Nordic Research Training Course 2008:
Institute for Human Rights ÅBO AKADEMI UNIVERSITY
Nordic Research Training Course 2008: "Human Rights and Evidence"
General Information
The Nordic Research Training Course 2008, "Human Rights and Evidence", will take place on the island of Saaremaa in Estonia from 1 – 7 June.
The course is open to doctoral candidates registered at a Nordic, Baltic or NW Russian University. Exceptionally, candidates from other areas to a quota of 10 % and young researchers (PhD within 5 years) can be accepted to the course.
The deadline for applications is 31 March 2008. If you are admitted to the course, you should, by 15 May 2008, submit a paper (by email to: maria.sommardahl@abo.fi) on one or more theoretical and/or methodological aspects of your ongoing research to be presented and discussed at the course.
The paper can be your current research plan, a draft chapter of your thesis under preparation, or something you have already published. It should enable such discussion during the course that will be beneficial for the participants in general but above all for your ongoing research.
It would be optimal if you could link the paper to the theme of the course but this is by no means a requirement. After submission all papers will be sent to the other participants and the Faculty members. The latter will decide amongst themselves who will be in charge of directing the discussion on each paper, and this will also determine the scheduling of the papers during the week. In the discussion on your paper you will not be expected or even allowed to read out your text. Instead, you may introduce the discussion in 5-10 minutes, either freely or with the assistance of chalk and blackboard, transparencies or a power point presentation.
It is recommended that you use your limited speaking time to direct the discussions towards questions where you need help, instead of trying to give an actual presentation of your paper.
The course is free of charge thanks to funding from NordForsk. However, you should make your own travel arrangements for which you will be reimbursed afterwards. Meals and accommodation is taken care of by the organizers. There will be a common transport from the airport in Tallinn to the island of Saaremaa on Sunday 1 June at 16:00 and back to Tallinn on Saturday 7 June in the morning (flights should be booked to fit this schedule). Once you have been admitted to course, you will receive more detailed information on travel arrangements, accommodation and so forth.
Application form:
http://web.abo.fi/instut/imr/nordforsk/activities/events/Application form, imr 2008.doc For more information on events organized within the framework of the Nordic School and Network in Human Rights Research and updates on the above mentioned course, please see:
http://web.abo.fi/instut/imr/nordforsk/index.htm
Saaremaa Training Centre:
http://bsrun.utu.fi/saaremaa.html
Saaremaa information:
http://www.saaremaa.ee/eng/
The Nordic Research Training Course of 2008 consists of three main elements.
1. Participant presentations. Each participating doctoral candidate will be required to submit by 15 May 2008 a paper on his or her ongoing research. The paper can be a research plan or a chapter of the future thesis. The course participants will be expected to read each others’ papers. The oral presentations of the papers will be kept short and focused, and the main part of the one-hour time slot allocated for each paper will be reserved for comments and discussion. Two Faculty members will comment each paper, giving the doctoral candidates an opportunity to get feedback from top international experts. The participants will also learn from comments by their peers, and from themselves being asked to read with a critical eye each others’ papers.
2. Lecture sessions. The theme of the 2008 course is Human Rights and Evidence, and this will be the basis for daily three-hour lecture sessions where two Faculty members will in an interactive way present research results and ideas related to their area of expertise. Issues of evidence are addressed in relation to academic human rights research but also in respect of relevant professional practice, such as court proceedings, refugee status determination and forensic science. A main dimension of the sessions will be in their interdisciplinary nature, when the role and contribution of several disciplines in a human rights assessment will be demonstrated and discussed.
a) The session on "Law of Evidence under Human Rights Treaties" will be conducted by two law Professors, Jens Vedsted-Hansen and Martin Scheinin. This session is clearly within the discipline of (human rights) law, as it will address several issues related to the right to a fair trial as enshrined in international human rights law. The discussions will include matters such as the presumption of innocence as a human right, other evidentiary presumptions and the question of reversed burden of proof. The use of direct and indirect witnesses will also be discussed, as well as the probability of error in witness testimonies and its effect on fair trial. The question of inadmissible evidence will be addressed in the context of the highly topical issue of the use of evidence obtained by torture in terrorism
cases. Furthermore, the role of scientific expert testimonies in cases before international human rights courts and tribunals will be discussed.
b) The session on "Issues of Evidence in Refugee Law" will focus on questions related to the credibility of statements made by asylum-seekers. It will be conducted by Prof. Jens Vedsted-Hansen and Rosemary Byrne (both experts in refugee law) and Dr. Veronica Pimenoff (anthropology and psychiatry). One particularly important issue relates to the post-traumatic stress disorder, experienced inter alia by torture victims. The methodology of collecting and assessing reliable country information for the determination of a risk of persecution, torture or inhuman treatment will also be discussed. As a member of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture, Dr Pimenoff will be particularly well placed to address issues related to torture and related practices.
c) The session on "Statistics and Indicators in Proving Discrimination and Human Rights Violations" will be conducted by Prof. Martin Scheinin (law) and Dr Hans-Otto Sano (social science), and it will look into the role of statistics in proving discrimination, including indirect and systemic discrimination. Also initiatives to use statistics and quantitative indicators in the process of assessing human rights compliance will be discussed. The two Faculty members mentioned represent expertise in the theory on non-discrimination and in projects on human rights indicators by international organizations.
d) The session on "Issues of Evidence on Genocide, War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity" will deal with the role of evidence in international criminal law, primarily before international criminal tribunals. Prof. Helena Ranta (forensic dentistry) has led forensic teams in various parts of the world to investigate gross human rights violations. She has investigated, inter alia, mass graves in Bosnia, Kosovo and Peru, and testified in the trial against Slobodan Milosevic. The other Faculty member in this session is Prof. Rosemary Byrne who is also an expert in international criminal law.
e) The session on "Issues of Evidence and Different Conceptions of the Law" will delve into evidentiary problems related to legal pluralism. Prof. James Anaya and Prof. Martin Scheinin will address the role of the customary law of indigenous peoples in national courts and international human rights bodies from the perspective of evidence. For instance, what is the role of oral tradition (songs, poems and stories) passed from generation to generation, in proving traditional possession of certain lands? Questions like this have recently been addressed by national courts in countries such as Canada and Australia and by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. Building upon cases brought by indigenous peoples before international courts and tribunals, the session will also include discussion on the role of multidisciplinary evidence in those proceedings.
3. Workshop on writing a book. One of the Faculty members, Dr Veronica Pimenoff is not only an anthropologist and psychiatrist but also a novelist. She will conduct a workshop on the process of writing a book, addressing issues such as style, structure, process writing, avoiding the writer’s block, etc.
For more information on the academic content, please contact: Professor Martin Scheinin, Course Director martin.scheinin@abo.fi For more information on practicalities, please contact:
Ms Maria Sommardahl, Course Coordinator
maria.sommardahl@abo.fi
Tentative programme
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SUNDAY 1 JUNE
Arrivals
19- Registration and Welcome Dinner
MONDAY 2 JUNE
09-12 "The Law of Evidence under Human Rights Treaties"
? Jens Vedsted-Hansen and Martin Scheinin
12-13 Lunch
13-17 Presentations by participants, followed by comments by Faculty and peers
TUESDAY 3 JUNE
09-12 "Issues of Evidence in Refugee Law"
? Jens Vedsted-Hansen, Rosemary Byrne and Veronica Pimenoff
12-13 Lunch
13-17 Presentations by participants, followed by comments by Faculty and peers
WEDNESDAY 4 JUNE
9-12 "Statistics and Indicators in Proving Discrimination and Human Rights Violations"
? Hans-Otto Sano and Martin Scheinin
12-13 Lunch
13-16 Workshop on "How to Write a Book"
? Veronica Pimenoff
16-17 Workshop report and conclusions
THURSDAY 5 JUNE
09-12 "Issues of Evidence on Genocide, War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity"
? Helena Ranta and Rosemary Byrne
12-13 Lunch
13-17 Presentations by participants, followed by comments by Faculty and peers
FRIDAY 6 JUNE
09-12 "Issues of Evidence, Indigenous Peoples’ Rights and Different Conceptions of the Law""
? James Anaya and Martin Scheinin
12-13 Lunch
13-17 Presentations by participants, followed by comments by Faculty and peers
19 Farewell Dinner
SATURDAY 7 JUNE
Departures
European Week Against Racism 
The Human Rights Education Project