Date: 7 December 2023

Time: 17:00-19:00

To register for the event, please visit this link.

A conversation hosted by Dimitris Bouris (He/Him) with: Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967; Omar Barghouti and Erella Grassiani, University of Amsterdam. In cooperation with the Amsterdam Centre for European Studies, the Amsterdam Centre for Middle Eastern Studies and the Amsterdam Centre for Conflict Studies.

About the speakers:

Francesca Albanese (She/Her) was appointed the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, by the Human Rights Council at its 49th session in March 2022 and has taken up her function as of 1 May 2022. She is a lawyer by training, specialised in human rights. Albanese is an Affiliate Scholar at the Institute for the Study of International Migration at Georgetown University, as well as a Senior Advisor on Migration and Forced Displacement for a think-tank, Arab Renaissance for Democracy and Development (ARDD). She has widely published on the legal situation in Israel, occupied Palestine and Palestinian refugees and the State of Palestine and regularly teaches and lectures on international law and forced displacement at universities in Europe and the Arab region. Ms. Albanese has also worked as a human rights expert for the United Nations, including the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the UN Relief and Work Agency for Palestine Refugees.

Omar Barghouti (He/Him) is a Palestinian human rights defender and co-founder of the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement for Palestinian rights. He is a co-recipient of the 2017 Gandhi Peace Award. He holds a B.Sc. and an M.Sc. in Electrical Engineering from Columbia University, NY, and is pursuing a PhD in Philosophy (ethics) at the University of Amsterdam. He is the author of, BDS: The Global Struggle for Palestinian Rights (Haymarket: 2011). His commentaries and views have appeared in the New York Times, the Guardian, among others.

Dimitris Bouris (He/Him) is an Associate Professor at the Department of Political Science at the University of Amsterdam and a Jean Monnet Chair. His research interests include EU External Relations, European Security, conflict resolution, contested states and Middle East Politics. He is the author of The European Union and Occupied Palestinian Territories: State-building without a State (Routledge, 2014), the co-editor (with Tobias Schumacher) of the Revised European Neighbourhood Policy: Continuity and Change in EU Foreign Policy (Palgrave Macmillan, 2017) and the co-editor (with Daniela Huber and Michelle Pace) of the Routledge Handbook of EU-Middle East Relations (Routledge, 2022).

Erella Grassiani (She/Her) is an Associate Professor at the Department of Anthropology at the University of Amsterdam. Her research interests include militarism, security, politics of trees, and nationalism, foremostly in Israel/Palestine. She is the author of Soldiering under Occupation: Processes of Numbing among Israeli Soldiers in the Al-Aqsa Intifada (2013 Berghahn Books). She has further co-edited Security Blurs: The Politics of Plural Security Provision (2019 Routledge) and The Entanglements of Ethnographic Fieldwork in a Violent World (2023 Routledge). She is the Editor-in-Chief of Conflict and Society: Advances in Research. She is also the co-founder of gate48, a platform for critical Israelis in the Netherlands.

ATHENA’s first thesis, ”Fair Winds and Following Seas: Gender and Race Constructions by the European Union’s Military Naval Missions Operation Sophia and Operation Irini” by Lisa Stapper can be accessed here.

This thesis was originally written for the ATHENA Jean Monnet Chair Research Project “The EU and its neighbours: politics, policies, challenges and opportunities” taught by Dr. Dimitris Bouris. It is published as part of our mission to showcase peer-leading theses written by students during their studies. This work can be used for background reading and research, but should not be cited as an expert source or used in place of scholarly articles/books.

ATHENA’s ninth Research Paper “Is EU4Azerbaijan a fairy-tale? An assessment of the EU as a ‘moral power’ regarding human rights promotion in Azerbaijan” by Lisa Stapper can be accessed here.

This essay was originally written for the ATHENA Jean Monnet Chair MSc Course “The EU and the Post-Soviet Space” taught by Dr. Olga Burlyuk. It is published as part of our mission to showcase peer-leading papers written by students during their studies. This work can be used for background reading and research, but should not be cited as an expert source or used in place of scholarly articles/books.