Regional human rights systems have been heralded as one of the greatest innovations of the project of global governance. However, there are a host of urgent issues — of growing importance to social justice and human well-being — that pose fundamental challenges to the more developed regional systems, even as they make it harder for newer regional systems to develop. It is unclear, for example, how well these systems grapple with questions of economic inequality, climate change, migration crises and organized non-state violence. They are challenged as well by Brexit, the turn toward nationalistic ideologies, and other criticisms of globalization.
The Wisconsin International Law Journal’s 2017 Annual Symposium seeks to explore how and whether regional human rights systems can constructively engage in these challenging times. We include not just the developed systems of Europe, Africa, and the Americas, but also the new and less judicialized systems of Asia and the Middle East. Taken together, the conference allows us to ask anew the question of what are human rights, and where do human rights inscribed at the regional level take us in the contemporary era.
Some themes that may be addressed include:
•Political stand-offs in the more well-developed systems: Brexit, the European Union and the Council of Europe System, the Inter-American Commission in crisis; the African Union versus the International Criminal Court
•The challenges of constructing regional human rights in Asia and the Middle East
•The pros and cons of the state liability model in facing issues of migration; terrorism; corporate liability; transboundary harm, internet privacy, international crimes
•Human Rights versus Buen Vivir, Occupy, religions, and other discourses concerned with social, political, and legal justice
•Universal (UN-based) versus regional human rights protection
- The pros and cons of the state liability model in facing issues of migration; terrorism; corporate liability; transboundary harm, internet privacy, international crimes
- Human Rights versus Buen Vivir, Occupy, religions, and other discourses concerned with social, political, and legal justice
- Universal (UN-based) versus regional human rights protection
Featuring specialists from the Netherlands and Turkey:
– Mr. Ali Adubisi, European Saudi Organization for Human Rights
– Dr. Adamantia Rachovista, University of Groningen
– Professor Jure Vidmar, Maastricht University
* For any questions, please contact the Senior Symposium Editor, Emmeline Lee, at symposium.wilj@gmail.com. Requests for sign language interpreters, real time captioning, Braille or electronic documents should be made no less than two weeks before the event. We will attempt to fulfill requests made after this date but cannot guarantee they will be met.
* Free and Open to all University Students, Staff, Faculty, and the Public.
* Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/events/1849112462045027
* For official event website, click here