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AGENDA.

Wednesday, 27 September 2023
Main Ceremonial Hall,
University of Vienna
Wednesday, 27 September

09:00 – 09:45                                                                                                                 WELCOME

 

Michael Lysander Fremuth

Professor of Fundamental and Human Rights, University of Vienna

Scientific Director of the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Fundamental and Human Rights

Alexander Schallenberg

Federal Minister for European and International Affairs of the Republic of Austria

 

Sebastian Schütze

Rector of the University of Vienna

 

Brigitta Zöchling-Jud

Dean of the Faculty of Law of the University of Vienna

Frank Suder

Director of the Fritz Thyssen Foundation

09:45 – 10:00                                                                                                    VIDEO MESSAGE

Volker Türk

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights

 

10:00 – 11:30                                                                                                                        PANEL I

 

Combatting Climate Change – What Role for the Judiciary and Civil Society?

 

Responsible Organisation:

Academy for European Human Rights Protection, University of Cologne

 

Chair: Angelika Nußberger

Academy for European Human Rights ProtectionUniversity of Cologne

The German Climate Ruling   An Intertemporal Understanding of Fundamental Rights

Susanne Baer

Humboldt University of Berlin​

 

(Strategic) Climate Litigation and the Separation of Powers - An Uneasy Relationship?

Lorenz Wielenga

Academy for European Human Rights ProtectionUniversity of Cologne

Protecting Fundamental Rights  Climate Civil Disobedience in Court

Joschka Selinger

Gesellschaft für Freiheitsrechte/ Society for Civil Rights e.V., Berlin

11:30 – 11:45                                                                                                          COFFEE BREAK

11:45 – 13:15                                                                                                                        PANEL II

Minority Rights After the Vienna Declaration: Positive Progress or Missing in Action?

Responsible Organisation:

Sussex Centre for Human Rights Research, University of Sussex

Chair: Stephanie Berry

Sussex Centre for Human Rights Research, University of Sussex

Reflections on the Role of ICERD in the Global Protection of Minorities

David Keane

Dublin City University

An Afterthought No More  Mainstreaming the Rights of Minorities in UN Treaty Body Practice

Isilay Taban

Brighton University

Global Governance on Minority Rights: Assessing Participation and Normative Trends in the UN Forum on Minority Issues

Anna-Mária Bíró and Corinne Lennox

Tom Lantos Institute; University of London

Minority Rights after the Vienna Declaration: Positive Progress, Missing in Action...or an Unfinished Story?

Fernand de Varennes

UN Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues

13:15 – 14:30                                                                                                          LUNCH BREAK

14:30 – 16:00                                                                                                                    PANEL III

Women's Rights as Human Rights

Responsible Organisation:

Birmingham City University's Centre for Human Rights

Chair: Rebecca Smyth

Birmingham City University's Centre for Human Rights

Locating Egyptian Feminist Practices in Counter Hegemonic Human Rights Spaces

Shaimaa Abdelkarim

University of Birmingham

Emerging Issues in Violence Against Women  Changes, Challenges and Opportunities

Reem Alsalem

UN Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women and Girls

The UN Working Group on Discrimination against Women and Girls' Focus on Reasserting Gender Equality and Resisting Rollbacks: Progress, Challenges, and Opportunities

Melissa Upreti

Member, UN Working Group on Discrimination against Women and Girls

The UN's Universal Periodic Review: Towards the Eradication of Violence Against Women?

Alice Storey

Birmingham City University

 

16:00 – 16:30                                                                                                        COFFEE BREAK

16:30 – 17:30                                                                                                                     PANEL IV

 

Human Rights in the Digital Age

Responsible Organisation:

Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law

 

Chair: Thérèse Murphy

Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law

The Slow Violence of Fast-Developing Technologies  How AI Unravels the Normative Justifications of the Right to Privacy and Human Dignity 

Sue Anne Teo

Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law

From Moderation to Regulation  Embedding Human Rights in the New Wave of Government Response to Online Harms

David Kaye

Former UN Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of the Right to Freedom of Opinion and Expression

Advancing the Protection and Promotion of Human Rights through the UNESCO Recommendation on the Ethics of AI

Doaa Abu-Elyounes

UNESCO

17:30 – 18:30                                                                                           PODIUM DISCUSSION

 

The Legacy of the World Conference on Human Rights - in memoriam Felix Ermacora

Responsible Organisation:

Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Fundamental and Human Rights

 

Chair: Christina Binder

Bundeswehr University Munich

Manfred Nowak

Global Campus of Human Rights, Venice

Frederick John Packer

University of Ottawa

Christian Strohal

Former Ambassador for the UN World Conference on Human Rights 1993

19:30                                                                                                      EVENING PROGRAMME

 

Reception at the Vienna City Hall and Conference Dinner

Thursday, 28 September 2023
Palais Trautson
Thursday, 28 September

09:00 – 09:15                                                                                                                 WELCOME

 

Alma Zadić

Federal Minister of Justice of the Republic of Austria

 

09:15 – 10:30                                                                                                                      PANEL V

 

 

Human Rights of LGBTI Persons Far from Universal Recognition?

 

 

Responsible Organisation:

University of Lausanne

Chair: Andreas R. Ziegler

Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Expression, and Sex Characteristics (SOGIESC) Law Project at
the University of Lausanne

Seven Years of the Mandate of the United Nations Independent Expert on Protection Against Violence and Discrimination Based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity  What Has Been Done, What Remains?

Victor Madrigal-Borloz

United Nations Independent Expert on Protection against Violence and Discrimination Based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity

From Absence to Contested Advances  The Long Road Towards the Recognitoin of SOGIESC Issues

Julia Ehrt

ILGA World   The International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association

The 'M' in LGBTQ – The Evolution of Sexual and Gender Paradigms Through Nation Building in the Levant Region

Suhail Abualsameed

Independent International Consultant

10:30 – 10:45                                                                                                        COFFEE BREAK

10:45 – 12:15                                                                                                                      PANEL VI

Regional Perspectives on Human Rights from the Global South

 

Responsible Organisation:

Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria & Association of Human Rights Institutes

Chair: Magnus Killander

Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria

 

The Impact of Special Mechanisms on the Work of the African Commission of Human and Peoples Rights

Jainaba Johm

National Human Rights Commission, The Gambia

 

Evolving Human Rights Mechanism in the Asian Region

Vitit Muntarbhorn

UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Cambodia

Elizabeth Salmón

Pontifical Catholic University of Peru

Chile and Human Rights  50 Years After the Coup

Tomás Pascual

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Chile

 

 

12:15 – 13:30                                                                                                          LUNCH BREAK

 

13:30 – 15:00                                                                                                                   PANEL VII

Business and Human Rights

Responsible Organisation:

Centre for Human Rights, Erlangen-Nuremberg

Chair: Markus Krajewski

Centre for Human Rights, FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg

 

Humberto Cantú Rivera

Universidad des Monterrey

Surya Deva

UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Development

Justine Nolan

Australian Human Rights Institute, University of New South Wales Sydney

Anita Ramasastry

University of Washington

15:00 – 15:15                                                                                                         COFFEE BREAK

 

15:15 – 16:30                                                                                                                  PANEL VIII

 

Realising the Human Right to Science – Threats, Challenges and Possibilities

Responsible Organisation:

Austrian Human Rights Institute & European Training and Research Centre for Human Rights and Democracy

Chair: Philip Czech & Gerd Oberleitner

University of Salzburg and University of Graz

Gabriela Ramos (video message)

UNESCO Assistant Director-General

The Right to Science – Possibilities and Challenges

Helle Porsdam

University of Copenhagen

The UNESCO Recommendation on Science and Scientific Researchers – Perspectives for Advancing the Right to Science

Konstantinos Tararas

UNESCO

16:30 – 16:45                                                                                                        COFFEE BREAK

16:45 – 18:00                                                                                                                    PANEL IX

Respecting and Ensuring Human Rights of Migrants and Refugees

 Contemporary Challenges and Good Practices

Responsible Organisation:

UNHCR, Office in Austria

 

Chair: Birgit Einzenberger

UNHCR, Office in Austria

 

A Long Way To Go  Addressing Protection Challenges in Mixed Movements of Refugees and Migrants

Madeline Garlick

UNHCR Division of International Protection, Geneva

 

Climate Change and Migration

Vasilka Sancin

University of Ljubljana

Enhancing the Protection of Refugees and Other Migrants Through Human Rights  Good Practices from Latin America

Liliana Lyra Jubilut

Catholic University of Santos

Seeking Asylum  Addressing Human Rights Violations and Protecting Refugee Rights from Lived Experience Perspective

Shaza Alrihawi

Global Refugee-led Network

 

19:00                                                                                                      EVENING PROGRAMME

 

Reception at the Austrian Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs of the Republic of Austria (only on personal invitation)

Friday, 29 September 2023
Palais Trautson
Friday, 29 September

09:00 – 09:15                                                                                                                 WELCOME

 

Martin Polaschek (video message)

Federal Minister of Education, Science and Research of the Republic of Austria

 

09:15 – 10:30                                                                                                                      PANEL X

Human Rights Protection within the EU  The EU's Role

Responsible Organisation:

European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights

Chair: Gabriel Toggenburg

The EU as a Human Rights Organisation – Limitations and Potential

European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights

The EU and the Fundamental Rights of Migrants  Challenges and Concerns

Marie-Laure Basilien-Gainche

University Jean Moulin Lyon 3, Institut Universitaire de France

An Assessment of the EU’s Human Rights Performance  The Case of Equality and Disability

Delia Ferri 

Maynooth University

The EU’s Human Rights Performance from the Perspective of the UN and the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action

Elena Kountouri Tapiero

Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Regional Office for Europe

10:30 – 10:45                                                                                                        COFFEE BREAK

10:45 – 12:00                                                                                                                    PANEL XI

Reform of the UN Treaty Bodies

Responsible Organisation:

Human Rights Centre of the University of Potsdam

Chair: Norman Weiß

Human Rights Centre of the University of Potsdam

Strengthening the UN Human Rights Treaty Bodies

Nils-Hendrik Grohmann 

University of Potsdam; Kammergericht Berlin

Hélène Tigroudja

Aix-Marseille University

 

Treaty Bodies in Challenging Times  Upholding the Integrity of the UN Human Rights System in face of Contestations

Andreas Zimmermann

Human Rights Centre, University of Potsdam

12:00 – 13:00                                                                                                         LUNCH BREAK

13:00 – 14:00                                                                                          PODIUM DISCUSSION

Ombuds Institutions as Human Rights Stakeholders

Responsible Organisation:

Austrian Ombudsman Board (Volksanwaltschaft)

 

Chair: Johannes Carniel

Austrian Ombudsman Board (Volksanwaltschaft)

Kholeka Gcaleka

Acting Public Protector of the Republic of South Africa

Tena Šimonovic Einwalter

Ombudswoman of the Republic of Croatia

Barbara Liegl

Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Fundamental and Human Rights

14:00 – 15:00                                                                                                                  PANEL XII

National Human Rights Institutions – Bringing Human Rights Home

Responsible Organisation:

German Institute for Human Rights

Chair: Beate Rudolf

German Institute for Human Rights

 

NHRIs and the Rights of Refugees

Gillian Triggs

UN Assistant Secretary-General and Assistant High Commissioner for Protection, UNHCR

NHRIs and the Domestic Realisation of Economic and Social Rights

Bongani Majola

Human Rights Commission of the Republic of South Africa

NHRIs, Human Rights Defenders, and Civic Space

Sirpa Rautio

Human Rights Centre, European Network of National Human Rights Institutions

 

15:00 – 15:15                                                                                                         COFFEE BREAK

15:15 – 16:30                                                                                            PODIUM DISCUSSION

Human Rights Defenders  How Civil Society Makes A Difference

Responsible Organisation:

Austrian League for Human Rights

Chair: Angelika Watzl

Austrian League for Human Rights

 

Guadalupe Marengo

Amnesty International

Alice Mogwe 

International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH); Ditshwanelo  The Botswana Centre for Human Rights

Michael Phoenix

Office of the UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders

Marianne Schulze 

Board Member, Global Initiative on Psychiatry

16:30 – 17:30                                                                                          PODIUM DISCUSSION

Conference Outlook: The Universality of Human Rights Is Beyond Question?

Chair: Michael Lysander Fremuth

University of Vienna, Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Fundamental and Human Rights

   

Michael O'Flaherty

European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights

Erika de Wet

University of Graz

17:30                                                                                                          END OF CONFERENCE

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