Dear Reader of Human Rights Here,

We are delighted to announce and introduce our first blog series with posts from the organisers and presenters of the 2020 Annual Research day of the Netherlands Network of Human Rights Research (NNHRR Toogdag 2020). The theme of this Research Day, which was an online event that took place on 30 June and 1 July, was Human Rights and Vulnerability. Our first two blog posts from this series are now online simultaneously.

The first piece, authored by Tihomir Sabchev, a PhD researcher from the Cities of Refuge Project of Utrecht University, is based on the panel he organized with Lynn Hillary and the NNHRR Migration and Borders Working Group. His contribution focusses on alternatives to the State-centric and exclusion-based migration policies of the EU and their underlying philosophies of deterrence and pushback. These alternatives are projects of “Humanitarian Corridors” developed by religious institutions and “University Corridors” set up by universities.

The second contribution, by members of the NNHRR Business and Human Rights Working Group Benjamin Grama (PhD researcher at Tilburg University) and Lottie Lane (Assistant Professor of Public International Law at Groningen University) focusses on mandatory EU due diligence trends. The piece discusses the potential, the pitfalls and the way forward on trends, particularly at the EU level and in Switzerland, in developing legislation for mandatory due diligence (a legal standard of care) as opposed to the previous incentive-based and private-led initiatives.

We will be publishing further contributions in this Blog Series, including a post by keynote speaker of the NNHRR Annual Research Day 2020 Israel Butler, on Values-Based Human Rights Communication.

We hope you will enjoy the series!

Keep the Human Rights fire burning!

Editors of Human Rights Here.