The 2022 Cph Fellowship

The 2022 Copenhagen Fellowship

In 2022, the third year of our special theme, the Copenhagen Fellowship will once again focus on the Unity of the Danish Realm and relevant human rights concerns.

Since 1380 the Faroe Islands have been under the Crown of Denmark, and Greenland likewise since Hans Egede set food there in 1721. In 2005, the Faroese received a self-government agreement and Greenland “self rule” in 2009, leaving the Danish state with virtually no influence over their internal affairs.

However, since then, the relationship between Denmark, Greenland and the Faroe Islands has been changing rapidly. Climate change, growing global interests in the Arctic, and the increasing focus on Denmark’s colonial past are shaping new possibilities for the future of these three countries. These developments create an urgent need for enlightened and democratic conversations on these relationships and its potential new reality. However, many people in Denmark, let alone abroad, know little to nothing about this social and political union and its implications for the people living within it.

The 2022 Copenhagen Fellowship will examine the union’s long and complex history from a human rights perspective, and the relationship of the majority in Denmark and the capital Copenhagen with the country’s minorities across the North Atlantic.

Topics of interest include: how climate change is changing the physical and political landscape of the region, how geopolitical interests are shaping the union’s future, and the social, economic, and cultural rights for minorities, specifically indigenous peoples. As a cohort, we will ask: what do Greenlandic and Faroese wishes for independence mean for Denmark and its engagement in the Arctic, what does climate change mean for North Atlantic peoples from a human rights perspective, and how does Denmark cooperate with Greenland to promote human rights domestically. These issues, and more, deal with the changing nature of globalization, modernity, and identity, to name just a few of the program’s themes.

The 2022 Copenhagen Fellowship consists of three parts:

1. The International Opening Program | June 6 – 8, 2022 (virtual)
   We will join the entire international 2022 Human in Action cohort of est. 125 Fellows to discuss online community building, relevant human rights issues and courses for civil engagement (expect full day or evening program).
2. The National Fellowship | June 10 – 30, 2022 (in-person in Copenhagen)*
   Est. 25 Fellows from a range of different countries will discuss issues relating to Unity of the Realm and Human Rights (expect full program day and evening).
3. The International Action Project Lab Series | September – May (virtual)
   Once a month, all est. 125 international Fellows will come together again virtually in these online sessions designed to help Fellows implement their Action Projects, to continue collaborative learning, and to keep in touch with the community (these meetings, except the first on September 11, will not exceed 2 hours).

The 2022 Copenhagen Fellowship is developed in cooporation with:

• The Greenlandic Representation in Denmark/Kalaallit Nunaata Siniisoqarfia
• The Representation of the Faroes in Copenhagen/Sendistova Føroya í Keypmannahavn
• The University of the Faroe Islands
• LGBT Føroya
• Amnesty International Faroe Islands
• Institute for Human Rights, Copenhagen
• The Raoul Wallenberg institute for Human Rights, Lund