Human rights in the 21st century: Is it possible to put human rights issues in the spotlight of...

Human rights in the 21st century: Is it possible to put human rights issues in the spotlight of international politics? Organized jointly with Human Rights Watch.
Day 1, session 3.
Moderator: Tanya Lokshina, Associate Director, Europe and Central Asia Division, Human Rights Watch (Russia).
In his Nobel lecture, Andrei Sakharov put respect for human rights on par with achieving peace and progress (sustainable development). "Peace, progress, human rights—these three goals are insolubly linked to one another: it is impossible to achieve one of these goals if the other two are ignored."

Just as science in the 20th century united the physics of the infinite universe and that of elementary particles, Andrei Sakharov, a scientist and a social thinker, linked international security (the survival of humanity) with the protection of human rights and the fate of each particular prisoner of conscience. This idea shaped international politics in the 1980s and partially in the 1990s, when the world witnessed substantial progress toward resolving human rights issues.

Today it seems that the integrity of the Sakharov triad has been called into question again. The international community and mature democracies exhibit declining interest and diminished commitment to the promotion and protection of human rights. Economic interests and realpolitik approaches cast human rights issues aside. Is it possible to bring human rights back into the focus of international politics? How would disrespecting one of the elements of Sakharov's triad affect the remaining two?

Participants:

Philip Alston, United Nations Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights (2014-2020), co-Chair of the law school's Center for Human Rights and Global Justice (USA).
Galina Arapova, Director and senior media lawyer of the Mass Media Defence Centre (Russia).
Yuri Dzhibladze, Member of the Coordination Committee of the International Civic Solidarity Platform (Russia).
Maina Kiai, Former United Nations Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association (2011–2017); former Executive Director, International Council on Human Rights Policy (2010–2011), Director for Alliances and Partnerships, Human Rights Watch (USA).
Dunja Mijatović, the current Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights (CoE).
Kenneth Roth, Executive Director, Human Rights Watch (USA).

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