HURMUR Project Closing Conference “Human Rights in the Baltic Countries: Accomplishments and Challenges”

05.10.2018
November 15 – 16, 2018
Tallinn, Estonia

Tallinn University, Auditorium Maximus

Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have all joined the main global and regional human rights instruments and are viewed as compliant with their international human rights obligations. Yet there has not been a comprehensive comparative analysis of the human rights situation in the three Baltic countries. This conference will review trends and developments in the Baltic countries since the restoration of independence until the present day.

The two-day closing conference of HURMUR Project will be divided into two overall themes, each with two sessions. Day I will focus on Legal framework and processes, with sessions on The European Court of Human Rights and Domestic protection of human rights. Day II will focus on Actors and challenges, with sessions on Old and new human rights actors, and Current and future challenges.

Register here

Conference Programme:

THURSDAY NOVEMBER 15, 2018: LEGAL FRAMEWORK AND PROCESSES
  • 9:00     Welcome

Mart Susi, Professor of Human Rights Law, School of Governance, Law and Society, Tallinn University

 

  • 9:15     Keynote speech

             Mikael Rask Madsen, Director of the Centre of Excellence for International Courts, University of Copenhagen

 

  • 10.00   Session 1: Baltic countries and Europe (the Strasbourg view)

Overview and lessons of the Lithuanian cases in the Strasbourg Court

Egidijus Kuris, Judge, Euroepan Court of Human Rights

 

Overview and lessons of the Latvian cases in the Strasbourg Court

Kristine Lice, Representative of Latvia before the European Court of Human Rights

 

Overview and lessons of the Estonian cases in the Strasbourg Court

Maris Kuurberg, Representative of Estonia before the European Court of Human Rights

 

Each presentation will conclude with a QA and discussion

Coffee break at around 11:30

 

  • 12.45   Lunch
  • 14.00   Session 2: Domestic protection of human rights

Remedies against human rights violations in Lithuania

Rimvydas Norkus, President of the Supreme Court of Lithuania

 

Remedies against human rights violations in Estonia

Priit Pikamäe, Chairman of the Supreme Court of Estonia

 

Remedies against human rights violations in Latvia

Arturs Kućs, Judge at the Constitutional Court of Latvia

 

Each presentation will conclude with a QA and discussion

Coffee break at around 15:30

  • 16.45   Wrapping up

Tiina Pajuste, Associate Professor, School of Governance, Law and Society, Tallinn University

FRIDAY NOVEMBER 16, 2018: ACTORS AND CHALLENGES
  • 9:00     Welcome and summing up from yesterday

            Hans-Otto Sano, Director of Research, Danish Institute for Human Rights

 

  • 9:15     Keynote speech

Sirpa Rautio, Director of the Finnish Human Rights Centre

 

  • 10.00   Session 3: Current and future challenges

Current Developments in the Field of LGBT Rights

            Philip Ayoub, Associate Professor in the Department of Diplomacy & World Affairs at Occidental College

 

            Social Practice of Human Rights Protection – The Case of Gender Discrimination

            Alina Zvinkliene, Chief Researcher at the Institute of Sociology of the Lithuanian Social Research Center

 

Security, Fundamental Rights and the Role of Courts

           Janneke Gerards, Professor of Fundamental Rights Law at Utrecht University

 

Each presentation will conclude with a QA and discussion

Coffee break at around 11:30

 

  • 12.45   Lunch break
  • 14.00   Session 4: Current and future challenges

Prioritizing National Interest at the Expense of Narrowing Regular Migrant Mobility and Residence

Elina Todorov, PhD Student at the University of Tampere

 

Climate change litigation before the ECtHR

Heta Heiskanen, Post-Doc Researcher at the University of Tampere

 

The normative force of the ECtHR: The moral reading of rights in minority cases

Elina Pekkarinen, PhD Candidate at the University of Tampere

 

The Delfian Model: The ECtHR erred and crashed it in Delfi v. Estonia

Liudmila Sivetc, Doctoral Candidate at the University of Turku

 

Each presentation will conclude with a QA and discussion

Coffee break at around 15:30

  • 16:45   Closing remarks

Mart Susi, Professor of Human Rights Law, School of Governance, Law and Society, Tallinn University

Additional information: 

If you have any questions about the conference and arrangements, contact us:

Carsten Wulff:

E-mail: wulffc@tlu.ee