Panelists
WELCOME REMARKS
PhD, Member of Parliament, Host of the Conference
Has been a member of seven successive Parliaments since 1992. Nutt is a member of the Constitutional Committee and European Union Affairs Committee. Mart Nutt is a 1985 graduate of the University of Tartu with a degree in history and ethnography and entered a graduate degree programme at the same institution in 1988. In 2011, Nutt defended his Ph.D. dissertation at Tallinn University of Technology on the topic “Development and application in foreign relations of the competence of Estonian Parliament”. He has been a member of the supervisory board of the Estonian Institute of Human Rights since 2011. Mart Nutt was a member of United Nations Human Rights Council’s Darfur mission in 2007-2008 and member of European Commission against Racism and Intolerance in 1998-2013.
President of the Republic of Estonia
From 2004-2016 she was a Member of the European Court of Auditors. She has previously worked as the CFO and CEO of the Iru Power Plant of state-owned energy company Eesti Energia and as an Economic Advisor to Estonian Prime Minister Mart Laar. She has graduated from the University of Tartu in the field of genetics and completed master’s studies in the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration.
The Founder of the Open Russia movement
Mikhail Khodorkovsky is the founder of the Open Russia movement. Khodorkovsky was the Head of YUKOS, one of the world’s largest oil producers. A pioneering philanthropist, he established the Open Russia Foundation in 2001 with the aim of building and strengthening civil society in Russia. In 2003 he was arrested and charged with fraud, however there was a widespread international concern that the trials were politically motivated. Today he lives in London and advocates an alternative, ‘post-Putin’ vision for his country: a strong and just state, committed to observing human rights, free and fair elections, and the rule of law.
Research presentation
CEO of Turu-uuringute AS
He is the CEO of an Estonian independent research company Turu-uuringute AS. He has previously worked as a Head of the Data Processing department and as an assistant in the same department. He is also a Council member in the Tallinn University Institute of International Social Studies. He has a university degree in sociology.
Panel I: ESTONIAN HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT AND IMMIGRANTS’ OPINION SURVEY 2016
Associate Professor in the Faculty of Humanities in the Aalborg University
He is the Chair of the Study Board for Cross-Cultural Studies and an research coordinator for the Center for the Study of Migration and Diversity. He is an editor of political and social change topics at the Peter Lang International Academic Publishers. One of his latest publications focuses on perspectives on migration and civil society alliances.
Professor of Urban and Population Geography in the University of Tartu
He is among the top cited researches in the field of urban studies in Eastern Europe. Tammaru has been researcher or lecturer at the University of Tartu, University of Helsinki (Finland), University of Utah (USA), Umea University (Sweden) and Delft University of Technology (The Netherlands). He has PhD in Human Geography from the University of Tartu. He has published numerous publications.
Assistant Professor of Comparative Theology at the University of Helsinki
Tuomas Martikainen is the Assistant Professor of Comparative Theology at the University of Helsinki. His main areas of research areas include immigration, integration, and the generations of different religious and ethnic groups. Martikainen has a PhD from the Åbo Akademi University in Finland.
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Swedish Radio Correspondent to Finland, Baltic countries and Poland
She has previously worked as a correspondent to Southern Europe, European Affairs and to Asia. She has covered several international affairs to Swedish Radio, YLE, BBC and others. Johnson has studied political science in the University of Stockholm and in the University of Ireland.
Auditor in the National Audit Office of Estonia
She has previously worked as a specialist at the Estonian Academy of Security Sciences, where she worked also as the Project Manager of the Centre of the Migration Studies. Asari has worked in the Estonian Cooperation Assembly where she was the Programme Manager and as the advisor to the Estonian Minister of Population. She has an MA from the London School of Economics in the Study of Ethnicity and Nationalism. She has published several articles on the topic of migration.
Panel II: FREEDOM OF SPEECH IN MULTICULTURAL EUROPE
PhD, German writer, politician and a former member of the Executive Board of the Deutsche Bundesbank
He previously served as Senator of Finance for the State of Berlin. Before that he worked as the Secretary of State at the Ministry of Finance of Rhineland-Pfalz (Bundesrepublik) and helped develop the concept for the German monetary union. He has published several bestselling books that have sparked controversies in Germany and Europe. These include ‘Deutschland schafft sich ab’ about immigration in Germany (also published in Estonia) and ‘Europa braucht den Euro nicht’ about the European single currency, which according to Sarrazin was a bad idea. He has a PhD in economics from the University of Bonn.
French politician and Professor of Political Science at the Sciences Po
His research topics include political power, public opinion and elections, and public protesting. He has led a Interregional Observatory of Politics, an institute at the Sciences Po, where he has also been responsible for several marketing strategies. He has worked as an expert for the European Commission’s Directorate for Communication. Reynié has worked in the field of human rights for an organisation under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and for the independent Foundation for Political Innovation, which positions itself as liberal union that deals with several human rights topics (including LGBT, diversity and other issues). He has a PhD in political science.
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Chancellor of Justice in Estonia
She is also the Professor of State Law at the University of Tartu., where she has previously worked as the Professor of Public Law. From 2009 to 2015 she was the Legal Advisor to the President of Estonia and she has been a member of the National Electoral Committee. She has previously worked at the National Audit Office of Estonia and with the Constitutional Committee in the Estonian Parliament. Madise has a PhD from the Tallinn University of Technology.
Panel III: COLLECTIVE HUMAN RIGHTS AND PROPAGANDA
PhD, Ukrainian media expert
Georgii Pocheptsov is a Ukrainian media expert. He is a lecturer of journalism and media at the Taras Sevchenko University of Kiev and the National Academy of Public Administration. He founded and was the first head of the Department of International Communications and Public Relations at the Institute of International Relations at the Taras Shevchenko University and founder of the Information Policy Department at the National Academy of Public Administration. He has been the head of the Office of Strategic Initiatives in the Administration of the President of Ukraine. Pocheptsov has been involved in developing several educational programmes and has authored over 50 books. He has a PhD in journalism. Several of his articles have been published in the Estonian media and some of is books are available in Estonian.
Journalist at the independent Russian TV-channel ‘Rain’
Jelizaveta Surnacheva is a journalist at the independent Russian TV-channel ‘Rain’. She has previously worked as a political observer for Gazeta.ru (observing the Kremlin and the Parliament), Slon.ru and Polit.ua. She has also been the editor-in-chief at the Polit.ua editorial board. Her journalistic career started as an editor at the Polit.ru editorial board. Surnacheva has a Master’s Degree in journalism from the Moscow State University.
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Philosopher and publicist
Young philosopher and publicist, who has worked in the Moscow State University and in the Higher School of Economics. His writings have been published in ‘Novaya Gazeta’, Rosbalt, Forbes, The Moscow Times and in several other publications in both Russia and abroad. He has taken part in several international forums and his interests are related to the intersections of Russia and Europe (and with the rest of the world). He has a degree with honours from the Moscow State University’s Faculty of Philosophy.
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Radio editor in Radio 4 (Russian radio in Estonia)
He has previously hosted a weekly radio programme that introduced Russian media stories to Estonian audiences. Before working at the radio he was a translator and editor at the Russian-language version of Õhtuleht, an Estonian daily newspaper . He has received several high-level journalism awards and has also worked as a musician and a music critic. Makarov has a degree from the Estonian University of Life Sciences.
Independent media analyst, expert of media and communication and a publicist
He has worked as a consultant, instructor and strategic advisor, as well as s a programme manager at a TV station. He has been a sports reporter, editor and a commentator for sports events. Rebane has published several books and articles. He has a degree in journalism from the University of Tartu.
Chairman of the Board, Institute of Human Rights
An Estonian politician and geographer. Hansen graduated from the Department of Geography of the University of Tartu in 1985. From 1985-1990 he worked at the Institute of Applied Geography and from 1990-1992 at the Tallinn University of Technology. He was a member of parliament from 1995-2003. In 1994–1995 he was Minister of the Environment in Andres Tarand’s cabinet. Hansen is the member of the supervisory board of the Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church Mission Centre and the chairman of the management board of the Estonian Institute of Human Rights.
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2019Parallel World Values and InterestsA clean environment and future of the globe, the possibility to preserve your privacy and option to disengage, which is necessary for the human psyche, are practical topics that apply to everyone. -
2018Conflicts of ValuesIn 2018, the panels discussed the topic of small countries as equal partners, whether human rights have a future, how much algorithms affect human rights and whether Russia has a future. -
2017Are Human Rights in Freefall?The conference will address a number of today’s most important topics – terrorism, technological development, security, small states in a globalising world, culture and international cooperation – through a human rights perspective. -
2016Black and White Values in a Polarizing WorldThe topics under discussion this year include a survey of public opinion on human rights among the Estonian citizens and foreigners living in Estonia, questions related to collective human rights and propaganda that have changed people’s understanding of basic rights. -
2015Human Rights in Changing TimesThe topics under discussion this year include case studies from the European Court of Human Rights, linguistic human rights, as well as the views of various generations of Russians today regarding their society. -
2014Dignity in the context of human rightsThis year the conference agenda included three keynotes and a panel discussion following each one: 1) guarantees under international law; 2) rights of native peoples; guarantees under international law; 3) the situation and future in Russia and Ukraine and human rights. -
2013Human Rights and the Freedom to AssociationThis year’s annual conference, titled “Human Rights and the Freedom of Association” will analyse the global developments in human rights that have taken place in 2013. -
2012New Challenges of Human RightsOur conference examined human rights where the internet and the concept of security have altered dramatically our 20th century understanding of the core issues of human rights. -
2011Dedicated to the 20th anniversary of restoration of independence of Estonia