One thing we have learned at ECCHR from the last 15 years is that transnational human rights work requires significant reserves of patience and perseverance. The wheels of justice often turn slowly, which makes it difficult to recognize progress on a range of different battlefronts. ECCHR’s legal interventions are designed to work toward long-term social change, whether that means setting legal precedents or mobilizing politically to push for new, more just legislation. And now, after 15 years, we find ourselves in a position to take stock of our work as a whole. Since its inception in 2008, ECCHR has generated a tremendous amount of expertise in the field of strategic human rights litigation, spanning a wide array of geographical regions and topics. The Living Open Archive is a multimedia platform that offers diverse avenues to explore this wealth of material and will be available soon. The ECCHR Book Series aims to examine the potentials and pitfalls of human rights work in a shifting political and legal landscape. Uniting diverse voices across disciplinary boundaries, each book explores overlapping political, economic, social and environmental challenges worldwide, as well as strategies to combat them. In the first two books, ECCHR General Secretary Wolfgang Kaleck discusses the role of art in political and legal interventions with artist and activist Tomás Saraceno, and ECCHR Legal Director Miriam Saage-Maaß and GLAN Founding Director Gearóid Ó Cuinn explore new systemic approaches toward combating corporate power. The ECCHR Book Series will also be available soon in print and online.
To celebrate 15 years of ECCHR and in recognition of the more than 25-year-long trajectory of legal action to enforce human rights, we sought to critically assess the transformative potential of law, as well as the limitations of legal interventions, in confronting systemic injustices, structural inequalities and intersectional discrimination. To this end, on 9 November 2023, staff, partners and alumni engaged in discussions and reflections, assessing 15 – 25 years of transnational human rights litigation, examining current challenges, and generating new insights for future endeavors at our symposium "Addressing systemic injustice through legal means."
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