Objectives
The Centre was established on December 9, 2005. The objectives of establishing the Centre are to make research on human rights concepts, in order to clarify them and thus to eliminate confusions which hinder the protection of human rights; to conduct studies contributing to the protection of human rights and to prepare the conditions of implementing the results of these studies; as well as to promote interdisciplinary education in human rights with special focus on philosophy and ethics. A UNESCO Chair for Philosophy and Human Rights was established in the Centre, according to an agreement between UNESCO and Maltepe University, signed on May 13, 2009.
Education
The centre is conducting two M.A. programmes, one with and another without a thesis.The purpose of the programmes is to contribute to the education of individuals who know what human rights are and what each human right demands, and who are able to find out in various situations what should be done for the protection of human rights. The aim of the M.A. programme without a thesis is to train public officials (such as security services officers, judges and prosecutors, district governors) and members of various professions (such as medical doctors, lawyers, engineers, teachers), so that they can carry out their jobs in a way that protects human rights, as well as to contribute to answering the need for well trained human rights trainers. The aim of M.A. programme with a thesis is to prepare the ground for theoretical research necessary for applied research and human rights education.
Seminars for Public Officials
The Center, in collaboration with the District Governors, is organasing series of human rights seminers for public officials of these districts. The seminars focuse on the following issues:
- What are Human Rights?
- Public Services and Human Rights
- Freedom, Tolerance and Human Rights
- Human Rights, Secularism and Democracy
- Human Rights, Law and the State
Library
More than 800 volumes on human rights, philosophy, social and human sciences constitute the library of Centre.
International Meetings
- On the occasion of the 60th Anniversary of the proclamation of Universal Declaration of Human Rights an international conference on “Human Rights 60 Years after the Universal Declaration: Dignity and Justice for all of us” was organised, on November 6-7, 2008.
- An international conference on “Rethinking the Philosophy of Law: Legal Theories, Constitutions and Human Rights” organised, on 24 June 2009.
- The Fifth Balkan Countries Seminar of Philosophy on “The Problem of Identities in South Eastern Europe and Human Rights” was organised with the collaboration of Philosophical Society of Turkey, on July 13-15, 2009.
- An international conference on “Ethical and Human Rights Problems in Making and Applying the Law” was organised on 5 and 6 May 2011.
- An international conference on "Violence and Human Rights" was organised on April 2, 2012.
- The Centre has hosted, in collaboration with the Municipality of the Kadıköy District and the support of İstanbul Marmara Education Foundation (İMEV) and the Kuçuradi Foundation for Philosophy and Human Rights, the 2016 Entretiens of the International Institute of Philosophy (IIP), i.e., a Congress on "Value, Values and Meaning" and the administrative meetings of IIP, which took place at Maltepe University on 4-11 September 2016.
- On the occasion of the 70th Anniversary of the proclamation of Universal Declaration of Human Rights an international conference on "70 Years After the Universal Declaration: Stand Up for Human Rights" was organised on 6-7 November 2018.
The following are some of the lectures that were delivered at the Centre:
- Human Rights in Israel after the Goldstone Report, by Anat Biletzki, on 17 june 2010
- Gazze: A Forgatten Prison”, by Anat Bilekzki, on 17 June 2010
- “Laicite andh Human Rights”, by Pierre Sané, on 18 June 2010
- “Laicite and Human Rights: An Odd Couple”, by Anat Biletzki, on 18 June 2010
- National Human Rights Institutions in Turkey and in the World, by Hikmet Tülen, on 10 December 2015
- Is Self-Control of Media in Turkey possible? What Ombudsmen do?, by Belma Akçura, on 12 December 2017
- A lecture on "Medya and Human Rights" delivered by Prof. Kokmaz Alemdar, on 10 December 2020