UNESCO Chair in Human Rights

Established in 2011, the UNESCO Chair in Human Rights addresses - following an interdisciplinary approach - key issues related to human rights, especially those that fall within UNESCO’s competence as well as the UNESCO Strategy on Human Rights.

Professor Jean-Paul Lehners served as the inaugural chairholder from 2011 to 2019. He was succeeded in 2019 by Professor Robert Harmsen.

The UNESCO Chair in Human Rights acts as a builder of bridges between research and policy-making, academia and civil society, local communities and the private sector.

The Chair acts as a think-tank on UNESCO's priority themes, namely the South-South Cooperation and North-South-South Triangular Cooperation as well as equal opportunities. Moreover, the commitments of the UNESCO Chair in Human Rights correspond to the Mission Statement of the University of Luxembourg:

The Chair in Human Rights organises activities in 3 key areas:

• Teaching: Contribute to the establishment of an integrated system of teaching activities, information and documentation in the field of human rights.
• Research: Act as a think tank on human rights and engage in key research areas, most importantly in the humanities and law.
• Society: Increase public awareness of human rights issues and cultivate the relationship with civil society by acting as a think tank on the defence and promotion of human rights.