About the group

Human rights face complex challenges around the globe. Once considered a global lingua franca, human rights nowadays face increasing pressure. Political, legal, economic and social challenges as well as humanitarian and planetary crises transcend borders and regions. While human rights violations are particularly acute in some parts of the world, we see a decline of their protection spreading rapidly across the globe. 

There are also ongoing and future transformations associated with the human rights field, which provide new opportunities for promoting human rights. One example is the development of an international framework for business and human rights; another is the discussion of SDGs and of which normative framework will replace the SDGs after 2030. Moreover, developments in the fields of climate change and environmental rights, along with their intersection with refugee rights, demonstrate the global scope of the human rights landscape and the potential for responsiveness and adaptation in the face of new challenges. At the same time, the rise of authoritarianism in the world and the increasing privatization of human rights advocacy mean more actors with illiberal interests challenging achievements of the human rights movement since the 1990s.

The research group constitutes a platform for multidisciplinary research on global human rights issues. Its members combine legal scholarship, social sciences, philosophy, and other approaches. Through the contributions of multiple disciplines, the group creates a space for discussion and research that also addresses the ongoing pressure and violations affecting human rights, as well as new changes emerging in the human rights field.

 

Events autumn 2026

Research group meetings 

Wednesday 16 September

Tuesday 13 October 

  • Time: 13:00-14:15
  • Topic: Olympic Truce, Olympic Peace? UN Truce Resolution, Human Rights, and Violence Levels Around the Olympic Games
    • Presenter: Assoc. Prof. Audrey Comstock

Tuesday 10 November 

Tuesday 15 December

Events spring 2026

Research group meetings 

Tuesday 24 February

Tuesday 17 March

Tuesday 21 April

  • Time: 13:00-14:15
  • Topic: "The Populist Backlash and the Future of the Human Rights Paradigm"

Seminars

Wednesday 6 May 

Thursday 21 May

Events autumn 2025

Research group meetings

Tuesday 16 September 

  • Time: 13:00-14:15
  • Topic: 'Shaming and Institutional Agency: Ethnographic Insights from CEDAW's Constructive Dialogue' Presenter: Doctoral Research Fellow Marie Andersen Hulthin

Tuesday 28 October

  • Time: 13:00-14:15
  • Topic: 'Shaping Practices and Legal Narratives: The Instrumentalization of Migration and Its Effects on EU Borders and Strasbourg Litigation' Presenter: Prof. Dr. Grazyna Baranowska

Tuesday 25 November

  • Time: 13:00-14:15
  • Topic: 'Pro Bono in Context: The Role of Profit Law Firms in Indonesia's Civic and Political Landscape' Presenters: Kemal Nababan & Karell Ibnu Kamali

Tuesday 16 December

  • Time: 13:00-14:15
  • Topic: 'Transitional Justice in Non-Transitional Contexts: Ethiopia Through the Prism of Accountability' Presenter: Doctoral Research Fellow Mekonnen Fisseha Gebiremichael

Events spring 2025


Research group meetings

Tuesday 22 April

  • Time: 13:00-14:15
  • Topic: 'Implementation of human rights by local and regional authorities: lessons from the case law of the European Court of Human Rights' 
    Presenter: Associate Professor Matthew William Saul

Tuesday 13 May

  • Time: 13:00-14:15
  • Topic: Diplomats, Diplomacy, and the Protection of Human Rights Defenders: The Case of Norway'
    Presenter: PhD Fellow Sandra Peterson

Tuesday 27 May

  • Time: 13:00-14:15
  • Topic: 'The feasibility critique against human rights' 
    Presenter: Professor Jacob Elster

Seminars

Friday 14 March

Monday 31 March

  • Time: 13:15-14:45
  • Topic: 'Book Launch: Global Governance on the Ground - Organizing International Migration and Asylum at the Border'

Events autumn 2024


Research group meetings

Tuesday 27 August

  • Time: 13:00-14:15
  • Topic: 'The technological border and its impact on state jurisdiction' 
    Presenter: Senior Executive Officer  Sunniva Eik Fredstad

Tuesday 8 October

  • Time: 13:00-14:15
  • Topic: 'Localizing Indigenous Collaborative Governance (ICG) in Green Transition: Implementation of International Law on Climate Change, Biodiversity Conservation, and Human Rights in Norway and China' 
    Presenter: Associate Professor Maria Lundberg

Tuesday 5 November

  • Time: 13:00-14:15
  • Topic: 'Private law firms in global governance' 
    Presenter: Associate Professor  Nina Reiners  and MA Student Ellen Vrålstad

Tuesday 26 November

  • Time: 13:00-14:15
  • Topic: 'Human Rights and Corporate Social Responsibility Approaches of Chinese Actors in Balkan Energy Projects.' 
    Presenter: Guest Researcher Stanislav Gubenko

Events spring 2024


Research group meetings

Tuesday 13 February

  • Time: 13:15-14:45
  • Topic: 'Construction, recognition and protection of Sacred Natural Sites' 
    Presenter: Associate Professor  Helge Årsheim

Tuesday 12 March 

  • Time: 13:15-14:45
  • Topic: 'Reducing the use of isolation in Norwegian high-security prisons: staff and inmates' experiences of measures aimed to increase meaningful social contact' 
    Presenter: MA student Katarina Lavrinenko Friis-Olsen

Tuesday 16 April

  • Time: 14:15-15:30
  • Topic: 'Forced labour: More than a concept?'  
    Presenter: PhD Fellow  Victoria Skeie

Tuesday 11 June

  • Time: 13:15-14:45
  • Topic: 'The right to sustainable development in practice: a case study of Kenya' 
    Presenter: PhD Fellow  Elsabe Boshoff

Seminars

Thursday 2 May

Friday 24 May

Wednesday 12 June

Cooperation

The research group builds on and develops the networks gained from the previous Sustainable Development and Human Rights research group (including networks within the International Association of Human Rights Institutes (AHRI)). 

Duration

The research group is established for a five-year period, from August 2022 to July 2027.