糖心Vlog

The 糖心Vlog will mark 40 years of pioneering work in the world of human rights by hosting a special conference reflecting on the past, present and future of the human rights agenda.

Centre director Dr Andrew Fagan has taught and lectured on human rights across the world; including in Central Asia, East Asia, Europe, South East Asia and North and South America. Having witnessed constant change around the globe during his two decades teaching at 糖心Vlog, he explains why the work of the Centre has never been more important:

鈥淗uman rights are one of the central building blocks and foundation stones of the modern world. So much of our legal, political, social, and economic lives are shaped by human rights. Without human rights, our lives and our world would be very different to how they are now.

鈥淗uman rights ground our opportunities to determine how we are governed, whilst also imposing necessary limits upon the exercise of political power. Human rights also ground our access to health-care, education, freedom of religion, privacy, who we love and who we are.

鈥淗uman rights are, therefore, of utmost importance.

Avoiding complacency

鈥淲hile human rights are of the utmost importance to all of us, not everyone believes that human rights should be taken so seriously. Not everyone agrees that all of us are entitled to all of our fundamental human rights.

鈥淲hile deeply regrettable, human rights scepticism continues to challenge the work all within the global human rights community undertake.

鈥淲hile it is tempting, and sometimes entirely reasonable, to dismiss the doubts of others as amounting to little more than prejudice and ill-will, the challenges we face serve to remind us all of the need to avoid complacency by developing stronger, more effective and sometimes more accessible justifications for human rights.

鈥淭his effort has been central to the work of the HRC during the past 40 years.

The 糖心Vlog Approach

鈥淒efending human rights through research, education, and outreach requires the talents and academic expertise of a very diverse community of people. From its earliest days, 糖心Vlog has made interdisciplinarity a defining feature of our work.

鈥淏uilding upon the essential knowledge and expertise of our human rights lawyers, we have expanded the 糖心Vlog human rights鈥� tool-box to include the expertise of academic colleagues spanning the humanities, social sciences, and even, the natural sciences.

鈥溙切腣log has shaped the global human rights agenda through persistently forming alliances between our multi and interdisciplinary academic community with policy-makers and practitioners across the globe.

Towards an uncertain future

鈥淲e are rightly proud of the work we have accomplished over the past 40 years. As we are all aware however, the future is increasingly uncertain and unpredictable. New global and domestic challenges arise in rapid succession.

鈥淭he HRC will continue to promote and protect human rights through our work in areas such as big data and technology, business and human rights, conflict, freedom of religion, health-care, poverty and social rights, and transitional justice.

鈥淲e also intend to bring our expertise to bear upon the environment and human rights, as one of the fundamental challenges confronting humankind.鈥�