Ahmad Atallah, an assistant researchers at Muwatin Institute for Democracy and Human Rights, participated in a research visit at Antwerp University in Belgium from 15-25 September 2025.
This research visit comes within the framework of the research project “Emancipatory Human Rights”, which is a collaborative research project between Muwatin Institute at Birzeit University and the Law and Development Research Group at Antwerp University in Belgium. The project explores ways to ensure that human rights are used solely for emancipatory purposes, examines the potential for safeguarding human rights from colonial exploitation, addresses aspects of education and learning within a colonial context, and investigates how to promote an emancipatory approach to understanding and applying international law.
This research visit aimed to strengthen and promote research cooperation between Muwatin Institute and the University of Antwerp, and to conduct meetings with researchers at Antwerp University, to discuss different perspectives on the application of human rights, and network with academics and researchers across various disciplines within the university.
Moreover, Atallah delivered a keynote speech entitled “Human Rights in the Time of Monsters and Their Wars” at the opening ceremony of the new academic year at the Antwerp University. The speech explored the condition of human rights amid the resurgence of fascist and right-wing populist and authoritarian movements, wars, genocides, the deepening of socioeconomic inequality, and the erosion of social justice, with particular emphasis on the genocide in the Gaza Strip and the ongoing human rights violations in the West Bank.
The session also included an open discussion with a group of academics and PhD and master’s students at the Antwerp University , focusing in particular on the ongoing genocide in the Gaza Strip, the role and responsibility of universities in stopping the genocide and protecting human rights, and the prospects of using human rights as an emancipatory tool.