GPPi discusses human rights at the European Forum Alpbach

On 26 August 2013, GPPi’s Katrin Kinzelbach contributed to the political talks at this year’s European Forum Alpbach, a multi-disciplinary conference on socio-political questions of European integration that has taken place annually since 1945. Kinzelbach was invited as a panelist to discuss ​“Europe’s Role on the World Stage.” The discussion focused on whether European values would still matter in tomorrow’s world. 

Kinzelbach shared the panel with Reuben Wong of the National University of Singapore, Hakan Altinay of the Global Civics Academy and Michael Reiterer of the European External Action Service. 

For her part, Kinzelbach argued that the notion of European values was a contested concept, and that it was oftentimes counterproductive to present Europe as a model for third countries to emulate. In her analysis, a Eurocentric approach facilitated nationalist counter-discourses, raised memories of colonialism and risked being perceived as condescending. Taking note of Russia’s recent push for the supremacy of ​“traditional values” over human rights law, Kinzelbach advised against the promotion of European values. Instead, the EU should focus on universal values, notably through the promotion and protection of international human rights norms. 

Kinzelbach also raised concern that the EU’s policy of mainstreaming human rights across all foreign policy fields was not working well in practice because requests for action by human rights experts were too often brushed aside by EU commissioners who prioritized their own line responsibilities. Kinzelbach called for the increase of transparency in the EU’s foreign policy on human rights and for the coherent implementation of country-specific, impact-oriented strategies.