Programme and registration
The workshop is open to a limited number of external participants. For registration, please send an email to indicate which day(s) of participation and contact details.
About the workshop
The Nordic countries demonstrate a puzzling ambivalence towards human rights.
On the one hand, citizens of these five countries appear to enjoy a level of rights realization that few other states can rival. In their foreign policies, the Nordic countries pride themselves to be staunch defenders of human rights, seeking to promote human rights in bilateral development aid and advancing a progressive human rights agenda in multilateral organizations such as the United Nations, the Council of Europe and the World Bank.
Yet, on the other hand, Nordic policymakers often – and perhaps increasingly – question the legitimacy of domestic and international judicial review of human rights within their own polities. Moreover, Nordic governments are frequently criticised for quietly sacrificing their foreign policies’ noble human rights ambitions whenever they collide with national or corporate interests overseas and a closer examination of domestic policy and practice reveals a more nuanced picture of rights realisation.