law and Criminology

Ghent University 

Our sincere congratulation to Prof Clara Burbano Herrera for this nomination, which is a recognition of her important academic work on human rights. Well deserved!  

The Human Rights in Context team is organizing a new monthly talking series to discuss human rights in the Americas. Anyone interested in human rights issues, and who speaks Spanish, is very welcome. If you would like to join us, please send an e-mail to Mario Andrés Torres. Our talks take place in the Faculty of Law and Criminology (Ghent University). 

On the photo: Mario Torres (PhD Researcher), Frozan Akbaryaard (Research Assistant), Mayra Nunez (PhD Researcher), Nina Kolowratnik-Pointl (PhD researcher), Clara Burbano Herrera (Professor of Human Rights), Alessandra Cuppini (Postdoctoral Research Fellow), Genaro Manrique (PhD Researcher) and Gustavo Prieto (Postdoctoral Research Fellow).

We are very proud of Evelyn Merckx who defended her PhD on Child-friendly justice in child custody and contact cases after parental separation. The public defense took place on 14 November at the Faculty of Law and Criminology of Ghent University. 

About the dissertation: Parental separation leads to many changes in children's family life. Despite these changes, the perspective of children can be neglected during child custody and contact proceedings and amicable negotiations. Professionals wish to protect and shelter children from the court and shield them from the parental conflict. However, neglecting the child's perspective can harm the child's well-being. Therefore, this research investigates how child-friendly justice can be achieved in child custody and contact cases, by taking into account the child's best interests, the child's right to be heard, the child's right to maintain contact with both parents and the child's psychosocial well-being. The research incorporates interdisciplinary research, the perspective of family judges and children and offers recommendations to policy-makers and family judges.

We are seeking to fill 3 full-time PhD positions and 1 Researcher (15%) as part of the large-scale research project 'IMPACTUM' Assessing the Impact of Urgent Measures in Protecting At Risk-Detainees in Latin-American led by Prof Clara Burbano Herrera. IMPACTUM is funded by the European Research Council (ERC) and hosted at Ghent University (Belgium). Apply before 5 October. If you hold a degree in law and/or criminology find more info here. If you hold a degree in political science here and here

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We are also seeking to fill 1 full-time Academic Assistant in Human Rights. You will be able to assist Prof Yves Haeck and to do your PhD under his supervision. Apply until 16 August. More info here

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Our warmest congratulations to Dr Alessandra Cuppini and Dr Gustavo Prieto for having obtained a Postdoctoral scholarship grant from the FWO. We are happy to have both of you on our Human Rights in Context team.

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The Programme for Studies on Human Rights in Context, Human Rights Centre, Ghent University, and the Global Campus on Human Rights are pleased to invite highly motivated students and researchers to the Summer School ‘Human Rights & Persons Deprived of Liberty’.

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This Summer Course will be held on the Zoom platform from Tuesday 5 to Friday 8 of July 2022.

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Curated by Prof Dr Clara Burbano Herrera (Ghent University) and Prof Dr Manfred Nowak (Former UN Special Rapporteur on Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment, Professor University of Vienna), the Summer Course aims to provide participants with suitable understanding on structural problems around prisons from the perspective of international human rights law, public health, criminal law, and practice.

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Participants will have the opportunity to interact with world-leading academics from Europe, Africa and North & South America working in this field.

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See you in July! 

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Apply now: Summer School on line application platform

Yves Haeck's UGent Moot Court Team, consisting of Mariam Vandenberghe, Wout Platteau, Nel De Backer and Iris Vanheule, coached by the brilliant Hanne Ollevier, Aurélie Van Baelen and Martijn Vermeersch, for reaching the semi-finals on the Inter-American HRs Moot Court Competition, thereby also winning the Prize for the Best memorial and the Best oralists for the victims in English!

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 Our students of the Ghent University pleaded before a jury of diplomats at UNESCO in Paris, in preparation for their participation in the Inter-American Human Rights Moot Court Competition. The bench, which consisted of three esteemed ad hoc-judges, challenged our students with excellent, critical questions.

Many thanks to the Permanent Delegation of Belgium to UNESCO for this unforgettable experience. A personal thanks to Belgian diplomat Andy Van Pachtenbeke and Prof Dr Yves Haeck (Director Human Rights in Context) for organising this session. Many thanks to Juan Pablo Paniego, Asoid García-Márquez and Andy Van Pachtenbeke, for agreeing to be the ad hoc judges. Thank you as well to the team's coaches Martijn Vermeersch, Hanne Ollevier and Aurélie Van Baelen. Last but not least, thank you Dr Santiago Villalpando, for dedicating your time to introduce our students to the world of international law at UNESCO. The event took place on 11 May 2022 in Paris.

We are delighted to announce our forthcoming book "Human Rights Behind Bars: tracing vulnerability in prison populations from a multidisciplinary perspective", Clara Burbano Herrera and Yves Haeck (eds), Springer, 2022

Our team welcomes new Doctoral Researcher Mayra Nunez Pastor. Her research area is transitional justice, focused on reparations on economic, social and cultural rights. Mayra will work under the supervision of Prof Burbano Herrera (UGent) and Prof Gomez Isa (Deusto University). We are happy you have joined our team!

Join us to the Workshop ‘Russia’s War Against Ukraine and the World’, which is  organised by the Programme for Studies on Human Rights in Context, the Human Rights Centre (Ghent University), and Kule Institute for Advanced Study, University of Alberta.

Date 17 March 2022, 17:00-19:00 (CET).

Registration: here (online)

We are welcoming a new researcher fellow Kauan Juliano Cangussu. Kauan will work on issues related to indigenous' human rights in Brazil. We are glad to have you among us!

Dear Colleagues, It is with extreme sadness that we inform you that our former colleague Dr Oswaldo Ruiz-Chiriboga (°1977), professor of human rights at the Central European University (Vienna), whom we had the pleasure to supervise while doing his PhD at Ghent University, has suddenly passed away on 20 November. We extend our deepest condolences to Oswaldo Ruiz Chiriboga’s wife and family, and to the entire Central European University community.

Kind regards,

Yves Haeck and Clara Burbano Herrera

When the past is contested, the monuments are the first to fall. The memorial fever that started in Europe at the end of 1980s with the dismantling of communist symbols continues with the removal of monuments of historical figures tied to racial discrimination, slavery, and colonialism. Although these symbols all have different political contexts and belong to different historical epochs, the heated debates over them reflect a tectonic shift in historical narratives which released memories that were hitherto frozen. In some cases, profound disagreements about the monuments and the memorial policy behind them can cause a confrontation not only within one society but also between states (the so-called, ‘memory wars’).

The workshop ‘CAPTURED BY THE PAST: MONUMENTS. CONFLICTS. LAW’ aims to map the controversies around such monuments, as well as the memory conflicts and ‘memory wars’ of which these monuments are the symbols. Over the centuries, totalitarian regimes removed monuments they did not agree with. Should democracies then follow this path?

The organizers welcome research papers on any of the following topics:

• Monuments as cultural heritage and human rights perspectives: is there a right to destroy?

• Monuments as government speech: what are the limits?

• Monuments and the rule of law: what are the legal standards for memory policies and public commemorative practices in a democracy?

How to Apply

Scholars are invited to submit paper proposals (500–800 words) by 25 September 2021 to Alina.Cherviatsova@UGent.be Each proposal must include a short bio (max 200 words). Successful applicants will be notified by 30 September 2021. The deadline for submitting drafts of papers (8.000-10.000 words) to be discussed during the workshop is 15 January 2022. Final papers are due 15 March 2022.

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Convenors

Dr Alina Cherviatsova, Senior Researcher and Marie Sklodowska-Curie Individual Fellow, Programme for Studies on Human Rights in Context, Human Rights Centre, Ghent University

Prof Dr Yves Haeck, Professor of International Human Rights Law and Director of the Programme for Studies on Human Rights in Context, Human Rights Centre, Ghent University

Prof Dr Clara Burbano-Herrera, Professor of International Human Rights Law and Director of the Programme for Studies on Human Rights in Context, Human Rights Centre, Ghent University

Prof Dr Eva Brems, Professor of Human Rights Law and Head of the Human Rights Centre, Ghent University

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The workshop is organized within the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Research project ‘To Destroy or to Preserve? Monuments, Law and Democracy in Europe’ (MELoDYE*) fund from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No 101032010

Human Rights in Context together with the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law, and  the Peruvian Constitutional Court  organised the international conference  'Persons Deprived of Liberty'. On this ocassion, 'Dialogues ICCAL in CONTEXT' met judges of the Constitutional Tribunal of Peru and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and had a discussion regarding problems and challenges in prisons from the perspective of international human rights standards in the Americas and Europe. The event took place on Monday 21 June 2021. You can watch the event on this link

We are glad to communicate that Prof Dr Clara Burbano Herrera has been  appointed Registrar of the Turkey Tribunal. The Turkey Tribunal was created in 2020 to investigate the increasing number of allegations of human rights abuses committed by the Turkish government in recent years. Video

A Ghent University team composed of Delphine Camerier, Thibaut Lesseliers (oralists), Sharon Braekman, Sofie De Mulder and Sehrish Raja, under the supervision of Prof Yves Haeck and coaches Hanne Ollevier, Aurélie Van Baelen and Martijn Vermeersch, and following a master class of Prof Clara Burbano Herrera, is participating for the tenth year in the prestigious Inter-American Human Rights Moot Court Competition against teams representing universities worldwide. This year, the Competition, which due to the current circumstances is taking place virtually, addresses the highly topical issue of ‘Human Rights and States of Emergency: Unexpected Crisis and New Challenges’.

The members of the Programme for Studies on Human Rights in Context are deeply affected by the sudden passing of professor Christof Heyns. His work will be remembered for his many achievements in the advancement of human rights. We extend our deepest condolences to Prof Heyns’ family and the entire Pretoria human rights community.

During the past years our Directors Prof Clara Burbano Herrera and Prof Yves Haeck are part of a group of experts in drafting the “Nijmegen Principles and Guidelines on Interim Measures for the Protection of Human Rights”. The third Expert Meeting, 'Urgent Measures' Principles and Guidelines' had the participation of Prof C. Burbano-Herrera, Human Rights in Context; Prof Y. Haeck, Human Rights in Context; Prof C. Flinterman, Maastricht University, former member UN Human Rights Committee (HRCtee) and Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW); Ms B. Griffey, Amnesty International; Prof J. Harrington, University of Alberta; Prof P. Leach, Middlesex University, European Human Rights Advocacy Centre (EHRAC); Dr R. Möhrlein, University of Amsterdam; Ms R. Pillay, International Commission of Jurists; and Prof E. Rieter, Radboud University Nijmegen. The event took place on 26 May 2021.

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