Human rights in a changing world

The 6th Congress of Political Science was held at the University of Lodz on 18-20 September 2024. The panel entitled 'Human Rights in a Changing World' featured an expert from the Polish Digital Society - Prof. Dr. Józef Tymanowski. The Professor shared his reflections on human rights in Central Asia. He highlighted both the problems of domestic violence, corruption, poor access to digital content outside the metropolises, as well as actions taken to improve the situation. Of the Central Asian countries that are making particular efforts to implement universal standards of human rights protection, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan are leaders.

Ms Dr Iryna Pavlenko (University of Warsaw) presented a paper on changes in Europe in the context of refugees from Ukraine. Discussing a wide spectrum of diverse issues, she emphasised that the use of the facilities offered by digitisation allows migrants to keep in touch with their families remaining in Ukraine. It also makes it easier for young adults to exercise their right to education.

Ms Dr Kinga Machowicz, Professor at the Catholic University of Lublin presented the still too seldom addressed issue of policy to combat energy poverty. This is because energy poverty is an obstacle to the elimination of all forms of exclusion assumed by Agenda 2030. Pointing to the need for education about managing the energy needs of facilities, she also raised the question of whether the right to electricity relates to the sources of energy generation. This is an issue referred to as fossil fuel energy versus green energy.

This theme was developed in her presentation by Ms Dr Katarzyna Szwed (University of Rzeszów). Presenting the topic "Constitutionalisation of environmental protection in selected Central and Eastern European countries", she stated that environmental protection and protection of the individual are closely linked. She presented the possibilities for the individual to enforce the constitutional right to a clean environment.

We are pleased to report that the issues presented by the speakers then became the subject of lively discussion. We would like to thank all panellists for their participation!