The self-determination in 21st Century conference consists of panel discussions. Topics include State, Citizenship, Refugees, and Peoples. A limited number of tickets are available, please make your reservation in advance.
In recent decades the self-determination discussion has become a major area of study across many disciplines, especially in the political and social sciences. Scholars and NGOs have also offered significant input in the ways that communities are represented. Challenging questions are brought up to explore how the self-determination should be understood and defined, or how individuals and groups might protect their autonomy from state invasion. Re-thinking Self-determination will, therefore, focus on both individual and group rights from untraditional interdisciplinary approaches.
This conference addresses the self-determination in the 21st Century and consists of panel discussions. Topics include Self-Determination Theory and Practice; Case Studies from Biafra, Western Sahara, Kashmir; Minority Protection and International Law or regional instruments; People? Challenges of indigenous peoples; State, People, and Citizenship. Forced displacements. ‘Refugee’ Identity and the right to self-identification. “Refugeesâ€â€™ rights in host states and building a shared future.
Date: Monday, 18.02.2018
Time: 08:00-17:00
Address: 10 St James’s Square, London, SW1Y 4LE
Please see the programme details and address description here ICO_Confrence _Programme_18.02.19
A limited number of seats are available, and 1 week before the conference day the registrations will be closed.
Please make sure that you reserved your place on time. For your questions email [email protected]
Speakers and their presentations:
Opening Remarks: Padraig O’Malley
Padraig O’Malley is the John Joseph Moakley Distinguished Professor of Peace and Reconciliation at the University of Massachusetts, Boston’s John W. McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies. Padraig is the founding director of GAME, and Forum for Cities in Transition, an author, editor, lecturer and social engineer. Balkans. O’Malley is the subject of a documentary by James Demo, The Peacemaker – a film about O’Malley’s 30+ years of work at the vanguard of peacemaking.
Michael Freeman, The right to self-determination: philosophical and legal perspectives
Michael Freeman an Emeritus Professor in the Department of Government, University of Essex. He is author of Human Rights (Polity Press, 3rd edition, 2017) and numerous academic journal articles on human rights, including the right to self-determination, and other issues in political theory. He is a former Council member, and Chairperson, of the British Section of Amnesty International, and co-founder and former Chairperson of its Colchester Group. He has lectured on human rights on some 25 countries, from China to Brazil, from Sweden to South Africa.
James Summers, Self-Determination in the Human Rights Covenants as a Claimable Right
Dr James Summers lectures in international law at Lancaster University and is Director of the Centre for International Law and Human Rights. He is the author of Peoples and International Law (Second Edition) (Nijhoff, 2014) and (co) editor of Non-State Actors and International Obligations (Brill, 2018); Contemporary Challenges to the Laws of War: Essays in Honour of Peter Rowe (Cambridge University Press, 2014); and Kosovo: A Precedent? Implications for Self-determination, Minority Rights and Statehood (Nijhoff, 2011) as well as many articles and chapters exploring self-determination.
Dr. Noelle Higgings and Gerrard John Maguire, Language, Identity and Self-Determination
Dr Noelle Higgins is a Senior Lecturer in Law at Maynooth University, where she specialises in international law. She completed her doctoral studies at the Irish Centre for Human Rights on the issue of wars of national liberation. She has published extensively in the field of international human rights law, international criminal law and international humanitarian law. She has a particular interest in the area of cultural rights. Dr Higgins is currently an Academic Friend of the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Gerard John Maguire is a doctoral candidate with the department of law at Maynooth University. His research interests are in the areas of International Humanitarian Law, Public International Law, International Human Rights Law and Genocide Studies. His current research focuses primarily on the rights of minorities and indigenous people. He was a collaborator with Survival International on a research project focusing on the right to education of tribal children in their mother tongue. He is currently an associate lecturer with the department of law at Maynooth University and a tutor with the University’s Office of the Dean of Teaching and Learning.
Dr. Mare Ushkovska, European Union Integration vs. National Self-Determination
Dr. Mare Ushkovska received her PhD in International Law from Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje, with a dissertation on the topic of the right to self-determination and independence movements in the European Union. She holds an MA in Diplomacy and International Relations from the same university, as well as an MSc in Public Policy from University College London. Her research interests, among others, include topics on power politics, self-determination, EU foreign policy, and public diplomacy. She is a foreign language aficionado who speaks ten languages at a variable level of proficiency. Ushkovska is a member of Mensa and Chatham House – The Royal Institute of International Affairs, as well as an alumni of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, the Robert Shuman Institute, and the Mercator Foundation. Throughout her academic life she has received multiple scholarships. Ushkovska worked as a consultant for the United Nations Development Program in Skopje, prior to which she served as the commercial diplomat of the Republic of Macedonia to Scotland. She is currently participating in several working groups of the COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology) Action titled “EU Foreign Policy Facing New Realitiesâ€. She’s often an invited speaker to international forums and panel discussions.
Fouad MAMI, Self-Determination in the Age of Clandestine Immigration: Two Views from the Maghreb
Fouad Mami is a literary scholar from the Dept. of English, University of Adrar, Algeria. His research interests are immigration and diaspora literatures. Please consider visiting his two professional profiles: https://univ-adrar.academia.edu/univadraracademiaedu https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Fouad_Mami
Numan Turan, Bediha İpekçi, Mehmet Yalçın Yılmaz, Self-Determination and Psychosocial Adaptation in Refugees and Asylum Seekers
Numan Turan earned his Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology program at The University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is currently a faculty member at the Psychological Counseling and Guidance Department of Istanbul Medeniyet University. His current research interests focus on minority and marginalized groups, including psychotherapy process and outcome studies in trauma diagnosis and treatment, ethnic identity functioning, applications of positive psychology principles to the psychosocial adaptation.
Bediha is a third-year doctoral student in the Department of Counseling and School Psychology at UMass-Boston. She received her master’s degree in Professional Counseling from the University of Pennsylvania. Bediha is recently chosen to participate in the 2018 UMass-Boston-Transdisciplinary Dissertation Proposal Development Program to work on her mixed method project titled “Post-traumatic stress and resilience among Iraqi and Syrian refugees. Bediha currently works as a clinical fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital-Chelsea HealthCare Center where she predominantly works with refugees and asylum seekers. Her clinical interests include ethno-political trauma experienced by refugees and immigrants.
Mehmet Yalçın Yılmaz earned his Ph.D. from the Institute of Ataturk’s Principles and Reforms program of Istanbul University and is currently an associate professor of Research Institute of Turkology of Istanbul University. His research interest includes the Language Policy, Cultural Policies, Turkish Language and Literature, and Turkish for Foreigners.
Mike Donlan, Self-Determination and Climate Change
I have been a lawyer for over 50 years, My specialties are energy and corporate developments of industrial and commercial real estate. I have been active in the Democratic Party, and was a close advisor to Michael Dukakis and to Walter Mondale. I have worked on many political campaigns in Boston. My real attraction is toward public affairs. I have had some fulfilling successes in bringing progress to the political realm — via leadership in the Democratic Party and in peace-making pursuits. Currently, I believe that Climate Change and Global Warming are upending centuries of progress for civilization. The Legal Process must become enhanced to cope with this existential threat. Without such, humanity is doomed. The strongest step needed is to advance the role of Human Rights — both nationally and internationally. Without some real luck, humanity is doomed.
Nikoletta Pikramenou, Grimà Algora and Maria del Rosario Grima Algora – “Raising Indigenous women’s voices for equal rights and self-determinationâ€
Nikoletta Pikramenou (ICO Research Fellow) is a human rights lawyer and a PhD candidate at Aristotle University and Uppsala University. Her doctoral thesis is focusing on gender issues and human rights and its defense is scheduled for May 2019. In 2017, she participated as a Human Rights Fellow on behalf of the EU Delegation to the UN in NY at the 16th Session of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) and at the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW61). Currently, she is working as a Researcher at International Communities Organisation (ICO) and Women’s Earth and Climate Action, International (WECAN) and as a Political Participation Monitoring Coordinator for the African women-led organisation Make Every Woman Count (MEWC). Her main areas of focus are: Indigenous women’s rights, rights of Nature and African women’s political participation.
Michael Stam, Who are the people? On how the case of Western Sahara highlights the need for a re-definition of what a people is.
Michael Stam is currently doing his M.A. in Human Rights Policy and Practice at Gothenburg University, Universidad Deusto, and Roehampton University. He has worked as a volunteer researcher with ICO and as an intern at the Gothenburg institute for Governance and Local Development. During his B.A. in Governance at Utrecht University he was the president of the university’s Dutch United Nations Students Association, as well as sitting on the board of the Dutch United Nations Association. He is specifically interested in how the right to self-determination is (re)defined, policy change and the intersection of Governance and Human Rights.
Sandra Malagón, Andoni Ibarra, Omar Masera, Inclusive Innovation in eco-technologies for indigenous communities self-determination
Sandra Malagón, PRAXIS Research Group . My college degree is in Environmental Sciences from National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). I have a master degree Philosophy of Science from UNAM and a master in Philosophy, Science and Values from UPV/EHU (University of the Basque Country/ Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea). Now a days I am pursuing my PhD in the Area of Social Studies of Science and Technology in the combined program from Philosophy, Science and Values PhD Program from UPV/EHU and Philosophy of Science PhD program from UNAM. My research topics aim the appropriation of new procedures and measurement frameworks of eco-technologies for development, taking as case of study the technologies used in rural zones of Mexico. My doctoral thesis is focused on the interactions socio-techno-environmental features that have an impact on the traditional cooking systems, to create a new assessment model that measures the embracement of new technologies. My topics of interest are Social Studies of Science and Technology, Transdisciplinary Networks, Inclusive Innovation, Technologies in Multicultural Environments and Development and Wellbeing.
Andoni Ibarra, PRAXIS Research Group
Department of Logic and Philosophy of Science University of the Basque Country, UPV/EHU BA Philosophy (Autonomous University Barcelona), PhD Philosophy (University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU). My main research interests focus on Philosophy of Science, Science and Technology Studies, and History of Science in the 20th Century. Currently, I am Head of theMiguel Sánchez-Mazas Chair, as well as Principal Investigator of PRAXIS Research Group. I am also Editor-in-Chief of the Journal Theoria.
Omar Masera, Institute of Ecosystems and Sustainability Research Deparment of Bioenergy He completed his studies at the Faculty of Sciences of the UNAM, obtaining a degree in Physics in 1987, a Master’s degree in Energy and Natural Resources at the University of California, Berkeley in 1990 and a Doctorate in Energy and Natural Resources in the same institution in 1995. He is currently a principal investigator of the Institute of Ecosystems and Sustainability Research of the UNAM, Campus Morelia, where he directs the Bioenergy Laboratory. He is president of the Mexican Bioenergy Network and regularly collaborates with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the United Nations Environment Program and the United Nations Development Program.
Dr. Tanya Herring, The Palermo Protocols As A Conduit To Legal Empowerment And Peaceful Self-Determination: A Critical-Case Socio-Legal Research Investigating Prevention, Protection Interventions for the Stateless non-Refugee & Force Displaced Children Vulnerable to Human Trafficking, Smuggling, and Exploitation
Tanya Herring, Ph.D., D.Mgt., and is also a candidate for a PhD in Law with focus on International Criminal Law and International Human Rights at Bangor University, Wales UK, Research Fellow with International Communities Organization, London (ICO), UK; Post-Doctorate Fellow with Wales Observatory on Human Rights of Children and Young People, Bangor and Swansea, UK; This research paper is a segment of a series by the author focusing on the universal applications of the Palermo Convention within the context of human rights protections, under the Wales Observatory ‘Children Displaced Across Borders Project’ specifically identified as 2018-01. The series focuses on jurisprudence related to prevention and protection measures for self-determination for the stateless refugee, stateless non-refugee, and those force displaced children examined under the realm of international criminal and international human rights law and delineated by field-research states: Serbia, Russia, Hungary, Malaysia and states in the Southeast Asia regions; All graphics, photographs sourced, cited, and used within fair-use guidelines.
Christopher Brucker, National Self-Determination and related norms as strategic resources during the Biafran independence war, 1967-1970
Christopher Brucker is a Ph.D. student at the Chair of International Relations, Friedrich-Schiller-University of Jena. He received his B.A. and M.A. from the same institution. Following a long-term interest in the normative aspects of independence conflicts, Christopher is writing his dissertation about The International Norm Politics of Secessionist Movements. Christopher has experience as a lecturer and undertook research trips to Catalonia.
Iryna Stepanova, Self-determination and Tax payer’s rights
Iryna Stepanova is an ICO Research Fellow with a solid background in law and work experience in the public sector, the private sector and within international organisations. Her research has been mainly in the fields of International Human Rights Law, International Public and Private Law, International Criminal Law, Transitional Justice and Taxation. Initially specializing in tax law, she has broadened her work to include all aspects of international human rights law. Her research covers socio-economic rights implementation and taxpayer rights protection. The research asserts that the current level of taxpayer rights realisation requires the creation of an International Taxpayer Bill of Rights. Thus, the study involves and explores the right to be informed; right to quality service; rights to pay no more than the correct amount of tax; right to be heard and retain representation; right to appeal; right to finality; right to privacy and confidentiality; right to a fair and just tax system. The research interest also includes taxation and legality of cryptocurrencies; design of policy recommendations and mandates for national institutions for the protection of taxpayer rights; analysis of communities’ self-determination through self-accomplishment for the purpose of justice.
Amina Mahmood Mir, A Contemporary Examination of the Self-Determination Struggle of “Kashmir†its Relationship with Sub-Regional Nationalisms
Amina Mahmood Mir is a London based doctoral researcher at the University of Westminster in London. She is currently analysing how politics works at various levels among the self-determination groups across all the regions involved in the Kashmir conflict. She has participated in conferences and workshops exploring contemporary politics of Kashmir Conflict and presented her findings. She has been trying to understand the Kashmir conflict for the last ten years. Her ancestral roots lie in the Kashmir Valley, but she has travelled, lived and engaged with young people and scholars in both India- and Pakistan-administered Jammu & Kashmir. She also advocates for awareness initiatives addressing gender equality and domestic violence in Kashmir.
