Global Campus Open Knowledge Repository

Our Open Knowledge Repository is a digital service that collects, preserves, and distributes all digital materials resulting from the rich and varied production of the Global Campus of Human Rights. It is an ever growing collection which aims to give visibility to our research outputs, educational content, and multimedia materials; sustain open access for knowledge transfer; and foster communication within and beyond academia.

 

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Now showing 1 - 5 of 7

Recent Submissions

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Digital authoritarianism in democracies: the digital repression of human rights defenders in US immigration enforcement
(2026) Galimberti, Emma; Hoewer, Melanie
Governments have increasingly used digital technologies as tools of repression. Despite the democratic benefits of digital tools, especially for the work of Human Rights Defenders, the misuse of technology to oppress dissent is increasingly used by governments. Digital Authoritarianism refers to the use of technology in practices with authoritarian tendencies. Most of the literature is focused on Digital Authoritarianism in Authoritarian regimes, however, it is increasingly present in democratic governments. In fact, democracies can benefit from the covert nature of digital tools, whose use for repression is less evident than violent coercive strategies. With the increasing spread of anti-immigration sentiments, coupled with digitalisations of borders and of migration governance, digital tools are used by democratic governments to control immigration. However, the present thesis investigates how these Digital Authoritarian practices are actually targeting Human Rights Defenders as well, and how this can explain the increasing blurring of boundaries between democracies and authoritarian governments. Specifically, the present thesis focuses on the US as a case study, investigating immigration enforcement during the second Trump presidency (2025/2026). Given the contemporary relevance of the research, it was conducted through a qualitative thematic analysis of NGO and government data. Findings show that Digital Authoritarianism practices such as surveillance, data collection, and channelling are used within immigration enforcement to target Human Rights Defenders in ways that target their freedom of expression, right to privacy and freedom of association. The present thesis finds that the use of Digital Authoritarianism practices against Human Rights Defenders and the restriction on their rights can aid in explaining current threats faced by democracies and contributes to the literature on Digital Authoritarianism and its implementation by democratic governments.
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The silent epidemic: social disconnection among older adults. An analysis of its protection under the international human rights framework, and the proposed Convention on the Rights of Older Persons
(2026) Galdón López, Cristina; Remeikienė, Rita
Social disconnection is a silent but increasingly recognized public-health issue nowadays. However, social health has historically been neglected, and in the face of an aging population, it can be a relevant issue to address to ensure healthy aging. Although human rights protect our basic necessities, they have not done so in the case of social connection. Therefore, this thesis aims to address this issue by framing social disconnection within the context of human rights, focusing on older people. To do so, this thesis takes a qualitative, desk-based approach. First, it engages into a literature review of social disconnection as a global issue, including its prevalence, impact, and potential interventions, focusing on older people and aging factors. Then, after a review of human rights scholarship on social rights, it conducts a doctrinal and qualitative analysis of the content of current human rights instruments for older persons and state submissions concerning a possible United Nations convention on the rights of older persons, using a framework of analysis based on different dimensions of social connection. This thesis demonstrates that social disconnection is a relevant issue that still requires further attention and interventions due to its negative impacts and the different factors that can relate to it. Furthermore, by analyzing the human rights documents and state inputs this thesis argues that social connection is a dimension that is not sufficiently protected under the current older persons rights’ framework, and that the draft of the convention presents an opportunity to address this issue that has not been taken yet.
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Sailing to reimagine international law? A qualitative analysis of the place of law in the social media discourse of the Global Sumud Flotilla (August – October 2025)
(2026) Ferroni, Maria Lucia; Trucco, Daniela
This thesis contributes to the field of law and social movements studies by analysing the discursive mobilization of international law, including international humanitarian law and human rights, by the Global Sumud Flotilla. The GSF is a civil society movement in solidarity with Palestine, constituted after Israeli military attack against Gaza since October 2023. In particular, the research consists in a qualitative analysis of GSF discourse on social media, through the case study of the GSF Summer25 flotilla mission (August-October 2025), as it was communicated through the digital platform of Instagram. The thesis illustrates not only how the law contributes to shape and sustain solidarity; but it also looks at what the mobilization of the law by civil actors does, in return, to international law itself in terms of authority, legitimacy and political scope. Overall, this thesis argues that the GSF’s voyage can be read as a law-constituting and world-making practice through which civil society actors do not simply invoke international law, but they actively reimagine and enact it from below, beyond the limits of state power. Indeed, the discursive and material enactment of international law by the GSF goes beyond a tactical invocation and represent another international law, prefiguring an alternative legal and political order.
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Who counts as homeless? A gendered analysis of administrative recognition in the Belgian reference address system
(2026) Farley, Siân; Gerard, Sophie; Gilman, Juliette
In Belgium, the reference address provides an administrative address for persons experiencing homelessness in order to enable administrative inclusion and facilitate access to fundamental rights. However, access depends on legal-administrative definitions of homelessness and evidentiary requirements implemented through administrative assessments. Growing research demonstrates that women experience distinct trajectories into and during homelessness, which often remain less visible within dominant understandings of homelessness. Despite women representing a significantly smaller proportion of reference address beneficiaries than men, research has not yet examined how the reference address framework interacts with women's homelessness trajectories or whether it may produce differentiated experiences. Through a feminist socio-legal analysis drawing on Katherine Bartlett’s feminist method of Asking the Woman Question, this thesis examines the extent to which the legal-administrative framework of the reference address accommodates women’s homelessness trajectories and identifies plausible gendered effects of administrative burdens emerging during CPAS implementation. The analysis demonstrates that the reference address framework does not merely identify homelessness but constructs administratively recognizable categories of homelessness through definitions, evidentiary requirements and discretionary assessment. These mechanisms may produce gendered effects where recognition depends on assumptions about what constitutes homelessness, thereby making trajectories that diverge from dominant understandings more difficult to recognize. The findings demonstrate that access to rights depends not only on formal legal entitlement but also on administrative recognition, highlighting the importance of legal-administrative frameworks that take diverse experiences of homelessness into account.
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Fulfilling the right to inclusive education for refugee children. A human rights assessment of Greece
(2026) Fannin, Danielle Christine; Konsta, Anna-Maria
This thesis examines how well Greece meets its human rights obligations to provide inclusive education for refugee and asylum-seeking children. The analysis is set within international, European, and national legal frameworks. The study uses standards from the CRC, ICESCR, CRPD, EU secondary law, and the Council of Europe to establish a baseline for evaluating state responsibilities to make education available, accessible, acceptable, and adaptable. Through a qualitative human rights approach, the thesis reviews Greece’s constitution, laws, and policies, and their implementation, with a focus on Greece’s position as a frontline EU country facing ongoing migration. The findings show that Greece has created a strong legal and policy framework that officially recognizes refugee children’s right to education and promises inclusive, non-discriminatory access. Still, implementing these policies is uneven and inconsistent, affected by structural challenges, changing political priorities, regional differences, and weak coordination among agencies. Ongoing problems, such as delays in enrolling children in school, insufficient language and mental health support, separate reception classes, and limited teacher training, make it hard to achieve real inclusion. The analysis finds that Greece partly meets its human rights obligations: there has been real progress, but the system does not yet provide fair, high-quality, and fully inclusive education for all refugee children. The thesis suggests that greater compliance will require ongoing investment in teacher training, stronger accountability systems, and a shift toward a human rights-based, inclusive educational approach that centers on the lived experiences of refugee students. By combining legal analysis with policy review, this study contributes to wider discussions of refugee education in Europe and provides a framework for others to assess how states perform in complex migration situations.