McGill Centre for Human Rights & Legal Pluralism
Calls for application
O’Brien Fellows in Residence Program
The Centre invites applications to the O’Brien Fellows in Residence Program from a diverse pool of applicants such as journalists, activists, academics and practitioners in the field of human rights. Applicants should possess a deep understanding of their chosen subject area and a track record of professional accomplishment. Fellows should be able to work in English with proficiency. Knowledge of French is desirable. The program is administered on a rolling basis.
For information on the application process, deadlines and more, please download the complete Call for Applications: O'Brien Fellows in Residence [.docx]
(Please note that the O'Brien Fellows in Residence Program is separate from the O'Brien Fellowships in Human Rights and Legal Pluralism, which are destined to LLM and DCL students).
Global Conference on Democracy, Human Rights and the Fragility of Freedom - March 2013
The Global Conference on Democracy, Human Rights and the Fragility of Freedom will be held at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, March 21-23, 2013. This will be the third Echenberg Family Conference on Human Rights. Before each of these conferences, a Young Leaders Forum is held; Alumni of each Young Leaders Forum become McGill Echenberg Human Rights Fellows and remain active in a vibrant community of human rights professionals around the world. This third conference will provide a unique networking opportunity for like-minded young leaders from around the world, allowing them to engage with each other and work with some of the Conference’s distinguished speakers.
The Young Leaders will address key issues around democratic citizenship, the protection of fundamental rights and freedoms, including the violent repression of democracy and economic and social rights, as well as the role of transnationalism, globalization and foreign policy in democracy. Young Leaders will have the opportunity to develop practical skills in human rights advocacy, including in the use of social media and community-building to effect change.
One of the main goals of the International Forum for Young Leaders is to share practical tools and experiences while engaging with these Conference themes.
The continuing relevance of human rights
Human rights evoke concern with the lives of individuals and the well-being of communities. Relevant to our understanding of history, the present, and inter-generational justice, human rights have been on institutional, legislative, constitutional, and international agendas, and have been embraced by diverse social movements in countries all over the world. Human rights concepts have been relied upon in efforts to promote peace, cooperation, and intercultural dialogue.
Plurality in a globally connected world
Human rights concepts are increasingly being applied in diverse social and cultural contexts, reflective of a legally plural world. This plurality prompts new thinking about the relationship between law and society. Connecting the study of human rights to legal pluralism brings to light the importance of multiple legal and normative orders, ethical inquiry, local knowledge, individual and systemic relationships, and social power within the institutions and communities of civil society.
An innovative legal and interdisciplinary approach
The Centre for Human Rights and Legal Pluralism is a focal point for innovative legal and interdisciplinary research, dialogue, and outreach on human rights and legal pluralism. The Centre's mission is to provide students, professors and the larger community with a locus of intellectual and physical resources for engaging critically with how law impacts upon some of the most compelling social problems of our modern era.
