Global Campus of Human Rights Magazine n 2 (March 2021)

Abstract

In 1982, Antonio Papisca and Marco Mascia founded the Human Rights Centre at the University of Padua. It was one of the first university-based human rights teaching and re-search centres in the world. In 1988, Veneto was the first region in Italy to adopt a regional bill to promote a culture of human rights, peace and development. Since that time, the Veneto Region has employed a councillor with a special mandate to implement the bill. This important role is cur-rently entrusted to Cristiano Corazzari. In 1998, the Vene-to Region adopted another bill aimed at providing regular support to the European Master’s Programme in Human Rights and Democratisation (EMA), which had just been founded by the University of Padua on the initiative of the European Union, and in cooperation with other universi-ties in EU member States. The EMA also received financial support from the Veneto Region and soon found its home at the beautiful Monastery of San Nicolò thanks to the City of Venice’s generous offer. It also became the first of sev-en regional inter-disciplinary Master’s Programmes and the flagship site for the Global Campus of Human Rights. Even under the difficult circumstances resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic, the EMA team made sure its students could complete their first semester in person at the Mon-astery of San Nicolò in January 2021. The interviews with Councillor Corazzari and Professor Mascia shed a light on the long, successful and close cooperation between the Veneto Region, the University of Padua, the EMA pro-gramme and the Global Campus of Human Rights. We are delighted to participate in the Veneto Region’s Human Rights Defenders programme by providing shelter to human rights defenders belonging to the academic commu-nity who are under attack in their home countries. The interviews with Jane da Mosto (We are here Venice) and Carlotta Giordani (EMA Ambassador in Venice) un-derline the need for Venice to resist over-tourism and large cruise ships and to change its image from a mass-tourism destination to a sustainable human rights city that is at-tractive to students, professors, artists, scientists, and the wider global academic community. This requires the City of Venice to make fundamental changes to its environmen-tal, housing and tourism policies, inspired by UN Sustain-able Development Goal 4 (global citizenship education), 11 (sustainable cities and communities), 13 (climate ac-tion), and 16 (peace, justice and strong institutions). The Global Campus of Human Rights – a network of 100 pres-tigious universities in regions all over the world – is ready to advise and support the City of Venice in its aspirations to become a successful and sustainable human rights city of the twenty-first century.