The book ‘Human Rights in Eastern Civilizations’ (Edward Elgar, England, 2021) authored by Professor Surya P. Subedi, examines the values of Eastern civilisations and their contribution to the development of the UN Human Rights agenda and demonstrates how cross-fertilisation of values between the Eastern and Western civilisations have taken place and how the notion of the universality of human rights has been enriched by the values of different civilisations. The event will start with a lecture by Professor Subedi about the content of the book that will be followed by a discussion and comments by two other speakers.
Professor Surya P. Subedi, OBE, KC, DCL is Professor of International Law at the University of Leeds and an Honorary Fellow at Exeter College of Oxford University. He obtained a DPhil (PhD) in Law with a prize from the University of Oxford in 1993. He was awarded Oxford’s highest accolade – the degree of Doctor of Civil Law (DCL) – in 2019 by the University of Oxford and the degree of Doctor of Laws (LLD) honoris causa by the University of Hull in 2020 in recognition of his contribution to international law and human rights. The judges of the award panel at Oxford described him as “a scholar of uncommon breadth of knowledge and depth of thinking in international law” when deciding to award him the DCL. Professor Subedi was appointed a Queen’s Counsel (QC) (Hon) in 2017. A press release of the British Government of January 2017 announcing his appointment as a QC stated that Professor Subedi had made “an exceptional contribution over a sustained period at the international level to develop international law and to advance human rights.”