Awalou Ouedraogo, associate professor and chair of the Department of Equity Studies, has been invited to address a major international gathering at the Council of Europe on Monday, June 29, as part of the 55th Summer Session in 2026 – an event bringing together leading figures in international law to examine the future of human rights.
This year’s session carries particular significance, marking the 50th anniversary of the death of René Cassin, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and a principal architect of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. To commemorate the milestone, organizers will open the session with a high-level international symposium in the Council of Europe’s hemicycle, convening global experts to reassess Cassin’s legacy and its relevance in today’s rapidly changing world.
Held under the theme Human Rights and the Spirit of Resistance, the session will explore how legal frameworks continue to serve as tools for protection, contestation and emancipation amid accelerating technological change, geopolitical instability and overlapping global crises.
Prof. Ouedraogo’s invitation places an equity studies perspective at the heart of these discussions, highlighting the growing importance of interdisciplinary and justice-oriented approaches in shaping contemporary human rights discourse.