York Human Rights City Network Annual Lecture available to watch on YouTube

News | Posted on Wednesday 14 June 2023

York has been a Human Rights City for just six years, but others have been operating for up to 25 years.

What have been their successes and setbacks? Have they sustained and mobilised their potential? Have they become influential stakeholders in the international human rights system? Are they positioning themselves as innovative laboratories for social change in times of multiple crises?

In the 75th year of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, have human rights cities given meaning to the idea expressed by Eleanor Roosevelt in 1948 that human rights have to be relevant to the everyday lives of people? What can York learn from the European and global networks of human rights cities?

On the 17 April, Professor Gerd Oberleitner joined us from Graz, Europe's first Human Rights City, to explore these questions. This lecture is now available to watch on YouTube.