At a seminar titled “Human Rights History” held at Chattogram University (CU), Dr. Ruth Kelly, a Human Rights Lecturer at the University of York, highlighted the global shift in human rights research from a traditional top-down approach to a more inclusive, grassroots-focused perspective.
The seminar was held on Wednesday afternoon at the conference room of the CU Vice-Chancellor's Office.
Chattogram University (CU) Vice-Chancellor Professor Dr. Muhammad Yeahiya Akhtar was present as the chief guest, while Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Academic) Professor Dr. Mohammad Shamim Uddin Khan and Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Administration) Professor Dr. Md. Kamal Uddin were present as special guests. The seminar speaker was Dr. Ruth Kelly, Lecturer (Human Rights) of the Department of Politics and the Centre for Applied Human Rights, University of York.
CU Vice-Chancellor said that the highest academic environment prevails on the campus now. Almost every day, meetings and seminars on research and higher education are being held. Recently, researchers from several countries have visited our campus. We had fruitful discussions with them on research and higher education. Our university's IQAC is organizing great seminars and workshops. Through this, the teachers and students of the university are learning a lot.
Seminar speaker Dr. Ruth Kelly, Lecturer (Human Rights) at the Department of Politics and the Centre for Applied Human Rights, University of York, discussed various historical examples of human rights through presentations. She said that there has been a fundamental shift in the field of research on international human rights, which has been highlighted by renowned jurist Professor Grainne de Burka. Traditionally, the focus of discussion and research on international human rights was on a 'top-down' framework. This means that we mainly analyzed international law, regional and global courts and the role of powerful elites. These institutions were considered the sole or main source of establishing rights. But now, human rights research has shifted to a 'bottom-up' perspective.
The main focus of this new direction is on the people and organizations actually working on the ground; such as civil society activists, directly affected communities and larger social movements. That is, human rights are no longer limited to a few legal theories or declarations, but are a reflection of real life and grassroots-level active movements.
Dr. Ruth Kelly said that to properly understand this important shift in research, researchers are now adopting multiple practical and applied methods. These include ethnography, practice-based research and how social change is achieved through negotiation or negotiation. This perspective has made human rights movements and research more democratic, inclusive and people-related. The progress of human rights in the future will mainly depend on this grassroots voice. In addition, Dr. Ruth Kelly highlighted various aspects of human rights. At the end of the presentation, Dr. answered various questions from the teachers and students present. Ruth Kelly.
CU Registrar (Acting) Prof. Dr. Mohammad Saiful Islam, IQAC Additional Director Prof. Dr. Shahadat Hossain and teachers and students of various departments were also present at the seminar. The seminar was moderated by Syed Md. Sohrab Jahan, Assistant Professor of the Institute of Fine Arts, and Taslima Akhtar, Director of the Institute of Fine Arts, delivered the welcome address.
