The Centre for Constitutionalism and Human Rights (CHR) was established under the Department of Constitutional Law at the Faculty of Law of Charles University in 2022. Its main purpose is to contribute to the development of scientific knowledge in the area of human rights and their relationship to other concepts of modern constitutionalism. The Centre is also based on the belief that scientific knowledge should not be an end in itself, but should reflect the key issues facing contemporary society. It is also for this reason that the Centre seeks through its work to strengthen public, political and legal discourse in an effort to find adequate mechanisms and scope for the protection of individual and vulnerable groups of human rights.

In the background of the establishment of the Centre is the idea that the existing legal doctrine should be focused on overcoming the currently pronounced human rights particularism, which manifests itself in the isolated examination of particular partial aspects of given rights and the space of their application. On the contrary, the purpose of the Centre is to contribute to rebalancing the three basic axes of modern constitutionalism: human rights - institutional organisation of public power - constitutional theory. Thus, on the one hand, it is a question of the relationship between the application and realization of human rights and constitutional theory, i.e. between the development of human rights in its sub-areas and the theoretical foundations of their existence. On the other hand, it concerns questions related to the relationship between "particularized" human rights and the institutional context of their existence, especially their relationship to judicial and, above all, political discourse. 

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The Centre is dedicated to Eric Stein (1913-2011), one of the most important jurists of the 20th century. Eric Stein was born in Holice, but emigrated to the United States in 1940 because of his Jewish ancestry. As a graduate of the Faculty of Law of Charles University and the University of Michigan, he gradually became one of the most important figures in public international law, European law and comparative constitutional law. He was particularly interested in the functioning of international organizations. In this field he pioneered the conception of European integration through the categories of constitutional theory and constitutional law. However, what is evident from his work is a clear emphasis on the desire to create a peaceful system of public authority organisation based on humanist traditions of human rights and thus to prevent a repetition of the spectres of the evils of the 20th century. 

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The Centre's activities 

• Organising lectures, workshops and discussions: Events

• Raising awareness of current human rights issues: Challenges

• Expert analysis of contemporary human rights issues: Series

• Conducting human rights courses at the Faculty of Law, Charles University: Education

• Publications on the student blog: Blog