Events
Launch of University Guidelines
At this event, the UNESCO Chair will launch 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 CAHR’s protective fellowship schemes. The launch will take place in York on Friday 5 July so please hold the date! To confirm attendance email hrdhub@york.ac.uk and we’ll be in touch with more information in the coming weeks.
For colleagues at universities interested in developing relocation programmes who wish to attend, please get in touch as we may be able to help with travel costs.
Human Rights Leadership: Challenges, Perspectives, Futures
CAHR masters and doctoral students and alumni, former CAHR human rights defenders fellows, the Centre’s institutional partners and collaborators, members of the York local community and the global human rights network, will join us in addressing the following overarching questions:
As an international movement, how should we talk about human rights ‘leadership’ – are there alternative or better vocabularies?
Where is human rights leadership located – in the minds of individuals, in relationships and interactions, in structures and hierarchies?
How can leadership and organisation for human rights activism be developed, supported, and strengthened in the context of competing crises?
How can we critically examine leadership within our own organisations and networks in a context of diminishing civil and political space?
To what extent are values negotiable in human rights leadership and how does context-sensitivity affect modes of organising and leadership (hierarchical/horizontal)?
Shrinking academic spaces in Latin America
In this presentation Dr Rosario Figari Layús examines the cases of Brazil and Colombia and analyses university reactions when staff and students are being attacked or in a situation of risk. What measures are adopted by universities in these countries to deal with security challenges faced by scholars at risk and to guarantee academic freedom? How effective and sustainable are these measures? What are the consequences and impacts of such institutional actions in these cases?
Universities as sites of activism and protection symposium
This symposium brought together academics and activists to discuss the possibility of developing an African Hub, under the auspices of the UNESCO Chair. It discussed the role that universities can play in protection both internally (of staff and students) and externally (of civil society and democratic freedoms).
HRD Hub workshop on universities as sites of activism and protection & UNESCO Chair launch
This workshop, to launch the UNESCO chair, showcased the progressive potential of university-civil society collaborations: at the frontline of protests; integrating activists into teaching and research; and providing various forms of protection.
The workshop also co-produced the first draft of an Action Plan for Universities as Sites of Protection, an outline of the future work programme of the UNESCO Chair and its partners.
