Conference: Human Rights Inside and Outside

The Integrating Normative and Functional Approaches to the Rule of Law and Human Rights (INFAR) Research program at Erasmus School of Law and the International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University Rotterdam are hosting a conference on human rights at ISS on May 31st and June 1st.

Human rights are a core normative idea for law, but need to be instrumentalized/mobilized by various actors in order to function. What happens when that is done? More particularly, what side-effects does the use of human rights by various actors have for human rights as a normative proposition within law and politics? Is it possible to pursue human rights within a legal framework while at the same time criticizing the political and social structures that uphold that human rights framework? Or should we consider these two dimensions as part and parcel of a viable human rights strategy?

The conference brings together an international mix of scholars to address these questions in a socio-legal context, and focuses on four thematic areas: the law and politics of citizenship, constitutional crises and contestation, rethinking corporate social responsibility, and realizing rights in extractive industries. A keynote address will be delivered by Professor Jonathan Klaaren of the University of the Witwatersrand on 1 June. 

For more information please check the website of the ISS. Register here.