European Yearbook on Human Rights 2026 - by Philip Czech & Lisa Heschl & Karin Lukas & Manfred Nowak & Gerd Oberleitner (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

Marking the anniversaries of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the European Yearbook on Human Rights 2026 critically examines how universal and European human rights systems intersect, reinforce and at times challenge each other. Bringing together leading academics, practitioners, policymakers and advocates, it explores Europe's claims to leadership, its blind spots on issues such as socio economic rights, racism, antisemitism and migration, and the lessons to be learned from other regional systems in facing emerging global challenges.

About the Author

Philip Czech is a Senior Scientist at the Austrian Institute for Human Rights, a department of Salzburg University. He holds PhD degrees in law and history.

Lisa Heschl is senior scientist at the European Training and Research Centre on Human Rights and Democracy at the University of Graz (Uni-ETC). She received her PH.D. in law from the University of Graz and holds a European Masters Degree in Human Rights and Democratization (E.MA).

Karin Lukas is the Scientific Director of the Vienna Forum for Democracy and Human Rights and the Austrian member of the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI).

Manfred Nowak is Professor of International Law and Human Rights and Scientific Director of the Vienna Master of Arts in Applied Human Rights at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna, as well as Secretary General of the Global Campus of Human Rights in Venice. He has acted as an independent expert for various institutions including the UN, the EU and the Council of Europe. He was director of the Netherlands Institute of Human Rights at the University of Utrecht and founder and co-director of the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Human Rights at the University of Vienna.

Gerd Oberleitner is the UNESCO Chair in Human Rights and Human Security at the Faculty of Law, University of Graz, and Director of the European Training and Research Centre for Human Rights and Democracy at the University of Graz. He has been a lecturer at the Centre for the Study of Human Rights of the London School of Economics and Political Science and Visiting Professor at the European Inter-University Centre Venice, the Université du Quebéc à Montréal, the Universities of Ljubljana and Bochum and Rutgers University.