#1 Opening event

The concrete utopia of human rights

26 May 2021, 6 pm CEST

Alejandra Ancheita (lawyer, founder of ProDESC, Mexico), Joshua Castellino (executive director, Minority Rights Group International), and Wolfgang Kaleck (ECCHR general secretary) kicked off the event series.

On the basis of Kaleck’s latest book The concrete utopia of human rights: A look back into the future (in German, S. Fischer publishers), our guests discussed how, when faced with a climate crisis, a pandemic, deeply unequal economic models, and authoritarianism, human rights activists can no longer go on with business-as-usual. These unprecedented global transitions are a chance to rethink new strategies and ways forward, and reclaim human rights and their potential for change.

Guests

Wolfgang Kaleck

Wolfgang Kaleck founded the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights with other internationally renowned lawyers in Berlin in 2007. As a lawyer, he represents whistleblower Edward Snowden, among others. Kaleck has also published numerous books.

Alejandra Ancheita

Alejandra Ancheita is director and lawyer for the Project on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ProDESC), a human rights organization based in Mexico City. She has worked for over a decade as a human rights advocate in Mexico. In 2014, she received the Martin Ennals Award.

Joshua Castellino

Joshua Castellino is executive director of Minority Rights Group International. He founded the School of Law at Middlesex University London, UK, where he is a law professor. He is also a visiting scholar at Oxford University and the Irish Centre for Human Rights, among others.