“Human Rights Protection & International Law: The Multifaceted Dilemma of Restraining and Promoting International Interventions”
Co-hosted by the Institute for Cultural Diplomacy & Ministry of Interior of Iceland
(Reykjavik, Iceland; April 10th – 13th, 2013)
www.reykjavikcongress.org



The international community acknowledges the increasing and persistent cases of mass atrocities and crimes against humanity occurring on a vast scale.

Understanding the complexity in bringing these crimes to an end, the Reykjavík Congress on Human Rights aims to argue and debate the notion of the responsibility to protect from a human rights perspective, taking into account the divergent dimensions in restraining or promoting international intervention.

Through the discussions and exchange of this conference, we aim to consider the current most vehement cases of human rights violations, and further comprehend the varied issues and approaches to these mass atrocities and crimes against humanity from a theoretical perspective, analyzing the complex layers and structures, and taking into account the ethical dilemma surrounding the responsibility to protect and international intervention.

The 2013 Congress will create and publish a discussion document that will be presented to the international community on how to overcome the dilemma of restraining and promoting all forms of International Interventions based on coordinated global coalition efforts between governments, NGOs, and International Institutions.

The Congress will focus in particular on the following Issues:

Humanitarian Crisis - This section of the conference will serve as an introduction to current and most pressing cases of crimes against humanity, considering the role of race and ethnicity throughout. The examples covered will include a focus on escalated mass atrocities during wartime such as in contemporary Mali, the ongoing and systematic violence in Darfur, an analysis of gender based violence as a form of genocide and finally the international focal point for crimes against humanity such as in Syria.

The UN Genocide Convention & R2P - Following the in-depth discourse on current cases of human rights crisis areas, this section of the conference will focus on the ethical dilemma of foreign interventions. The conference aims to achieve an outline of innovative solutions for how to overcome the dilemma of foreign intervention based on coordinated global coalition efforts between governments, NGOs and International Institutions.

Conference Speakers
Speakers during the Conference will include leading figures and experts from international politics, economics, academia, diplomacy, civil society, and the private sector. The speakers will also include a number of individuals from the ICD Advisory Board.

Conference Participants
Participation in The Reykjavík Congress on Human Rights is open to governmental & diplomatic officials, academics & scholars, human rights activists, journalists, artists, civil society practitioners, private sector representatives, young professionals, and students, as well as other interested individuals from across the world

To apply please visit: http://www.culturaldiplomacy.de/index.php?en_application-form_conferences

For more information please visit: www.reykjavikcongress.org