Renowned as a world expert on minority and indigenous rights in international law, Professor Alexandra Xanthaki is midway through her six-year stint as the United Nations Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights. Appointed by the United Nations main human rights body, Alexandra is entrusted to monitor cultural rights around the world.
Being of Greek heritage, the protection of everyone’s right to culture is vital to Alexandra. She explains:
"Cultural rights are part of our human rights and ensure that our various ways of life, including our practices, values, priorities and visions of the world, ultimately our humanity are protected. Cultural rights include access to, and participation in the arts, sport and science."
Professor Alexandra Xanthaki
Not one to shy away from controversy, and particularly now that her UN role requires her to do so, Alexandra is vocal about standing up for what she believes is right. She often discusses with States how their respect of cultural rights can be improved. Ahead of the Paris Olympics, she challenged France for excluding Muslim athletes from competing wearing their headscarves. She also convinced the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to give Russian athletes the right to compete under a neutral flag. And she has been vocal against transgender segregation in sports.
The rights of individuals in sport
Richie McCormack of "Off The Ball," Ireland’s daily sports show, hosted Alexandra for an insightful discussion on the human rights of individuals in sport.
Brunel Refugee Project 2024
The Brunel Refugee Project was funded by Brunel University London for its final year International Human Rights students. This video documents the students' experiences.
Alexandra’s research has always focused on people who are often described as marginalised or belonging to minority groups; the people who don’t always get to make decisions about how they want to live their lives.
With Brunel’s consistently high Times Higher Education (THE) Impact Rankings at 15th in the world and 6th in the UK, it’s no coincidence that Alexandra made Brunel her research base. Here she’s found a natural home for her passion for global justice and her commitment to informing her research by teaching elements of international practice; human rights in action as she likes to note.
Shortly after joining Brunel in 2004, Alexandra introduced Brunel Law School’s first international human rights module which has seen hundreds of students taking it over the years.
"Brunel has this international outlook that you don't see in many universities. It’s created by our students and our staff who really understand the issues and make Brunel the ideal place to teach, and research, international human rights."
Professor Alexandra Xanthaki
And it is this international focus which has helped Alexandra seek out like-minded colleagues to collaborate with, largely because of the connections she’s made from her ground-breaking Brunel Refugee Project. She’s developed a mobile game with colleagues from Games Design to help displaced children learn their rights. She joined forces with Computer Scientists to use artificial intelligence to predict migration flows, funded by the European Commission's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme. And she recently worked with Sports colleagues on her UN report on the right to take part in sports.
As media reports of a refugee crisis erupted in 2015, Alexandra’s interest extended to the rights of forced migrants and refugees. She set up the Brunel Refugee Project where students go to Greece to volunteer with refugees. This was a first for a European university, funded by our Development and Alumni Relations Office and supported by Brunel Volunteers.
"I often say, and it is absolutely true, that the Brunel Refugee Project would not have taken place in another university. Brunel understood its importance. Our students have such passion for it. And in a practical sense, we speak such a variety of languages at Brunel which helps us really connect to refugees in Greece."
Professor Alexandra Xanthaki
Alexandra and Dr Ermioni Xanthopoulou - also at Brunel - take small groups of Brunel law students to Greece to get practical human rights experience through discussions with state authorities and work with non-profit organisations. Our students connect with refugees and learn a lot more of the brutal realities of forced returns but also their dreams and aspirations, their skills and their humanity. They come back transformed as they say themselves and with a better understanding of the issues around one of the biggest challenges of our times.
Over five years, the project constantly evolved to meet the changing needs of refugees and the organisations that help them and drew students to study at Brunel. It was shortlisted for a national award in the UK, has led to having an innovative module taught by Brunel Law School with staff from the Office of the Greek Ombudsman for Human Rights, and being part of an important research project funded by Horizon 2020.
Having stopped during the pandemic, the project is now revived, giving more law students the opportunity of this unique experience of human rights in action.
Want to learn more about Alexandra's work?