The deadline for submissions of applications is Monday 2nd May 2022
Successful candidates will be informed of their place on Monday 16th May 2022
See updated information in this pdf-file (21 June 2022).
Date: from Tuesday 5 July to Friday 8 July 2022
Time: from 14.00h until 17.00h (Belgian time)
Language: English
Place: Virtually via Zoom
Course fee: 100 Euro
Certificate of attendance: All students who satisfactorily complete the course will be awarded a Certificate of Attendance. To qualify for this, participants are required to attend all the lectures
Requirements: All applications must be completed via the Summer School on line application platform. You are required to upload the following documents: Motivation Letter (max 1 page) and C.V. (max 2 pages).
5 Scholarships will be awarded to participants from the Global South. The candidates should send a motivation letter (max 1 page). Candidates will be informed about the scholarship decision on Monday 23 May.
The course aims to provide an immersion in issues related to persons deprived of liberty from the perspective of international human rights law, public health, criminal law, and practice. More broadly, the Summer School ‘Human Rights and Persons Deprived of Liberty’ aims to prepare participants to understand structural problems around prisons and contribute to the improvement of human rights of persons deprived of liberty in their homeland and around the world. The summer course gives participants the opportunity to interact with world-renowned scholars and experts in the field.
The course is intended for persons interested in issues around prisons, such as master students, LLM students, PhD students and postdoctoral researchers with a background in law, in political science, public health, or criminology, as well as staff of civil society organisations and policy makers.
Upon completion of the summer course participants will have acquired:
The course is offered by the Programme for Studies on Human Rights in Context, Human Rights
Centre, Ghent University (Belgium) and the Global Campus on Human Rights. We are committed
to the promotion of human rights. Our goal is to preserve the standards of quality education and
to continue our mission of preparing students to meet the growing challenges to the rule of law,
democracy and human rights around the world.
Each lecture will have a duration of 40 minutes and will be broadcasted via zoom. After each
lecture there will be 10 minutes during which the participants can interact with each other and the
lecturer on the given topic.
These times apply to the belgian timezone: UTC+2 (during summer). Please be aware that these
times may vary for you, depending on your time zone. Click here to calculate your time difference.
The course is articulated in four days/modules as follows:
Day 1 focuses on the international human rights framework of persons deprived of liberty
and looks at international human rights bodies, legal standards, and their jurisprudence
Lecturer 1 Prof Dr Paulo Pinto de Albuquerque, Catholic University of Lisbon, former judge European Court of Human Rights: Persons Deprived of Liberty & the European Human Rights system
Lecturer 2 Prof Dr Silvia Serrano, Georgetown University, former Specialist Inter-American Commission on
Human Rights: Persons Deprived of Liberty & the Inter-American Human Rights system
Lecturer 3 Prof Dr Manfred Nowak, University of Vienna, Global Campus of Human Rights: Persons Deprived of Liberty & the UN Human Rights System
Day 2 deals with the cross-cutting themes on 3 focus areas
Lecturer 1 Prof Dr Heino Stöver, Frankfurt University, Germany: Mental Health & Persons Deprived of Liberty with special focus on COVID-19
Lecturer 2 Prof Dr Par Engstrom, University College London, UK: Torture Prevention in Latin America: Rights of Persons Deprived of Liberty and the Role of National Preventive Mechanisms
Lecturer 3 Dr Christine Bicknell, University of Exeter, UK: Solitary Confinement of Juveniles in Europe
Day 3 looks at specific countries and discusses specific problems, challenges, opportunities, recommendations and the way forward. The lectures will examine some contextual situations, examples, and practices from specific countries.
Lecturer 1 Prof Dr Maira Machado, University of Sao Paulo: Prisons in Brazil
Lecturer 2 Prof Dr Benyam Dawit Mezmur, University of the Western Cape, independent expert of the United, Nation’s Committee on the Rights of the Child: ‘Persons Deprived of Liberty in Africa’
Lecturer 3 Prof Dr Tom Daems, University of Leuven: Imprisonment and Human Rights in Belgium
Day 4 is dedicated to vulnerable groups the 3 focus areas
Lecturer 1 Mr Manu Krishan, Global Campus of Human Rights: Children Deprived of Liberty
Lecturer 2 Prof Bernice Elger, University of Basel, Switzerland: Elderly Persons Deprived of Liberty
Lecturer 3 Dr Paulien Jacobs, Utrecht University, The Netherlands: Transgender Persons Deprived of Liberty
Dr Christine Bicknell, Senior Lecturer in Law, University of Exeter, United Kingdom
Prof Dr Clara Burbano Herrera, Research Professor of International Human Rights and Director of the Programme for Studies on Human Rights in Context, Ghent University, Belgium
Prof Dr Tom Daems, Professor of Criminology, Leuven Institute for Criminology, University of Leuven, Belgium
Prof Dr Benyam Dawit Mezmur, Independent expert of the United Nation’s Committee on the Rights of the Child, Professor University of the Western Cape, South Africa
Prof Dr Bernice Elger, Professor of Ethics and Health Law, Head of Institute for Biomedical Ethics, University of Basel, Switzerland
Prof Dr Par Engström, Associate Professor of Human Rights, University College London and Programme Director of the MSc International Relations of the Americas, University College London, United Kingdom
Dr Pauline Jacobs, Assistant Professor at the Willem Pompe Institute for Criminal Law and Criminology, Utrecht University, The Netherlands Mr Manu Krishan, Lecturer and Coordinator of the UN Global Study on Children Deprived of Liberty, University of Vienna, Austria
Prof Dr Maira Machado, Professor of the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil
Prof Dr Paulo Pinto de Albuquerque, Former Judge of the European Court of Human Rights, Professor Catholic University of Lisbon, Portugal
Prof Silvia Serrano, Associate Director, Healthy Families Initiative, Georgetown University and former Specialist Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Washington DC, United States
Prof Dr Heino Stöver, Professor at the Department of Health and Social Work, Institute of Addiction Research (ISFF), Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences, Germany; Director of the Institute of Addiction Research, Germany
Prof Dr Manfred Nowak, Former United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment; Independent Expert leading the UN Global Study on Children Deprived of Liberty; Professor of International Human Rights, University of Vienna, Austria
Prof Dr Clara Burbano Herrera
Director Programme for Studies on Human
Rights in Context, Human Rights Centre,
Ghent University, Belgium
Prof Dr Mafred Nowak
Former United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment; Independent Expert leading the UN Global Study on Children Deprived of Liberty
Payment Options – Fee and Invoicing
Payment will be due by 1 June 2022.
100 euros fee may be paid online with a credit or debit card: VISA, Mastercard, Maestro or
Bancontact/MisterCash. There is no option to pay in cash.
Successful applicants will be sent an invoice by email together with full instructions for payment.
You should enter exactly the same personal details to pay your application fee as you have used
on the application form so that payments and applications can be matched. Where information
does not match, the processing of applications may be delayed.
If you pay online by credit card you will receive an automated receipt via email immediately after
you have made the payment.
Please note that:
• A student’s place on the summer course is not confirmed until the fees has been paid in full;
• Places will not be held for students whose fees are not paid in full by the due date; and
• In no circumstances will students be admitted to the course unless all fee has been paid infull.
Cancellation / refund policy
You have the right to cancel your registration the latest on Friday 15 June. Cancellation before 15 June 2022: 80% of the registration fee will be refunded – 20 euro to compensate for the administration and transaction costs. Please beware that if you cancel your place at any time after the expiry day (15 June 2022), you will not be entitled to a refund of the price paid for the course.
If you wish to cancel your place on the summer course you must inform the Course Administrator by email at summerschoolprisons@gmail.com
If you have any queries please contact us HumanRightsinContext@UGent.be
For more information about the course please visit our Website: Programme for Studies on
Human Rights in Context
Follow us on Twitter @RightsContext
The Organizing Team
Prof Dr Clara Burbano Herrera, Director Human Rights in Context, Ghent University
Dr Alessandra Cuppini, Associate Lecturer, Faculty of Business and Law, The Open University
Ms Aurélie Van Baele, Academic and Practice Assistant, Programme for Studies on Human Rights in Context, Human Rights Centre, Ghent University
