News

The Forum Human Rights in Higher Education is a new initiative by the European University Foundation – Campus Europae, which will be held under the auspices of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Mr Thorbjørn Jagland, at the Abbaye de Neumünster in Luxembourg on the 10th and 11th of March.

This high-level international conference will deal with the ever complex and always pertinent issue of Human Rights in Higher Education – a timely and unique opportunity to look into the role of Education and particularly of the Universities in furthering Human Rights.

Speakers and experts

The first panel of the Forum will deal precisely with matters of cultural relativism and will be lead by an expert which can offer unique insight on the ongoing events in North Africa: Dr. Amina Lemrini El Ouahabi, from Morocco.

The second panel will look into the role of Universities in promoting values and how Higher Education Institutions (can) act as catalysts for change. This discussion will be headed by Prof. Anatoly Mikhailov, Rector of the exiled Byelorussian European Humanities University and Prof. Jean-Paul Lehners, UNESCO Chair for Human Rights at the University of Luxembourg. The third and last panel will discuss how academic freedom, university access and autonomy comply and are influenced by fundamental Human Rights dispositions.

In addition to the three panels there will be speeches by other experts, such as Prof. Emmanuel Decaux, Rapporteur of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights in Education, Dr. Ólöf Ólafsdóttir, from the Council of Europe and Heidi Hautala, MEP, Chair of the European Parliament Subcommittee on Human Rights.

Why to organize the Luxembourg Forum?

Prof. Christoph Ehmann, Secretary General of the EUF-CE, offered the following comments about the  Forum: “the aim of the Forum is to, at a time where the Higher Education agenda is overly focused on financing and organizational matters, provide a first class platform where more fundamental and far-reaching challenges can also discussed. The events that are unfolding on Europe’s southern border should remind us all that Higher Education must aim at equipping young adults to solve questions as or more complex than financial crisis, and there are few more pressing than advancing Human Rights. As such we are very proud to host some of the leading experts in Human Rights and Higher Education in Luxembourg.”

Organization

The  Forum is organized jointly with the University of Luxembourg and the Ministry of Higher Education and Research of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.

Participation on Thursday’s session is open to all interested. Those wishing to attend on Friday are kindly asked to register by email until the 7th of March to contact@campuseuropae.org

The full programme of the Forum can be found here.