Funding for future-proofing human rights: towards a thicker understanding of accountability
Wouter Vandenhole of the Law and Development Research Group has secured the prestigious i-BOF funding for ‘blue sky research’ on future-proofing human rights, as member of a consortium of Flemish universities (Antwerp, Brussels, Ghent and Hasselt).
Human rights are increasingly described as in crisis. One reason for this is that current accountability mechanisms cannot adequately deal with intricate and multilayered human rights violations that occur in rapidly changing and vastly complex social contexts. Thus, if human rights are to continue to offer a widely accepted framework for thinking about (social) justice, we urgently need to reconstruct the very notion of accountability on which it is pinned, so that better protection is offered. This project revisits the questions of what counts as a human rights violation, who holds human rights duties and how to actually deliver human rights accountability, in the context of pressing and complex challenges. Harnessing the legal, sociological, anthropological and criminological expertise of the consortium's members, it finds resources and strategies for thicker human rights accountability within human rights law, from other domains of law, and beyond the legal realm. The identification of a variety of avenues for achieving better human rights protection will provide the basis for a thicker conceptualization of the notion of (human rights) accountability.
Flemish Government renews funding of collaboration with the Centre for Human Rights at the University of Pretoria
The Flemish Government confirmed on 10th December 2020 (Human Rights Day) that it will continue to sponsor cooperation with our enduring partner, the Centre for Human Rights at the University for Pretoria.
Under the new 3-year agreement, the Research Group will further contribute to the University of Pretoria's Advanced Course on the Right to Development, by sending both lectueres and participants. In addition, the renewed agreement provides broader opportunities for research collaboration.
We very much welcome the Flemish Government's decision, and congratulate the Centre for Human Rights in Pretoria!