Human rights implementation today is a complex enterprise. From its humble beginnings the international human rights machinery has evolved into a very dense network of various global, regional and national institutions that interact on a daily basis. These institutions are judicial, quasi-judicial, advisory or consultative; one finds both governmental and non-governmental institutions performing functions that are to a certain extent almost identical. Also, litigation and advocacy strategies are closely interrelated and many times human rights activists as much as government representatives use a combination of strategies including extensive media and outreach activity to convey their position about the particular state of human rights protection in a country.

The Lucerne Academy on Human Rights Implementation intends to capture all these current movements in the human rights field and to train its students in the variety of skills that are relevant for future professional endeavors. The program in its entirety is designed to be hands on, practical, and relevant. We will train you not only in the skills that you need in procedural and substantive human rights law across the various systems in classes that are taught by high profile faculty covering topics of both current and timeless relevance. In addition, we explore with you in the course of a core seminar and during an excursion to the city of human rights in Switzerland, Geneva, the practical workings of human rights procedures and institutions, but also their incompleteness and their fallacies. Ultimately, we immerse you in “hard” case-specific human rights litigation during a moot court trial in which you can prove your skills as a litigator and advocate for human rights or for a defendant government in front of expert judges.

By design, the Lucerne Academy is not a traditional summer program. It is intensive, offers a dense program, and will challenge even those amongst you who have a longstanding interest and a broad variety of expertise in the field of human rights implementation. The Academy is “worth” ten European credits, but in reality it carries a much heavier weight for your future life as professionals in the field of human rights.

On behalf of the Lucerne Academy, I invite you to explore these pages and to contact us with any questions you might have. We all look forward to ultimately receiving you here as a guest at the Academy and in the beautiful city of Lucerne in the heart of Switzerland.

Kind regards

Alexander H. E. Morawa

Professor of Law

Director, Lucerne Academy