I Summer School on Human Rights (2011)

From 20 to 25 June 2011, master’s students of the Institute of European Law became participants in the Moscow Summer School on Human Rights, which was organized by the Consortium of universities of the joint Master's Program in Human Rights, implemented by RUDN, MGIMO (based on IEL) and RGGU with the support of the Office of the Ombudsman for Human Rights in the Russian Federation. The school was held on the basis of the Faculty of Law of the RUDN University.

46 students from 8 countries of the world took part in the Moscow school. Classes were held in Russian and English. From the first day the program was full of lectures and practical exercises. On the first day, the audience was addressed by the Senior Human Rights Advisor of the UN system in the Russian Federation, Mr. Dirk Hebecker, who opened the introductory lecture using the icebreaker technique. This approach immediately made it possible to unite the participants into a single team and preserve this spirit for the entire period of the Moscow Summer School.

Classes were held in the format of interactive communication with renowned foreign researchers in the field of human rights, such as John Cleary (San Diego State University, USA), Bryce Dixon (Director of the Centre for Human Rights at the Queen's University School of Law in Belfast), Shane Darcy (Irish Centre on Human Rights of the National University of Ireland) and Vinicius Almada Mosetić (President of the International University Centre for Human Rights in Latin America).

The summer school participants had a unique opportunity to attend at lectures on human rights, held by professionals, such as G.F. Kunadze (Deputy Head of the Office of the Ombudsman in the Russian Federation), L.M. Alekseyeva (Chairperson of the Moscow Helsinki Group), who told the participants what a human rights defender should be like, S.G. Aivazov (member of the Presidential Council for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights, expert on gender issues), Professor A.Kh. Abashidze (Honoured Lawyer of the Russian Federation, Head of the Department of International Law of the RUDN University, Vice-Chairman of the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights).

The listeners considered such issues as: the specifics of the activities of the European Court of Human Rights; protection of women's rights; the Inter-American Human Rights System and the National Human Rights Institute; International Criminal Court; the impact of UN treaty bodies in the protection of human rights; human rights and Latin America: social exclusion, poverty and child employment.

A round table “Freedom of speech and assembly” was organized specifically for the participants of the Moscow Summer School 2011, which took place in the museum and public centre of A.D. Sakharov. Summing up of the results of the Moscow Summer School on Human Rights of 2011 ended with a solemn ceremony of awarding certificates.

Just a couple days after the closure of the Moscow Summer School, the masters of the Institute of European Law of MGIMO studying under the Russian Joint Master's Program “International Protection of Human Rights” went to Venice for an internship at the summer school on human rights at the Venice Academy of Human Rights, which began on 1 July 2011.

To see photos from the I Summer School, follow the link

Also you can see some photos in the photo gallery on our website

Source: Institute of European Law https://mgimo.ru/