‘What to Learn from International Human Rights Systems?’: Workshop Summary

The Inter-American Human Rights Network held its third international workshop at the University of Ghent on 29-30 January.

Following the event, the network has produced a workshop summary document, which outlines the key findings and main areas of debate among the assembled experts during the two-day conference.

The workshop looked at regional human rights mechanisms in comparative perspective, with participants’ presentations grouped around the following topics:

• International Human Rights Decisions and Implementation at the National Level

• International Human Rights Decisions in the Context of Persons in Situation of Vulnerability

• Implementation of Decisions of Human Rights Bodies in the Context of Women’s Rights

• Human Rights Decisions from a Comparative Perspective

• International Human Rights Decisions: Suggestions to Improve Implementation

• Human Rights Decisions and Political Context

The workshop also included a policy and practitioner panel featuring expert contributions from:

• Laurence Burgorgue-Larsen, Judge Constitutional Court of Andorra and Law Professor at the Université de Paris I–Panthéon Sorbonne;

• Paulo Pinto de Albuquerque, Judge at the European Court of Human Rights; and

• Frans Viljoen, Director of the Centre for Human Rights at the University of Pretoria.

Summaries of the more than 20 papers presented during the workshop are available in the IAHRN workshop document. The workshop discussions will also form the basis of an upcoming IAHRN policy briefing on the positive and negative practices of regional human rights mechanisms across the globe.