The Koufa Foundation for the Promotion of International and Human Rights Law is pleased to announce the 8th Thessaloniki Summer Courses on “Women, Gender and International Human Rights Law” to be held from, Wednesday 28 June 2023 to Friday 7 July 2023 in Thessaloniki, Greece.

International human rights law (IHRL) has brought about major improvements towards the legal recognition of equality and women’s rights as human rights. Under the influence of the feminist movement and the various feminist, gender, and queer theories, which have constantly challenged the dominant conceptualization of IHRL, women’s rights have been enshrined and mainstreamed in IHRL and practice and have been vindicated in the jurisprudence of international courts and quasi-judicial bodies. The concept of gender is constantly (re)shaping IHRL, challenging long embedded binary thinking. There remains, however, a huge gap between the law and the living experiences of billions of women, gender-nonconforming persons and other oppressed populations throughout the world. Immense challenges still exist not only in the effective implementation of legal rules, but mainly in undoing gender stereotypes, particularly in places where traditional religious and cultural values hold sway. Such challenges are exacerbated by the ongoing backlash against international law, human rights, women’s rights, sexual and other minorities and gender justice.

Against this background, the Summer Course on ‘Women, Gender and International Human Rights Law’ aims to take stock of the theory and practice of women’s rights as human rights and the various ways the concept of gender interacts with IHRL. In this vein, some of the most prominent human rights and feminist legal scholars will deliver lectures and seminars on gender and feminist legal theories, on the law, practice and contemporary developments concerning equality and non-discrimination, gender-based violence including domestic violence, sexual violence and trafficking as human rights violations, gender, bodily autonomy and human rights, gender, religion and human rights, the social rights of women and the situation of domestic migrant workers, sexual orientation and gender identity in IHRL and the human rights of LGBTIQ+ persons and families.

The directors of the 8th Thessaloniki Summer Courses are:

Lina Papadopoulou, Professor of Constitutional Law, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki

Aristoteles Constantinides, Associate Professor of International Law and Human Rights, University of Cyprus

For more information about the speakers’ line-up, click here.

You may find more information on the application process, fees and scholarships here.

You may find the poster and the leaflet here and here.