Reforming Human Rights Protection

PA 239/09 The University of Nottingham Human Rights Law Centre will host a world class panel of human rights experts, including Mary Robinson and Thomas Hammarberg. Recently awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by US President Barack Obama, Mary Robinson will deliver a keynote speech at the 10th Annual Conference of the Association of Human Rights Institutes: Partnerships and Reform for Human Rights Protection — 17-19 September 2009, at the Human Rights Law Centre, University of Nottingham. Mary Robinson was the first woman President of Ireland (1990 - 1997) and United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (1997 - 2002). In 2002 she founded Realizing Rights: The Ethical Globalization Initiative, an NGO that aims to put human rights standards at the heart of global governance and ensure that the voices of the most vulnerable are heard on the international stage. Some of Europe's most eminent human rights practitioners and academics will attend the conference to debate a reform agenda for the international human rights protection system. Other notable guest speakers include: Thomas Hammarberg Thomas Hammarberg, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, is one of the most important official figures in European human rights. He is former Secretary-General of Amnesty International and Swedish Representative for the multilateral Middle East peace process.