Human Rights and 21st Century Challenges

How might three of the largest challenges of the 21st century - armed conflict, environment, and poverty - be addressed using a human rights framework? This book engages with this question through contributions from prominent figures in the debate as it considers both foundational issues of theory as well as applied questions.

Dapo Akande, Professor of Public International Law & Co-Director, Oxford Institute for Ethics, Law & Armed Conflict, University of Oxford, Jaakko Kuosmanen, Senior Analyst and Project Manager, Demos Helsinki, Helen McDermott, Research associate, Institute for Ethics, Law & Armed Conflict, University of Oxford, Dominic Roser, Senior Lecturer and Researcher, University of Fribourg

Dapo Akande is Professor of Public International Law and Co-Director of the Oxford Institue for Ethics, Law and Armed Conflict at the University of Oxford. From 2012 to 2017 he was Co-Director of the Oxford Martin Programme on Human Rights for Future Generations. He has held visiting professorships at Yale Law, the University of Miami School of Law and the Catolica Global Law School, Lisbon. He was the 2015 Sir Ninian Stephen Visiting Scholar at the University of Melbourne Law School's Asia-Pacific Centre for Military Law. He has acted as consultant, expert, or adviser on international law issues to United Nations bodies, the African Union Commission, the Commonwealth Secretariat, and the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN).


Jaakko Kuosmanen is a Senior Analyst at the Demos Helsinki think tank. Before joining Demos, he was the Coordinator of the Oxford Martin Programme on Human Rights for Future Generations at the University of Oxford. Kuosmanen has also worked for the Commissioner for Human Rights at the Council of Europe and for the Blavatnik School of Government. He also works as a policy consultant providing advice for governments and international organisations around the world. Kuosmanen is a member of the Foresight Team at the Prime Minister's Office in Finland.


Helen McDermott is an Associate with the Oxford Institute for Ethics, Law & Armed Conflict, University of Oxford. From 2015-2016, she was a Research Associate with the Individualisation of War Programme, European University Institute, Florence. In 2015- 2016, She was a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow in law and armed conflict with the Oxford Martin School Programme on Human Rights for Future Generations at the University of Oxford. She has been a visiting scholar at the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford, and at the Center for Human Rights & Global Justice, NYU. She has lectured and published on various international law subjects.


Dominic Roser's research in political theory focuses on global justice, intergenerational justice, human rights, risk, non-ideal theory, and the normative underpinnings of economics. He is particularly interested in applying his work to the challenge of climate change. With a background in economics and philosophy, he was a post-doctoral research fellow in the Programme on Human Rights for Future Generations at the University of Oxford before taking up a position as a senior lecturer and researcher at the University of Fribourg.