School of Law Author Series 2020/21. Seminar 18 with Professor Hurst Hannum.

Hurst Hannum, Professor of International Law at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, will speak about his book, ‘Rescuing Human Rights: A Radically Moderate Approach’ (Cambridge University Press 2019) on 29 January 2021.

Date and time: 3 - 4pm (Dublin) / 10 - 11am (EST), Friday, 29 January 2021

Attendees can join the webinar directly via Zoom and the event will be simultaneously live-streamed on the Law School Facebook page. This event is free and open to all and there will be an opportunity for Q&A. The webinar can accommodate 100 attendees and participants will be admitted on a first come, first served basis. If the webinar fills to capacity, it will be possible to watch the Facebook Live Stream, and a recording will also be made available following the event. We look forward to seeing you there.

Hurst Hannum, Professor Emeritus of International Law, has taught courses on international human rights law, minority rights, public international law, international organisations, and nationalism and ethnicity at the Fletcher School. His focus is on human rights and its role in the international legal and political order, including, in particular, issues of self-determination, minority rights, and conflict resolution. His scholarly work has been complemented by service as consultant/advisor to a number of intergovernmental and nongovernmental organisations, including the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights and Department of Political Affairs. He has been counsel in complaints before European, Inter-American, and U.N. human rights bodies. Professor Hannum was most recently a senior research fellow at the Bonavero Institute of Human Rights, University of Oxford, and he also has taught at the University of Hong Kong, Central European University (Budapest), Harvard, American University, Georgia, and Virginia.

Professor Hannum is the author or editor of numerous books and articles on international law and human rights, including 'International Human Rights: Problems of Law, Policy, and Process', 'Negotiating Self-Determination', 'Guide to International Human Rights Practice', and 'Autonomy, Sovereignty, and Self-Determination: The Accommodation of Conflicting Rights'. He serves on editorial advisory boards of Human Rights Law Review and Human Rights Quarterly.

About 'Rescuing Human Rights: A Radically Moderate Approach':

The development of human rights norms is one of the most significant achievements in international relations and law since 1945, but the continuing influence of human rights is increasingly being questioned by authoritarian governments, nationalists, and pundits. Unfortunately, the proliferation of new rights, linking rights to other issues such as international crimes or the activities of business, and attempting to address every social problem from a human rights perspective risk undermining their credibility. Rescuing Human Rights calls for understanding 'human rights' as international human rights law and maintaining the distinctions between binding legal obligations on governments and broader issues of ethics, politics, and social change. Resolving complex social problems requires more than simplistic appeals to rights, and adopting a 'radically moderate' approach that recognises both the potential and the limits of international human rights law, offers the best hope of preserving the principle that we all have rights, simply because we are human.