CRoLEV Newsletter 5 – February 2024
The CRoLEV Team wishes you all the best for 2024! We are happy to share with you the latest news for the second half of 2023 and the first month of 2024. The year started with the submission of the CRoLEV contribution to the targeted stakeholder consultation on the 2024 Rule of Law Report of the European Commission for Cyprus, submitted on the 15th of January 2024.
CRoLEV working paper series
The CRoLEV team is delighted to announce the launch of the CRoLEV Working Paper Series on the Rule of Law and European Values (CRoLEV JMCE WP Series). The WP Series, launched at the School of Law at UCLan Cyprus, aims at promoting research by early career researchers and others in the field of the rule of law and European values in a global, European, and interdisciplinary setting. It is edited by the CRoLEV Team, with the generous support of the European Commission and UCLan Cyprus. The JMCE WP Series forms part of the deliverables of the Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence CRoLEV, available on the open access education platform https://crolev.eu/working-paper-series
The first Working Paper, co-authored by Prof. Stéphanie Laulhé Shaelou and Dr Yulia Razmetaeva has already been published! It is entitled ‘Challenges to Fundamental Human Rights in the age of Artificial Intelligence Systems: Shaping the digital legal order while upholding Rule of Law principles and European values’ and you can access it here.
Meet our editorial board!
We are also excited to announce that our editorial board has now been constituted. The editorial board consists of a diverse selection of scholars with expertise across multiple disciplines who will ensure the quality of the peer-reviewed publications produced by CRoLEV. You can meet them here.
Call for contributions for the CRoLEV edited volume published by Springer Publishing
The School of Law of UCLan Cyprus and the Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence for the Rule of Law and European Values CRoLEV are pleased to invite contributions for the creation of a peer-reviewed edited volume entitled ‘Rule of Law and European Values in Turbulent Times’. The Edited Volume is an important output of CRoLEV, which will be submitted for publication to Springer Publishing by the end of the project in February 2025.
Submissions should take the form of original research in the form of a scientific article (8000-10000 words). The deadline for the submission of a complete manuscript is the 31st of May 2024. Selected submissions will be notified by July 2024. All submissions will then undergo double-blind review. For more details, click here
CRoLEV Citizen Festival
On the 17th of November, CRoLEV successfully held the CRoLEV Citizen Festival for the youth, students, researchers, academics, professionals, NGOs, representatives of the civil society and all citizens based on the island of Cyprus and beyond, interested in active citizenship initiatives, particularly in view of the forthcoming European Parliament’s elections. The Citizen Festival hosted a series of activities that sought to encourage civic engagement and visualise the Rule of Law, with multiple supporters and participants from various backgrounds.
Mr Andreas Kettis, Head of the European Parliament Liaison Office, Cyprus delivered the first plenary session on ‘Democracy in action in view of the European Elections of June 2024’. Mr Kettis stressed the importance of youth participation in the forthcoming European and local elections and discussed with students in attendance the various issues and obstacles related to that goal.
Several NGOs working in a variety of projects touching on human rights, democracy, the rule of law, and citizen engagement set up booths in the UCLan Cyprus lobby. During an afternoon session, the various NGOs delivered presentations of their projects and discussed the various issues associated with active citizenship.
Several other workshops were also held during the day, all geared towards encouraging and building opportunities for more widespread civic participation, followed by a social and well-being programme. A press release for the event will soon become available on our website.
CRoLEV teams up with the Council of Europe on Participatory Democracy
CRoLEV held the Academy on Participatory Democracy jointly organised with the Council of Europe and facilitated by the Interdisciplinary Centre for Law, Alternative and Innovative Methods (ICLAIM), on 28th November 2023 (10:00-13:00 CY time, online); 1st December 2023 (14:00-19:00 CY time, in person); and 2nd December 2023 (9:00-17:30 CY time, in person) at the UCLan Cyprus campus in Pyla, Larnaca area. Active citizen participation is essential to any functioning democracy and of particular importance in the context of the forthcoming European Parliament elections to be held in June 2024, where citizens of the Republic of Cyprus and other EU citizens are invited to cast their vote. The Academy on Participatory Democracy aims at providing key concepts and tools of participatory democracy and promoting Council of Europe standards on civil participation whilst strengthening the interaction between local authorities and civil society organisations on the island of Cyprus. The Academy raised awareness of the benefits of participatory democracy and the possibilities of unlocking potential in the dialogue between citizens and public authorities, presenting methodologies and providing guidance, and how efficient engagement of citizens in political decision-making can be reached. CRoLEV’s work, expertise and public engagement on the Rule of Law and other democratic values in Cyprus and Europe formed the background of this Academy, assisted by experienced local social mediation and non-formal education facilitators based at ICLAIM as well as international trainers on civil participation tools. Participants who were from local authorities, CSOs, public offices or active citizens, shared with us insights and experiences on civil participation mechanisms and were trained on Council of Europe tools. See https://crolev.eu/the-first-council-of-europe-academy-on-participatory-democracy-in-cyprus/
CRoLEV at the 53rd Annual UACES Conference, Queen’s Belfast University, Northern Ireland
Between the 3rd and 6th of September 2023, the Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence for the Rule of Law and European Values CRoLEV, participated in the 53rd Annual UACES Conference held in Belfast Northern Ireland. CRoLEV, in collaboration with the project CITIZENS-LAW, successfully organised and ran a themed track entitled ‘The Rule of Law under scrutiny: Interdisciplinary, Theoretical and Empirical Perspectives’ composed of several panels. Professor Stéphanie Laulhé Shaelou, Professor of EU Law and Reform and Head, School of Law, UCLan Cyprus and CRoLEV Director, and Dr Andreas Marcou, Lecturer in EU Law and Theory, School of Law, UCLan Cyprus and CRoLEV Project Manager, represented the CRoLEV Team, while Professor Marc Hertogh, Professor of Socio-Legal Studies, University of Groningen represented the CITIZENS-LAW project. The themed track, which examined the broad question of the rule of law from various perspectives comprised of three panels: EU Governance and European Values, Sociological Approaches to the Rule of Law, and Democracy and other values. For a report, click here.
CRoLEV at the Cyprus Forum 2023 on Transparency
CRoLEV held a fire side discussion on measuring the Rule of Law in emergencies at the 2023 edition of the Cyprus Forum on the 30th September 2023. You may read S. Laulhé Shaelou and O. Drummond, ‘CRoLEV teams up with the PREPARED project at the Cyprus Forum 2023’ https://crolev.eu/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/FINAL_Blog-Post-Cyprus-Forum_Stephanie-and-Orla.pdf and https://crolev.eu/blog-post-crolev-at-the-2023-cyprus-forum-on-transparency/
Updates on intensive courses
Our website has been updated to include materials from our latest intensive courses and other activities. Click here to access them! That includes a course delivered by Dr Nasia Hadjigeorgiou Assistant Professor in Transitional Justice and Human Rights, School of Law, UCLan Cyprus on ‘The Rule of Law and European Values in the modern ages: Frozen Conflicts in Europe and Transitional Justice’, and another course delivered by Dr Lida Pitsillidou, Lecturer in Company Law and Corporate Governance, School of Law, UCLan Cyprus and Dr Nevi Agapiou, Lecturer in International Commercial Law and Dispute Resolution, School of Law, UCLan Cyprus on ‘Rule of Law Due Diligence and Sustainable Justice’. Another intensive course is being delivered by Ms Fezile Osum, Research Scholar and Associate Lecturer, School of Law, UCLan Cyprus on ‘Responding to Conflict Related Sexual Violence (CRSV): International Criminal Law and Transitional Justice Approaches’. The Course will be taking place on various dates throughout January and February 2024 and you can register here.
CRoLEV visit to the Cyprus Anti-corruption Authority
On the 6th of November 2023, the CRoLEV team met with the Cyprus Anti-Corruption Authority (ACA). During the meeting, the CRoLEV Team presented the project, putting particular emphasis on aspects of the rule of law that fit with ACA’s work. The discussion expanded on the various types of corruption that might take place, the important mandate the Authority holds, the ways in which it carries out its work, and the various ways in which CRoLEV and its activities can support ACA.
CRoLEV Publications in industry magazines and as blogs
In December 2023, an article written by Professor Stéphanie Laulhé Shaelou and Dr Alexandra Uibariu, CRoLEV post-doctoral Fellow, was published in Nomiko Vima, the legal magazine of the Cyprus Bar Association. The article, entitled ‘An exploration of Legal Professionals’ perceptions of the gender pay gap in the Republic of Cyprus’ sets out the results of a CRoLEV survey on the topic, putting the findings into the broader perspective of inclusive justice and its importance for upholding the Rule of Law. The article can be accessed here: https://www.cyprusbar.org/SubscriptionDocument?DocumentID=5 You may also read our blog on the same topic: S. Laulhé Shaelou, A. Uibariu and M. Konstantinou, CRoLEV ‘Equality, Diversity, Inclusion and Justice Series’ (Blog, August 2023) https://crolev.eu/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/CRoLEV-Blog_Gender-Pay-Gap-in-the-Legal-Profession-in-Cyprus_FINAL.docx.pdf
You may also wish to read the open access article by Prof. Stephanie Laulhé Shaelou and Yulia Razmetaeva entitled ‘Challenges to Fundamental Human Rights in the age of Artificial Intelligence Systems: shaping the digital legal order while upholding Rule of Law principles and European values’ and published in 2024 in the ERA Forum, available open access at https://doi.org/10.1007/s12027-023-00777-2
CRoLEV statement on the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: please read here: https://crolev.eu/human-rights-day-75th-anniversary-of-the-universal-declaration-of-human-rights/
European Elections Coming Up!!
The European Elections are coming up in June. For more information, and to receive voting reminders, you can click https://together.europarl.europa.eu/
News from Friends
Our friends at the Jean Monnet Department of European Public Law, University of Zagreb, Faculty of Law are inviting papers for a Jean Monnet Seminar on ‘Competences in the EU: A Never-Ending Story’. For more information, visit https://www.pravo.unizg.hr/ejp/jean_monnet_seminar
Disclaimer: Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.
