At this interdisciplinary symposium, researchers affiliated with the Erasmus Mundus Human Rights Practice and Policy Masters Programme, and from UiT, will discuss questions relating to Indigenous Peoples and Minority Rights.
Are things are ‘getting better’ or ‘getting worse’? What is the role of research?
In the last few decades the number of human rights mechanisms at the global level addressing the rights of Indigenous peoples and minorities has expanded dramatically. This gives the impression of an overall trend towards improvement in the recognition and fulfillment of human rights for some of the most marginalized sections of the global population. While this may be the case in some places, in many parts of the world, the circumstances of Indigenous communities is deteriorating rapidly, and the persecution of ethnic minorities – and resulting conflicts around this – remains one of the most pressing global problems. For many Indigenous and minority communities, global contexts including climate change, resource extraction, and the pandemic greatly contribute to their vulnerability.
Taking this situation as the point of departure, this symposium will address questions including the following: Are things are ‘getting better’ or ‘getting worse’? What evidence exists? How do current global contexts exacerbate Indigenous and minority rights situations? How are Indigenous Peoples and Minorities using international mechanisms to address the problems their communities are facing? How do these tools actually work in local contexts? What do academics in general, and specific disciplines, have to offer?
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The Erasmus Mundus Human Rights Practice and Policy (HRPP) Masters Programme is an international interdisciplinary joint-degree programme, made up of a consortium that includes: the University of Gøteburg, Sweden; Roehampton University, UK; the University of Deusto, Spain; and the University of Tromsø – Arctic University of Norway. This symposium, held in conjunction with HRPP consortium meetings in Tromsø, brings together human rights specialists from the four HRPP universities, and invites scholars from different disciplines at UiT to describe their research related to human rights. This year, the focus is on Indigenous and Minority Rights.
The symposium is hosted by the UiT Interdisciplinary Human Rights Research Network, an informal network of scholars at the Arctic University of Norway working on human rights issues. It is supported by the Department of Social Sciences (Institutt for Sammfunsvitenskap, ISV), in the Humanities and Social Science Faculty. In addition, Keynote Speaker Irene Bellier (EHESS, Paris) and Jennifer Hays (UiT), will launch their co-edited volume Scales of Governance and Indigenous Peoples, published in 2020. The Centre Universitaire de de Norvège à Paris (CUNP) has sponsored her travel to Tromsø. The launch will be held at the end of the symposium, and will be followed by a reception at Árdna, the Sami cultural house at UiT. [NOTE: Registration required for the book launch at Árdna - see event announcement]
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9:15 Introduction: Jennifer Hays
9:30 Invited Keynote Speaker: Irene Bellier EHESS, Paris (Anthropology)
The Right to Live? : Alarming conditions for Indigenous Peoples – past and present
PANEL 1: Global Approaches to Indigenous and Minority Rights
10:30 Felipe Gómez Isa, HRPP / Deusto University (International Law): The Rights of Nature as Indigenous Epistemological Resistance
10:50 Kerstin Reibold, UiT (Philosophy ): Who needs to tell the truth? TRCs, epistemic injustice, and epistemic exploitation
11:10 Jennifer Hays, HRPP / UiT (Anthropology): Human Rights Education at the UN: the OHCHR Indigenous and Minority Fellowship Programme
11:30 - 12:00 Discussion
12:00 - 13:15 Lunch break
PANEL 2: International Law and Indigenous Rights in Scandinavia
13:15 Peter Johansen and Johan Karlsson Schaffer, HRPP / Gothenburt University (Sociology, School of Global Studies): Litigating land rights in Sàpmi: Indigenous legal mobilisation in Finland, Norway and Sweden.
13: 35 Øyvind Ravna, UiT (Law): The ICCPR and Indigenous peoples’ human rights: lessons from the Fosen judgement
13:55 Else Grete Broderstad, UiT (Political Science / Center for Sami Studies): International law, state compliance and wind power on reindeer herding lands: Cases from Norway.
14:15 - 14:45 Discussion
14:45 - 15:00 Cafe pause
PANEL 3: Relationships between Minorities and the State – case studies
15:00 Marcela Douglas, UiT (Anthropology / Center for Peace Studies) and Merete Saus (Pedagogy / ILP): Invisible Differentness in Sámi Child Protection Services.
15:20 Mohammed Salahin, UiT (Sociology / Center for Peace Studies): Human rights from below: Opportunities and challenges for the Rohingya minority in Bangladesh
15:40 John Eade, HRPP / RU (Sociology/Anthropology): Urban Ethnicity and Identity Politics in London: Bangladeshi and Somali case studies
14:00 - 14:30 Discussion
17:00 - 19:00 Book Launch at Árdna - see event announcement