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International Conference in Cologne, May 16-17, 2019 at the Fritz Thyssen Stiftung in CologneCross-posted from https://www.hsozkult.de/event/id/termine-39458The concept of human rights has profoundly shaped national and international policies after the end of the Cold War and during the worldwide wave of democratization at the end of the 20th Century. However, this development does not necessarily denote an upward trend in human rights. Although states, NGOs and International Organizations enacted important political projects, formulated symbolic demands or implemented instruments of transnational regulation under the label of human rights, the principle of human rights was also heavily contested and strongly rejected. Emphatic hopes of a New World Order of global justice, that had been sparked by human rights in the early 90s, soon faded. Mass killings could not be stopped, authoritarian regimes remained in power, and humanitarian interventions presented drastic and problematic side effects.Historical research on this complex development has only just begun, with empiricalstudies and overarching interpretations still lacking. Nevertheless, criticalreflection on the history of human rights over the last quarter century is essential for a betterunderstanding of our political presence. This observation provides the startingpoint for our conference, which brings together experts from differentdisciplines and world regions to advance research and analysis on the recent history of human rights.The conference neither wants to reproduce the triumphalism of the 1990s nor the narrative ofdecline which has become dominant over the past years. Instead, it aims to sharpen perspectives on thecontradictory developments by including diverse groups ofactors in its analysis: states, International Organizations,NGOs, politicians, scholars and experts.Human rights did not have a breakthrough in the 1990s - they were already a well-established instrument of national and international policies. However, International Organizations, NGOs, politicians, scholars and experts attributed more and more significance to human rights. By doing so – this is the assumption underlying the conference – they tested the limits of human rights policies. A growing number of actors began framing their concerns as human rights issues. The universal claim of human rights received unprecedented support and was adopted in interventionist practices, crossing national borders. At the same time – and in many cases as a direct consequence – the idea of universally valid individual rights was met with heavy opposition and alternative concepts. Different academic disciplines made human rights a subject of their research, thereby impacting the practice of human rights activism and policies. Accordingly, the conference is split into four panels focusing on these developments.Registration:  https://fts.veranstaltungs-anmeldung.de/ Programme:Thursday, May 16, 201910.00a.m. –5.30 p.m.Welcome: Norbert FreiKeynote: Jan EckelPanel I: ExpansionKnud Andresen (Hamburg): Multinational Corporations after Apartheid in South AfricaCelia Donert (Liverpool): Women's Rights as Human Rights after 1990Paul van Trigt (Leiden): The Fall of Utopia and the Integration of Disability in International LawPanel II: InterventionStephen Wertheim (New York): Transformative Interventions: The Militarization of Humanitarianism in the United StatesMarkus Eikel (Den Haag): International Criminal Law and the Prosecution of Human Rights ViolationsBarbara Keys (Melbourne): The Convention against Torture as a Tool of Intervention7.00 p.m.DanDiner (Jerusalem): Public Lecture DinnerFriday, May 17, 20199.30 a.m. – 4.30 p.m. Panel III: Contestations and Alternatives Katrin Kinzelbach (Berlin): Asian Values versus Western Values – a False Dichotomy  Gudrun Krämer (Berlin): On Difference and Hierarchy: Islamic Debates about Equity and Equality  Averell Schmidt (Boston): Torture during the War on Terror: A Story of Contestation Robert Horvath (Melbourne): Nationalising Human Rights in Russia Panel IV: Human Rights and ScholarshipAnnette Weinke (Jena):History und Transitional Justice – A Troubled RelationshipMatthias Koenig (Göttingen): BetweenDistance and Engagement – Human Rights in the Social SciencesHeike Krieger (Berlin): FromEuphoria to Skepticism: Human Rights Discourses in International LawObserverstatementsMichael Stolleis (Frankfurt a.M.) Klaus Dicke (Jena)Carola Sachse (Wien)