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Call for Applications Theme: The Limits of Human Rights Type: Venice Academy of Human Rights Institution: European Inter-University Centre for Human Rights and Democratisation (EIUC) Location: Venice (Italy) Date: 9.–18.7.2012 Deadline: 1.5.2012 __________________________________________________ General Description The Venice Academy of Human Rights is a centre of excellence for human rights education, research and debate. It forms part of the European Inter-University Centre for Human Rights and Democratisation (EIUC) which is a leading institution for research and education in Europe. The Venice Academy provides an enriching interdisciplinary forum for emerging ideas, practices and policy options in human rights research, education and training. The Academy hosts distinguished experts to promote critical and useful research, innovation and exchange of current knowledge. The Academy offers interdisciplinary thematic programmes open to academics, practitioners and Ph.D./J.S.D. students from all over the world who have an advanced knowledge of human rights. A maximum of 55 participants is selected each year. Participants attend morning lectures, afternoon seminars and workshops and can exchange views, ideas and arguments with leading international scholars and other experts. This includes the opportunity to present and discuss their own "work in progress" such as drafts of articles, chapters of books or doctoral theses and other projects. At the end of the programme, participants receive a Certificate of Attendance issued by the Venice Academy of Human Rights. Theme The general theme of the Venice Academy of Human Rights 2012 is 'The Limits of Human Rights'. The aim is not a denial of the importance of human rights but an unvarnished look at discrepancies between human rights thought and scholarship as opposed to the realities in politics and in the field. While human rights have been an important emancipatory tool, there have always been voices highlighting exclusionary effects and insensitivities to particularities of culture, gender or religion. Others warn against a depolitisation of human rights through an increasing administration by legal experts and institutional bureaucracies. Today, challenges to national security and contemporary forms of warfare motivate questions about the effectiveness, the meaning and limits of human rights internationally as much as the complexities of immigration and integration do this nationally. The possible limits, blind spots and downsides are hence traceable in the political and moral life of pluralist societies, in the activities of international and regional organisations, in contemporary armed conflicts and in the very orthodoxies and paradigms of intellectual approaches to human rights. The Venice Academy provides an open forum to discuss these and other issues related to the promises and limits of what human rights and “universal” values can possibly achieve. Faculty of the Venice Academy 2012 Philip Alston, John Norton Pomeroy Professor of Law at New York University School of Law and former Special Rapporteur of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions Seyla Benhabib, Eugene Meyer Professor of Political Science and Philosophy at Yale University Erika Feller, UNHCR Assistant High Commissioner for Protection Martti Koskenniemi, Academy Professor of International Law at the University of Helsinki and Director of the Erik Castrén Institute of International Law and Human Rights Friedrich Kratochwil, Recurrent Visiting Professor at the Department of International Relations and European Studies at the Central European University and Former Professor of International Relations at the European University Institute Bruno Simma, William W. Cook Global Law Professor at the University of Michigan Law School and former Judge at the International Court of Justice Henry Steiner, Jeremiah Smith, Jr. Professor of Law, Emeritus at Harvard Law School Key Facts Participants: Academics, practitioners and PhD/JSD students Type of Courses: Plenary lectures, elective seminars and optional workshops Number of Hours: 21 hours for the plenary part (morning), min. 16 hours for the optional part (afternoon) Dates: Monday, 9 July - Wednesday, 18 July 2012 (1.5 weeks) Application: Applications for the Venice Academy 2012 will be accepted until 1 May 2012. Fees: 500 EUR Venue: Monastery of San Nicolò, Venice - Lido, Italy Contact: Venice Academy of Human Rights European Inter-University Centre for Human Rights and Democratisation (EIUC) Monastery of San Nicolò Riviera San Nicolò 26 30126 Venice – Lido Italy Tel: +39 041 2720 918 Fax: +39 041 2720 914 Email: [email protected] Web: http://www.eiuc.org/veniceacademy/ __________________________________________________ InterPhil List Administration: http://interphil.polylog.org Intercultural Philosophy Calendar: http://cal.polylog.org __________________________________________________
