The Discreet Charm of Multilateral Human Rights Diplomacy

The discussion titled The Discreet Charm of Multilateral Human Rights Diplomacy, or Is the Clash of Civilizations Just Around the Corner? with Ambassador István Lakatos—moderated by Professor Ágnes Lux and students Dániel Ugrósdy and Emma Utassy—will revolve around questions, like:

• How the UN Charter addresses the notion of human rights?
• The role of representatives of different cultures during the drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
• Main features of the human rights diplomacy of the sub-Saharan African states, Asian states, Muslim states, the European Union and the Latin American and Caribbean states. Human rights diplomacy in practice.
• Whether the UN Human Rights Council became a platform for the Clash of Civilizations or a Forum of Cross-Regional Cooperation?

Bio

Ambassador István Lakatos holds a law degree and a PhD from Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest and has passed the Bar. In addition, he has an MA in International Relations from the Budapest Institute for Graduate International and Diplomatic Studies. A career diplomat since 1993. He served two terms in Geneva (altogether 10 years) at the Hungarian UN Mission and as a deputy permanent observer of the Council of Europe to the UN Office in Geneva. He was one of the main initiators of the Budapest Centre for Genocide and Mass Atrocities Prevention and the Budapest Human Rights Forum. A former human rights ambassador, who was the first appointed with this title in 2008 in the whole region. He was an active participant of the EU–China, and the Hungary–China human rights dialogue. Dr. Lakatos was also a member of a small group of experts who drafted the resolution establishing the UN Forum on Minority Issues and the one establishing the mandate of the Independent Expert on Minority Issues. He was also the main drafter of the Human Rights Council resolution 24/24 establishing the position of a UN-wide focal point on addressing reprisals against those cooperating with the UN. Ambassador Lakatos led the drafting of the Hungarian resolutions on the independence of the judiciary and on reprisals for many years. Presently, he is a Senior Adviser to the Ministry of Human and Minority Rights of Montenegro, helping the Government of Montenegro in their negotiations for EU accession with respect to human rights issues. He is the author of three books and of around 40 articles on different human rights issues and on multilateralism.

Listen to the discussion recorded on December 10 on YouTube: