Venice School for Human Rights Defenders
Faculty
Human rights defenders play an essential role in the realisation of rights and promotion of equality. Not only do they fight for human rights in situations of oppression and abuse; they also act as monitors, drawing attention both of their respective communities and of the international community to otherwise neglected violations and threats. They assist victims in claiming their rights and contribute to holding those in power accountable, thereby combatting cultures of impunity which serve to cloak systematic and repeated breaches of human rights and fundamental freedoms. Furthermore, by linking the local level to the global and the global to the local, human rights defenders contribute to sustaining a circle of empowerment at all levels. New generations of human rights defenders naturally focus on the precarious situation of children and youth in all regions of the world and in this way help to reinvigorate the global human rights movement.
Opening Session
Center for Civil Liberties
Oleksandra Matviichuk
Oleksandra Matviichuk is one of the most prominent human rights defenders in Ukraine striving to achieve a full democratic transition and ensure justice.
As Chairwoman of the Center for Civil Liberties (CCL), in December 2022 she was awarded the European Parliament Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, together with other representatives of Ukrainian civil society. In the same year CCL also received the Nobel Peace Prize and the Right Livelihood Award.
Oleksandra Matviichuk and CCL have have been instrumental in strengthening Ukrainian civil society and national institutions for over a decade, while also pushing to further the rule of law and adherence to international law. Their work of documenting war crimes and human rights violations is paving the way to accountability, gaining increasing importance since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
CCL was founded in 2007 to promote human rights, democracy and solidarity in Ukraine and Eurasia. The organisation rose to prominence in 2013 by documenting human rights violations and providing legal assistance during the violent crackdown on the Euromaidan protests. The organisation has also launched initiatives to monitor various government agencies for civil rights violations, provide education on human rights, document pressure on civil society and map persecutions of human rights defenders.
In the realm of international law, Matviichuk and CCL have long advocated for Ukraine to join the International Criminal Court. This work has become especially important in the context of Russia’s war on Ukraine, setting an example for documenting war crimes and human rights violations. Through their work, Matviichuk and CCL ensure accountability and build a democratic future for Ukraine.
Bio and photo © Right Livelihood
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Roundtable on Russia
Filmmaker
Askold Kurov
Born in Uzbekistan in 1974, he has lived in Russia since 1991. In 2010 took a degree in documentary filmmaking at the Marina Razbezhkina Film School in Moscow.
In 2012 he was one of the directors of the award-winning documentary 'Winter, Go Away!' His next films 'Leninland', 'Children 404' and 'The Trial: The State of Russia vs Oleg Sentsov' also won critical acclaim and screened at numerous festivals. His work focuses on human rights issues and social conflicts in contemporary Russia.
Filmography:
LENINLAND, 2013, 52 min (Seattle IFF, 2014; Message to Man IFF, 2014 - Best First Feature Film; Kino IFF, 2014 - Best Director)
CHILDREN 404 (with Pavel Loparev) 2014, 76 min (Hot Docs, 2014; CPH:DOX, 2014; Mezipatra QFF, 2014 - Audience Award; Filmfest Hamburg, 2014 - Best Political Film; Zinegoak, 2015 - Diversity and Human Rights Award)
THE TRIAL: The State of Russia vs Oleg Sentsov, 2017, 70 min (Berlinale IFF, 2017; Sheffield Doc Fest, 2017; CPH:DOX, 2017; Verzio HRFF Budapest, 2017 - Audience Award; Millennium Docs Against Gravity, 2017 - Amnesty International Special mention)
NOVAYA, 2018, 75 min (Art Doc Fest IFF, 2018; One World IFF, 2019; Movies That Matter IFF, 2019; One World Brussels IFF, 2019, – Jury Special Mention; Berlin Human Rights Film Festival, 2019 – Best film)
WELCOME TO CHECHNYA (DOP, producer), 2020, 102 min (Sundance 2020 – Best editing; Berlinale Panorama 2020 – Winner; American Film Academy (Oscars) 2021 - shortlisted for “Documentary feature” and “Visual effects”). Nominations: Emmy nomination – Exceptional Merit In Documentary Filmmaking – 2021; British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) 2021 - winner - Best international film
THIS MESSAGE HAS BEEN CREATED AND DISTRIBUTED (co-directing with ‘KUSART’ documentary filmmakers group), 2022
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Novaya Gazeta Europe
Kirill Martynov
Kirill Martynov, Ph.D., is the Co-Founder of Free University Moscow, formed deputy editor of Novaya Gazeta, editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta Europe.
About Novaya Gazeta
On 28 March, the newspaper Novaya Gazeta announced it is suspending activities until the end of Russia’s war on Ukraine. The decision is a response to mounting pressure from state communications regulator Roskomnadzor, Novaya Gazeta said in a statement. Established after the breakup of the Soviet Union, Novaya Gazeta has always defied the Kremlin by publishing investigations into corruption and human rights violations. Its editor-in-chief Dmitry Muratov received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021. Six of his paper’s journalists have been murdered for their work, including Anna Politkovskaya in 2006.
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International Memorial
Evelina Rudenko
Evelina Rudenko is a historian and exhibition curator at the human rights organisation International Memorial.
About International Memorial
The International Historical Educational Charitable and Human Rights Society "Memorial" (International Memorial) is a non-commercial organisation that studies political repressions in the USSR and contemporary Russia and promotes the moral and legal rehabilitation of persons subjected to political repression. Memorial was founded in 1987 in the former Soviet Union. The organisation documented the victims of Soviet terror.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Memorial continued this work, while also focusing on human rights violations in Russia. During the Chechen wars (1994-1996 and 1999-2009), Memorial gathered information on abuses and war crimes committed against civilians by Russian and pro-Russian forces. The head of Memorial's Chechen branch, Natalia Estemirova, was murdered for her role in this work.
In 2016, the authorities declared Memorial a foreign agent, and in 2021 the Russian Supreme Court decided to liquidate Memorial for violating the Foreign Agents Law (in particular, for not adding a 'foreign agent' label to its printed materials and online postings). Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in March 2022, the authorities took over the offices of the forcibly dissolved organisation. Despite this, Memorial continues its work.
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University of Bucharest
Radu Carp
Radu Carp is Professor at the Faculty of Political Science, University of Bucharest, Director of the Department of International Relations, Security Studies and Public Policies.
After graduating an MA in European studies and international relations at IEHEI Nice in 1996, he turned back to Romania, starting to teach at the University of Bucharest in the same year. He has received the titke of Scientia Juridica Doctor in Public Law, University Babeş - Bolyai of Cluj in 2002.
Member of the Doctoral School of Political Science since 2011 and of the ISDS - UB since 2019, Professor Radu Carp is interested in topics related to: the European model of the national minorities protection in Romania and neighbouring countries; the autonomy of religions and the Church - State model in a comparative perspective; multilevel governance in the European context; populism and digital parties. Having degrees in Law, Philosophy and International Relations, Radu Carp is naturally dedicated to the interdisciplinary research in all his writings so far.
Since 2020, he is a founding member of the Romanian Center for Russian Studies, a research center part of the University of Bucharest and is currently involved in a UEFISCDI/EEA grant that is run by this Center together with Fridtjof Nansen Institute from Norway. Professor Carp is member of the Executive Committee and of the Academic Curriculum Group of the E.MA - European Master´s Degree in Human Rights and Democratization, Venice, he is part of the research project Ethics and Politics in the European Context coordinated by the Catholic University of Lublin and member of the research network Observatory on Local Autonomy coordinated by the Université de Lille.
He has a wide experience in teaching in different universities in Europe, Canada, USA, Argentina and Taiwan. Radu Carp regularly teach at the Cultural Diplomacy Institute in Berlin and at the Global Campus of Human Rights in Venice. Having Hirsch Index 11, he published 24 books as author and co-author (in Germany, Romania, the Netherlands, Slovakia), 90 book chapters and 100 scientific articles in Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Republic of Moldova, the Netherlands, Ukraine, USA.
His latest book, published in December 2022, is written with an Ukrainian researcher, Marianna Prysiashniuk (who is now part of the University of Bucharest, in the framework of the programme Reconceptualising Exile - Ukrainian Scholars and Students at Risk) and is entitled War in Europe. Ukraine, Romania and the Republic of Moldova facing the Russian aggression.
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Lecturers
University of Cyprus
Kalliope Agapiou-Josephides
Kalliope Agapiou Josephides holds a PhD in Political Science from Paris I Panthéon - Sorbonne University, Paris, France, and is a Jean Monnet Chair holder (2001) and Assistant Professor at the University of Cyprus. She sits on the Council of the Global Campus of Human Rights and is the European Master’s Director for her University.
She served as chair of the European Institute for Gender Equality (EU Agency) and Vice- President of the European Inter University Centre for Human Rights and Democratisation, Venice. She is a founding member of the Mediterranean Women Mediators Network and a member of the scientific advisory board of the European Yearbook of Human Rights.
She has a great interest, and long experience, in the nexus of human rights, democratisation and gender equality. She served as lead author in the United Nations Global Study on Children Deprived of Liberty and the European Parliament study on Women’s Rights During Democratic Transitions. She also served as a convener of the Venice School of Human Rights. She has participated in and led several national and international research projects. She has served as academic convener/speaker at high-level international events and has taught/delivered lectures around the world.
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Gender Equality Trainer
Antónia Barradas
Antónia Barradas has a PhD in Law, Justice and Citizenship in the 21 st century by the Faculty of Law of the University of Coimbra in Portugal.
Lawyer and head of Barradas Direitos Humanos, her consultancy for human rights advocacy, she is also a trainer of the list of specialists for the Portuguese Commission for Citizenship and Gender Equality.
In 2019 she was the Senior Gender Expert to the European Union Delegation on a project on gender equality in the Public Prosecution Service in Brazil and in 2018 she was the adjunct to the President of Socialist Women of the Portuguese Socialist Party.
Previously she was the Institutional Relations and External Policy Officer for Amnesty International, and she works with NGOs focused on the rights of women and children. She is an E.MA graduate from 2011 and carried out the E.MA Internship at UNESCO's Sector for Social and Human Sciences in Paris and a Fellowship as part of the human rights team at the European Union Delegation to the UN in Geneva in 2012.
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Università degli Studi di Macerata, Italy; Università Rovira i Virgili (URV), Spain
Susana Borràs-Pentinat
Dr. Susana Borràs-Pentinat is Associate Professor of International Environmental Law and EU Law at the Faculty of Law of the Università degli Studi di Macerata (Italy) and at the Università Rovira i Virgili (URV) (Spain). She is currently a Marie Skłodowska-Curie postdoctoral fellow in the CLIMOVE Project (Climate Migration from a Gender Perspective), (H2020-MSCA-IF-2020) no. 101031252.
Master in Environmental Law (2004) and European Doctorate in Law (2007), with Extraordinary Prize to the Doctoral Thesis. Member of the Research Group on Environmental Law, Citizenship and Sustainability of the Centre for Environmental Law Studies of Tarragona (CEDAT) of the URV, associated with the Centre de Recherche en Droit Public of the Université de Montréal (Canada) and the IUCN Academy of Environmental Law.
Legal expert on climate change and refugees for the United Nations Network on Migration, the South American Network on Environmental Migration, the Catalan Commission for Refugee Aid, the Global Network for the Study of Human Rights and the Environment, and Expert Member of the United Nations Harmony with Nature Platform. Academic Director of the Spanish Platform on Climate Displacement and Migration and member of the IUCN World Commission on Environmental Law (WCEL).
Her main fields of research are climate migration, rights of nature, climate justice, ecofeminism, human rights and environmental defenders.
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University of Deusto, Bilbao
Davinia Gómez-Sánchez
Davinia Gómez-Sánchez is completing her PhD degree within the program ‘Human Rights: ethical, social and political challenges’ at the Pedro Arrupe Human Rights Institute University of Deusto (Bilbao, Spain).
In her doctoral dissertation entitled “Reformulating human rights from an indigenous perspective: embedding the San views on property rights” she examines the dominant international human rights grammar from a decolonial perspective and Third World Approaches to International Law (TWAIL). Seeking to expand the mainstream human rights discourse with elements from non-western-centric epistemologies and world-senses, she puts the focus on indigenous peoples in Southern Africa to advance an alternative conceptualisation of rights.
Davinia holds degrees in Law and in Philosophy (University of Deusto) as well as a Master degree in Human Rights and Democratization (EMA, Global Campus of Human Rights). Having extensive experience as a human rights researcher, she has worked for different NGDOs, UNESCO and think tanks in the human rights and development fields in Europe, LAC, MENA region, and Southern Africa.
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WITNESS
Dalila Mujagic
Dalila Mujagic is the Legal Advisor at WITNESS with over a decade of experience working with grassroots organizations around the world on issues including post-conflict reconstruction, protection of at-risk youth, environmental defense, and grave crimes.
She specializes in the use of digital and visual-based evidence in international criminal litigation.
Currently, Dalila supports lawyers and human rights activists in ensuring that the video and imagery they capture can help secure justice for their communities. Dalila's research is committed to the emerging applications of media forensics and technology for justice, including mobile phones, drones, satellites and synthetic media. She has worked with and trained key stakeholders including the United Nations Populations Fund, Duke University, Google, and the International Bar Association.
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Global Campus of Human Rights Secretary General
Manfred Nowak
In addition to his function as Secretary General of Global Campus, Manfred Nowak is Professor of International Human Rights at the University of Vienna (where he is head of the Vienna Master of Arts in Human Rights and two human rights research centres, including the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Human Rights, which he founded in 1992). In October 2016 he was appointed as UN Expert to lead the Global Study on Children Deprived of Liberty.
Aside from Vienna University, Manfred Nowak was Professor of International Law and Human Rights at various prestigious universities, such as Utrecht, Lund, Stanford and the Graduate Institute in Geneva and has published more than 600 books and articles in this field.
In the past, Manfred Nowak also carried out various expert functions for the UN, the Council of Europe, the EU and other inter-governmental and non-governmental organizations. Most importantly, he served for many years in various functions as UN Expert on Enforced Disappearances (1993 to 2006), as one of eight international judges in the Human Rights Chamber for Bosnia and Herzegovina in Sarajevo (1996 to 2003), and as UN Special Rapporteur on Torture (2004 to 2010).
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Global Campus of Human Rights Academic Director
George Ulrich
Prof. George Ulrich has worked for the Global Campus in a variety of capacities. He served as GC Europe / EMA Programme Director from 2016-2019, as Secretary General of EIUC (the predecessor of the Global Campus) from 2003-2009, and as Academic Coordinator / Programme Director of EMA from 2001- 2004.
In between these appointments, he held the position of Rector and Professor of Human Rights at the Riga Graduate School of Law from 2009-2016.
George obtained his Ph.D. as well as an M.A. in Philosophy from the University of Toronto, Canada, and holds the degree of Cand. Mag. in Social Anthropology and History of Ideas from Aarhus University, Denmark.
Among his main research interests are issues related to the history and philosophy of human rights, human rights diplomacy, human rights and development cooperation, health and human rights, international medical ethics, and ethics for human rights professionals.
He is one of the joint editors of a Global Campus publication on music and human rights. A key focus of his teaching is to equip students to effectively engage with expressions of human rights scepticism.
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Utrecht University
Marjolein van den Brink
Dr Marjolein van den Brink is a lecturer in law at the Utrecht University School of Law, where she works for the Netherlands Institute of Human Rights (SIM) and participates in the Utrecht Centre for European Research into Family Law (UCERF).
Her research focuses on human rights and gender in a broad sense, focusing in particular on issues of biased law, privilege and non-discrimination.
Together with Gender Studies colleague CQ Quinan (University of Melbourne), she is working on the ‘GIRARE project’ (Gender Identity Registration And human Rights Effects) exploring relationships between changes in sex registration practices and human well-being. Tensions between new legislation and long-standing social attitudes are an important focus of the project, as is the interaction between invocations of human rights discourses and changes to the institutionalization of binary conceptions of sex and gender.
With Peter Dunne (University of Bristol School of Law) she undertakes many projects focused on gender identity issues from a legal perspective, including a report on ‘Trans and Intersex Equality Rights in Europe’ (2018), commissioned by the European Equality Law Network. Peter and Marjolein are currently involved in a project of the Council of Europe Human Rights Commissioner on human rights of trans individuals.
Marjolein is co-coordinator of the Bristol based network on ‘Gender beyond the binary’, and a member of the Sevilla based research project BINASEX on non-binary citizenship.
In 2018 she joined the editorial board of the Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights. Between 2000 – 2009 she combined her university work with a position as commissioner of the Dutch national equality body (Commissie gelijke behandeling, now the Dutch national human rights institute).
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Closing Session
Raizes Teatro
Raizes Teatro is a cultural nonprofit organization which promotes inclusion, equality, and rights through the arts.
Raizes creates live performances, video, photo exhibitions and graphic campaigns, inspired by true stories. All performances are created with the participation of performers and people from marginalized communities, people who suffered the deprivation of their rights during their childhood or life.
Raizes was founded in 2018 by Alessandro Ienzi, Human Rights Lawyer, Director and Performer and is today managed in cooperation with Francesco Campolo. The company opened the European Fundamental Rights Forum in Vienna in 2021, and the Youth Torino Forum in 2022, organized by the Italian Government and the Council of Europe.
In 2019 and in 2023 Raizes was invited at the European Parliament for the official celebration of the 30th anniversary of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, and for the opening of the event “Care about what you wear, consume or buy”. In April 2023 Raizes will set the video exhibition “Like a Criminal” and the performance “Discipline Room” in Times Square, New York.
The company is specialized in non-formal education through the arts and promotes LGTQ+ Rights, Climate Justice, Freedom of Expression, Diverse-Ability, Inclusion and Equality. It manages “Human Freedom”, an international artistic program on Human Rights and Arts.
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