Global Classroom
The Global Classroom is one of the flagship international activities of the Global Campus whose aim is to bring together students, professors and experts from all Global Campus regional programmes. They conduct team research on a topic of current interest and then meet for a week-long conference where they discuss the topic through the lenses of different regional perspectives. The uniqueness of this annual event lies in the opportunity to deepen the understanding of global human rights challenges and foster inter-regional academic exchange and collaboration. The first edition of the Global Classroom took place in Venice in 2013 on the topic of the Millennium Development Goals. Since then, various Global Campus regional programmes have taken turn in organising and hosting this activity, fostering interactions among students and strengthening the relations among the Global Campus members and partners. The outputs of the Global Classroom research are published in the Global Campus Human Rights Journal.
Global Classroom 2022: Internal Displacement
The Global Classroom 2022 (30 May - 3 June), co-organised by the Global Campus Africa programme, focuses on internal displacement, a rising global concern. According to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Center (IDMC), there were 55 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) by the end of 2020 across 59 countries and territories, the highest ever recorded.
The findings of our seven regional teams (from Africa, the Arab World, Asia Pacific, Caucasus, Latin America & Caribbean, Europe and South East Europe) will be presented at the University of Pretoria during a weeklong, hybrid event. Students are tasked with:
- Reflecting on the link between conflict and violence, the COVID-19 pandemic and climatic disasters and their impacts on internal displacement
- Examining the importance of social networks and ties in building community resilience and coping mechanisms – agency and adaptive capacity of internally displaced persons
- Producing a clear picture of the demographic characteristics of IDPs to inform targeted responses that address their specific needs and risks – by gender, age, location – rural or urban settlements and other demographic characteristics
Programme
Global Classroom 2021: Covid-19 Pandemic and Economic and Social Rights
The focus of the Global Classroom 2021 (7-10 June, online), co-organised by the Global Campus South East Europe programme, was on the Covid-19 pandemic and its impact on Economic and Social Rights worldwide. Students, alumni and research coordinators convened online for a four-day virtual event that included a live-streamed high-level panel discussion open to the public. The research carried out by the regional research teams prior to the event, and the live discussion with experts, provided analysis and critical reflection in response to the following questions:
- In which ways has the COVID-19 pandemic impacted economic and social rights of individuals and groups, including the dynamics and dialectics of these interactions and the role of social resilience in meeting these challenges?
- How have responses to COVID-19 revealed pre-existing weaknesses in access to economic, cultural, and social rights by groups and communities that are relatively disadvantaged?
- How might long-term approaches for mitigating future human rights harms like those caused by COVID-19 be developed and implemented in future crises?
Programme
Video recording – Day 1: keynote speech and high-level panel discussion
Watch the video featuring:
- Opening statements by Asim Mujkić, ERMA/GCSEE Co-Director, University of Sarajevo as the hosting institution; Manfred Nowak, Global Campus Secretary General; Veronica Gomez, Global Campus President
- Keynote speech by Tlaleng Mofokeng, UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health
- Introduction on the research topic and methodology by Rachel Kurian, Global Classroom 2021 Research Coordinator
- Panel discussion with Joshua Castellino, Executive Director, Minority Rights Group, and Meskerem Geset Techane, Member of the UN Working Group on discrimination against women and girls; the panel was moderated by Therese Murphy, EMA Chairperson
Video recording – Day 2 and 3: research team presentations and webinars with experts
Watch the video featuring:
- Presentations of the research conducted by the regional teams and debates originated by the questions brought up by the interregional working groups prior to the event
- Webinars with with Ignazio Saiz, Executive Director of the Center for Economic and Social Rights, and Kalliope Agapiou-Josephides, Council member of the Global Campus and co-founder of the Global Campus blog Human Rights Preparedness
Day 2
Day 3
Video recording – Day 4: conclusions
Watch the video featuring the conclusions presented by Rachel Kurian, Global Classroom research Coordinator, and Veronica Gomez, Global Campus President, who highlighted some of the recurrent messages that emerged from the event:
- The greater impact of the pandemic on marginalised and vulnerable groups; in this regard, intersectionality is a perspective that could help in better understanding the repercussions of the pandemic and the possible responses
- The normative role of the states in upholding rights has been generally compromised
- The crucial role of fiscal policies and mobilisation of resources to reinforce social security in periods of crisis. Recovery should be guided by a right-based approach
- Building a cross-movement alliance is critical to hold governments accountable for their actions and to call for a rights-based economy.
Promotional materials
Global Classroom 2020: The United Nations Global Study on Children Deprived of Liberty
The Global Classroom 2020, conducted online, revolved around the UN Global Study on Children Deprived of Liberty, published in 2019 and since then presented in different venues across the world. The research goal was to map global trends in children’s deprivation of liberty by looking at the use of detention of children in different settings, as well as by identifying key challenges in the implementation of the recommendations of the Global Study.
The thematic areas featured in the Global Study and subsequently addressed by the students of the Global Classroom 2020 were:
- Criminal justice systems and child justice systems
- Children living in prisons with their primary caregivers
- Migration-related detention
- Children living in institutions
- Children in armed conflict
- Children deprived of liberty due to national security reasons
Programme
Video recording – Day 1: high-level expert panel
Watch the video featuring the panel ‘Experiences of working with and for children deprived of liberty: making the invisible visible’, moderated by Verónica Gómez, Global Campus President, and joined by panelists:
- Manfred Nowak, independent expert leading the UN Global Study on children deprived of liberty and Global Campus Secretary General
- Najat Maalla M’jid, UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children and Chair of the UN High Level Interagency Task Force
- Felipe González Morales, UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, professor of Public international law and director of the Master in international human rights law at the Diego Portales University in Chile
- Karabo Ozah, Director of the Centre for child law at the University of Pretoria
- Benoit van Keirsbilck, Director of Defence for Children International Belgium and co-convener of the NGO panel for the UN Global Study on children deprived of liberty
Video recording – Day 2 and 3: presentations by research teams
Deinstitutionalisation of Children with Disability - GC South East Europe
Armed Conflict depriving Children of Liberty in MENA - GC Arab World
Migration Related detention in Southern Africa, Angola and Malawi - GC Africa
Migrant children from Central America and deprivation of liberty – GC Latin America and Caribbean
Children’s deprivation of liberty as a tool of immigration in Europe - GC Europe
Diversion as an Effective Measure of Child Justice in EECA Countries - GC Caucasus
Two Sides of the Same Coin: Contradictory Legal and Administrative Practices toward Children in Immigration Detention Centers in the Asia Pacific – GC Asia Pacific
Promotional materials
Previous Global Classrooms
- New Technologies and Human Rights (2019, Buenos Aires)
- The Influence of Diaspora on Democracy-Building Processes: Behavioural Diversity (2018, Yerevan)
- Securitisation and the Impact on Human Rights and Democracy: Human Security in time of Insecurity (2017, Bangkok)
- Intractable human rights situations and failed international responses to crises (2016, Venice)
- The impact on human rights of foreign debt and economic crises (2015, Venice)
- The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) (2014, Venice)
- The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and their prospects in the post-2015 era (2013, Venice)