FACULTY OF CULTURE AND SOCIETY | Lecture
A morning dedicated to human rights and democracy

Sometimes it is difficult to uphold children’s rights: this may involve children who end up alone in hospitals, or children’s right to information and freedom of expression in the digital world. Should human rights be part of all university programs? Do only humans have rights—or do nature and other living beings as well?

In a polarized world, universities play a vital role in championing knowledge in, about, and for human rights. This is achieved through research and education in dialogue with society. The Human Rights College at Malmö University brings together researchers from across the university, and now they are presenting their first book.

Rebecka Lettevall, professor of the history of ideas and chair of the Human Rights College at Malmö University, will begin by explaining why the college is needed now. This will be followed by a discussion about the book among some of the participating researchers.

Commentator: Sara Bondesson, Lund University of Technology.

The discussion will be streamed on this page.

Once a beacon of reform and democratic development in the region, Georgia is now sliding toward a Russian-style autocracy. Two young leaders of Georgian civil society explore how the nation became one of Europe’s fastest-declining democracies.

George Melashvili and Shako Chkheidze are the founders of the Europe-Georgia Institute (EGI), a leading Georgian hybrid civil society organization. Established in 2015 and built from the ground up by its founders, EGI has developed an extensive portfolio of successful campaigns and educational programs. However, following the enactment of several repressive, Russian-style laws targeting civil society and Democracy, the organization’s influential work has made it a primary target of the current regime.

The speakers will share their first-hand experiences on the front lines of this democratic struggle, and hear how the ruling party leveraged the war in Ukraine to attack civil society, and how the struggle to defend democracy became a daily reality for Georgians after 2024.

Commentator: Derek Hutcheson, Professor, Malmö University

Democratic erosion often begins with targeting of university subjects disliked by authorities, e.g. diversity, equity, integration, or democracy. The talk discusses examples from around the globe.

• Bo Petersson, Professor of Political Science and IMER at the Department of Global Political Studies and director of the research platform RUCARR – Russia, Ukraine and the Caucasus Regional Research at the Faculty of Culture and Society.
• Thiem Hai Bui, Researcher at the Department of Global Political Studies, Malmö University.

Commentator: Lisa Engström, Associate professor, Lund University

The conversation will be streamed on this page.