Prof. Dr. GERD OBERLEITNER

Professor of International Law. UNESCO Chair in Human Rights and Human Security. Director of the European Research and Training Centre for Human Rights and Democracy. University of Graz

Gerd Oberleitner is Professor of International Law and UNESCO Chair in Human Rights and Human Security at the Faculty of Law, University of Graz, Austria; Head of the Institute of International Law and International Relations of the University of Graz; and Director of the European Training and Research Centre for Human Rights and Democracy at the University of Graz.

He served as Legal Adviser in the Human Rights Department of the Austrian Foreign Ministry (1998-1999) and was Lecturer in Human Rights at the London School of Economics and Political Science (2002-2004) and Visiting Fellow at the LSE’s Centre for the Study of Human Rights (2004-2007), Visiting Scholar at the European Inter-University Centre Venice (2009) and the Université du Quebéc à Montréal (2010) and Visiting Professor at the Universities of Prishtina (2010), Ljubljana (2013-2016) and Rutgers University (Camden) (2016).

He teaches in the European Regional Master Programme in Democracy and Human Rights in South-East Europe (Sarajevo), the European Master’s Programme in Human Rights and Democratisation (Venice) and the Master Programme of Human Rights and Democratisation for Latin America and the Caribbean (Buenos Aires).

Publications include Global Human Rights Institutions: between Remedy and Ritual (Polity 2007), Human Rights in Armed Conflict: Law, Practice, Policy (Cambridge University Press 2015), (as co-editor) Blurring Boundaries: Human Security and Forced Migration (Brill 2017) and (as editor) Human Rights Institutions and Tribunals – Legacy and Promise (Springer 2018).

  • Thursday, 8 November

    SESSION 3. THE CHALLENGE OF DIVERSITY MANAGEMENT

  • 14:30  - 15:30
    Human rights at the local level – opportunities and challenges
    Prof. Dr. GERD OBERLEITNER
    Within the global process of urbanization, cities are becoming ever more important venues for promoting and protecting human rights. Local authorities have manifold human rights obligations in delivering socio-economic services, managing spaces, providing security and enabling participation in politics and culture. It is now increasingly understood that they effectively implement international human rights law in a practical way and close to the citizens, complementary (and sometimes contrary to) the respective central government. This development gives a new status to cities and local authorities as human rights actors, acting individually (e.g. as human rights cities) or in international human rights coalitions. International legal and policy frameworks have begun to notice that human rights at the local level will be one of the key themes for the coming years. Given the overall backlash against human rights, the role of cities in protecting and promoting human rights may become ever more important.




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Prof. Dr. GERD OBERLEITNER