Topic: The state of human rights today
During the exchange with students and staff, the Commissioner will discuss some of the current human rights issues in Europe, with a particular focus on his priority areas:
- Defending the human rights of the people of Ukraine, ensuring that human rights shape any path to peace and reconstruction.
- Embedding human rights in the major issues of our time, with a focus on:
- migration, particularly externalisation and human rights violations at borders;
- artificial intelligence and the importance of human oversight;
- environmental protection, climate action and human rights;
- and child poverty as a driver of inequality and exclusion.
- Standing up for the human rights of “forgotten groups”, with particular attention to Roma and Traveller communities and older people in care homes.
- Supporting human rights defenders and civil society.
Program
- Commissioner O'Flaherty’s opening remarks (25 minutes);
- A question-and-answer session (35 minutes), moderated by Professor Gentian Zyberi, Norwegian Centre for Human Rights
Registration
There are limited seats available! Please register your attendance to secure your spot:
Biography
Dr. Michael O'Flaherty was elected by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in January 2024. He is the fifth Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe. The Commissioner's mandate lasts for six years and is non-renewable.
An Irish human rights lawyer, Commissioner O' Flaherty has served as the Director of the EU Fundamental Rights Agency (2015-2023), as a member of the United Nations Human Rights Committee (2004-2012), as Chief Commissioner of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission (2011-2013), and in various posts at the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, notably in setting up operations in conflict-affected countries such as Sierra Leone and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Commissioner O'Flaherty has held professorships of human rights at the Universities of Nottingham (U.K.) and Galway (Ireland), where he has also led their Human Rights Centres. He is currently Adjunct (Honorary) Full Professor at the University of Maynooth and at University College Dublin. He has published widely in the field of human rights.