Annual Conference of Human Rights 2015 – Human Rights in Changing Times

The fifth annual Conference on Human Rights will focus on human rights in changing times, and bring together over 350 experts, diplomats, activists and politicians. The topics under discussion this year include case studies from the European Court of Human Rights, linguistic human rights, as well as the views of today’s Russian youth regarding their society. We will also focus on the human rights situation in various parts of Ukraine and the growing migrant crisis in Europe. All of these topics have taken on new meaning in the changing security environment and it is more important than ever to understand the implications of these challenges.

On International Human Rights Day, celebrated annually on December 10th, the Estonian Institute of Human Rights will once again host the traditional annual Conference on Human Rights in Tallinn, Estonia. The conference focuses on current human rights issues and will take place for the fifth year in a row.
This year the theme of the conference will be human rights in changing times. Global and regional crises create new circumstances and challenges, where human rights are playing an ever-increasing role. The topics of the sessions will focus on important national and international issues and look at how changing times influence our understanding and application of human rights. The day will start with a survey of Estonia’s membership in the UN Human Rights Council during the last three years.

Several sessions will focus on the current issues in post-Soviet countries. A fresh study called “Awareness of Human Rights and Security” will be presented, which was conducted in Estonia and maps the general awareness of linguistic human rights and the behaviour of the relevant stakeholders, followed by a discussion on integration, segregation and security issues related to the Russians in Estonia and the Baltics generally. Another panel will address the discourse of power and intellectual thought through the eyes of the new generation of the Russian.
The conflict in Ukraine is far from resolved and warrants special attention. Therefore, there will be a panel on the current human rights situation in Ukraine, including Crimea and Donbas, addressing the important question of who is responsible for enforcing human rights in a situation where no clear structures of accountability are in place.

Looking at other important topics in Europe, the migrant crisis has become one of the most vital and multifaceted issues facing the continent. We will convene a panel of politicians from different countries, who are working hard to resolve these issues, to better understand the nature of the crisis and to find appropriate solutions. Our last session will focus on the European Court of Human Rights and its activities. We will look at recent important cases and try to understand what role the court plays today.

The conference brings together over 350 activists, diplomats, politicians, analysts and experts from Estonia and around the world to tackle the important human rights issues of the day and it has become an annual event in Tallinn. The patron of the conference is Toomas Hendrik Ilves, the President of Estonia.

Toomas H. Ilves President of the Republic of Estonia
Mart Nutt Estonian Institute of Human Rights, Main Organizer

The conference is invitation-only.

More information: aet.kukk@eihr.ee

The organiser reserves the right to make changes in the schedule and the presenters.