idw – Informationsdienst Wissenschaft
Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
idw - Informationsdienst
Wissenschaft
09/09/2010 - 09/09/2010 | Berlin
Abstract
What can we learn from the legacy of the past, present trajectories and the possibilities of the future when we consider the advance of human rights? To address this question, I am going to adopt the device of an imagined human rights poster exhibit, in which each poster illuminates key moments in the human rights journey. The first poster represents 1948, and the succeeding ones move forward in time at roughly twenty year intervals. Finally, I will consider what we might foresee for a poster depicting the future twenty years from now. The right to a healthy environment, the object of this conference, is a critical component of the human rights agenda; and the status of that struggle will be interwoven into each historical interval.
The first three of those twenty-year intervals: 1948, 1968, and 1988/9, each represent moments of dramatic affirmation in the struggle for human rights. At each of those points, daunting challenges generated new human rights responses, responses which deepened and broadened the meaning of universal human rights. In sharp contrast to these previous historical milestones, we have not witnessed in our current period the same vitality in the human rights movement. Instead, today we are experiencing mixed feelings, blending a resurgence of cultural, parochial, and nationalist pride with a sense of uncertainty and yearnings for a better future. While the meaning of universal human rights was broadened and in a way more inclusive, one aspect of the legacy of the human rights campaigns of the 1960’s and 1980’s had been a process of fragmentation of the original, comprehensive vision contained in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
At this critical historical stage, one can envision a greater chasm along two possible paths: a dark path reminiscent of the years following the first World War (i.e., economic recession, the rise of fundamentalism and xenophobia, impotent international organizations) and another path promising to avert this dark future by revisiting and building on the world order born soon after World War II (i.e., expanding the reach of the New Deal, environmental restoration, more robust and responsive international organizations). This talk will conclude with some thoughts on the dangers we face, and how a human rights agenda might help avert them.
Information on participating / attending:
Registration
Please send an Email to events@hertie-school.org.
Date:
09/09/2010 19:30 - 09/09/2010 21:00
Event venue:
Hertie School of Governance
Friedrichstrasse 180
Forum, 1st floor
10117 Berlin
Berlin
Germany
Target group:
Journalists, all interested persons
Email address:
Relevance:
regional
Subject areas:
Cultural sciences, Law, Philosophy / ethics, Politics, Social studies
Types of events:
Entry:
09/06/2010
Sender/author:
Axel Rückemann
Department:
Pressestelle
Event is free:
yes
Language of the text:
English
URL of this event: http://idw-online.de/en/event32393
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