Human rights expert turns 90 - ‘World in Transition’ colloquium in honour of Georg Ress at the Europa-Institut

Georg Ress has had a decisive influence on the development of human rights, was a judge at the European Court of Human Rights, a scientific advisor to the Federal Foreign Office and played a pioneering role in shaping the Europa-Institut at Saarland University. On 21 January, the Emeritus Professor of Public Law, International and European Law celebrates his 90th birthday. Renowned professors and lawyers in high offices, EU institutions and politics are among the wide circle of his academic students. The Europa-Institut is honouring its long-standing director on 8 February with a colloquium on ‘The Changing World’. The academic colloquium ‘The Changing World - Challenges in International, European and Constitutional Law’ (in German) will take place on 8 February, 9 am to 3 pm, at the Europa-Institut on the Saarbrücken campus (Building B2 1, Lecture Hall 3.08). The media are cordially invited to attend. The lectures are open to interested parties by prior registration at conference@europainstitut.de.

Human rights, international law and European law are still the central topics of Professor Georg Ress, who is currently focusing in particular on the challenges and effects of artificial intelligence on these areas. Georg Ress has been Professor of Public Law, Public International Law and European Law at Saarland University since 1977. From 1980 to 1998 he was a member of the Advisory Council on International Law of the German Federal Foreign Office and from 1994 to 1999 of the European Commission of Human Rights in Strasbourg. From 1998 to 2005, he was a judge and section president at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

As Director of the Europa-Institut, the multi-award-winning jurist shaped its international profile for two decades and founded the postgraduate programme ‘European Integration’, now ‘European and International Law’. The Master's programme attracts students from all over the world to Saarland and enjoys a high international reputation. More than 5,500 students have successfully completed the programme and are now working in European and international institutions, internationally oriented law firms, companies and national governments and administrations. The Europa-Institut has existed on the Saarbrücken campus since 1951 and is the second oldest institute of its kind in Europe. Georg Ress turned down honourable calls to Regensburg, Speyer and Bonn in favour of Saarbrücken.
 
Numerous of his academic students are expected to attend the colloquium, during which Georg Ress will also receive the Europa-Institut's Medal of Honour from the current directors Professor Thomas Giegerich and Professor Marc Bungenberg.
The colloquium will focus on current issues of human rights and international law as well as international media and commercial law. The lectures will examine, among other things, the ‘imposition of sanctions against states, companies and individuals in the context of international conflicts’, the ‘state of democracy and law’, criticism of human rights, flexibility in the European Union or foreign and security policy after the ‘turning point’.

Registration for the conference is possible under the following link: https://forms.office.com/e/VGacaXSjMR or via conference@europainstitut.de

The Program of the Colloquium (subject to change)​​​​​.

About the person: Prof. Dr Dr Dr h.c. mult. Georg Ress 
Georg Ress was born in Berlin on 21 January 1935. He studied at the Universities of Berlin and Vienna and was awarded a doctorate in political science in Vienna and a doctorate in law in Heidelberg. He was a research assistant at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law in Heidelberg and later worked in the Ministry of Justice in Rhineland-Palatinate and at the Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe.
Georg Ress has been involved in the academic community in many different ways. Professor Ress is a member of the Finnish Academy of Sciences and a corresponding member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. He was active in academic self-administration, including as Chairman of the Council and, between 1966 and 1988, as First Vice President of Saarland University.
 
After retiring from Saarbrücken, Ress was a visiting professor at the Danube University Krems and held the endowed professorship for ‘International Law’ at Jacobs University Bremen until 2015. He has given guest lectures at universities in Finland, France, Italy, the USA, the UK, Austria, Japan, China, Greece, Poland and South Africa.
 
Numerous prestigious awards and honours recognise Georg Ress' achievements. He holds honorary doctorates from the Universities of Keio (1992), Paris Descartes (Paris V) (1992) and Edinburgh (2000), has been awarded the Golden Cross of Honour of the Republic of Austria, the Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art I Class, the Saarland Order of Merit and the highest recognition of the Federal Republic of Germany for services to the common good: the Grand Federal Cross of Merit.
 
A recent publication by Professor Georg Ress on the subject of ‘Artificial intelligence as a challenge for European and international law’ can be found at the following link: 
www.jura.fu-berlin.de/forschung/europarecht/bob/berliner_online_beitraege/Paper148-Ress/BOB148_Maschinenbewusstsein-und-Voelkerrecht.pdf