The 25th Annual International Law and Religion Symposium of the International Center for Law and Religion Studies (ICLRS) commemorated both the 25th anniversary of the Symposium and the 70th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). 

See recordings of Symposium Presentations here.

Keynote speaker at the Symposium opening sesssion on Sunday evening, 7 October was Ann Power-Forde, an Irish lawyer and academic who is currently Presiding Judge at the Constitutional Court Chamber of the Kosovo Specialist Chambers (KSC) in The Hague and was formerly judge at the European Court of Human Rights. A keynote address by Sam Brownback, United States Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom, was given on Monday 8 October. 

View Judge Power-Forde’s keynote address here.

View Ambassador Brownback’s keynote address here.

To date, more than 1300 delegates from 125 countries have met together in these annual meetings to discuss principles of religious liberty and to explore ways to better implement these principles. This year’s gathering explored the theme “Protecting Religious Freedom and Dignity: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights at 70.” Topics for discussion by delegates included the history and implementation of the UDHR, human dignity as a central idea of human rights, and the protection of international religious freedom and human dignity by various institutions, among others.

Watch the ICLRS Symposium Page for information and ecordings from the 2018 and past symposia.