Posts Tagged human rights

The Council of Europe

Each Summer, Trinity Law School students have the opportunity to participate in the International Human Rights Institute–the Programme Européen d’ Été Études des Droits d’Homme–in Strasbourg, France. Founded in 1969 by French jurist and Nobel Peace Prize recipient René Cassin, this annual program gathers more than 400 students from 100 countries to teach and study international human rights.

Program participants spend the month of July studying current human rights issues, the major treaties, declarations, and other international legal and political texts, and the procedures and jurisprudence of global and regional human rights systems.  They also learn how countries are remedying some of the world’s greatest human rights ills such as religious persecution, racial discrimination, starvation, genocide, and the torture of dissidents.

The group began their time in Strasbourg at the Grand Hemicycle of the Palais of Europe, where the opening session–conducted by the Chief Justice of the Court of Human Rights, the President of the Institute of Human Rights, and others–was held.

According to Associate Dean Christopher Kall, through lecures and other means, the students have spent time “developing a foundational understanding of international Human Rights law, as well as how a biblical worldview affects that understanding.”  Additionally,  Kall reports that the group benefited from the guest lectureship of Professor Morse Tan, who addressed Eastern views of Human Rights, particularly using North Korea as a case model.

In addition to taking advantage of abundant opportunities  in areas of local travel and cultural exploration,  Kall reports that students recently traveled to Le Struthof, a World War II Nazi extermination camp.  This site was the location of horrific events which served as the impetus to the creation of the United Nations and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The group followed their visit with a time of reflection and discussion in nearby Mont St. Odile.