The Second Liverpool Summer School in the Law of the Council of Europe: Council of Europe at 75: Protecting Human Rights, Democracy, and the Rule of Law in a Rapidly Changing World is now open for applications. For the second time the School of Law and Social Justice, University of Liverpool, in cooperation with OCEAN and other partners , organises its summer school from 8-19 July 2024.

On 5 May 1949, the Statute of the Council of Europe was signed in London establishing the organisation. For the last 75 years, Europe has been united in the protection of human rights, democracy, and the rule of law. Today, humankind faces new challenges that differ from the ones that were prevailing in Europe in the spring of 1949. Our Summer School will explore two key strands of themes. First, the Summer School will reflect on certain key modern-day challenges, discussing what role the Council of Europe can play in the era of digital revolution and new technologies. These new technologies, such as artificial intelligence and neurotechnology, offer opportunities and may even impact positively human rights. But they can also endanger the enjoyment of fundamental human rights. How well-equipped is the Council of Europe and human rights law more generally to offer protection from these emerging threats? Second, the Summer School will assess the Council of Europe as a sophisticated and multipart system for the protection of human rights, democracy, and the rule of law. To that end, the Summer School will consider how different bodies of the Council of Europe contribute to the fundamental aims of the organisation, but also the history and the effectiveness of the Council of Europe as a whole and of some of its mechanisms, treaties and bodies, such as the Committee for the Prevention of Torture, the Social Rights Committee, the Venice Commission, the European Court of Human Rights and many others.

The webpage of the Summer School can be found here.