Madam Director, dear Sir Paarrauzio, Madam Vice President, dear Andrea Brehar, dear students,

friends, colleagues, ladies and gentlemen, it's my great pleasure to welcome you to the

opening ceremony, graduation ceremony, opening of the academic year for our master program

Master in Human Rights. With a keynote, it's going to be a bit of a different format, we'll

explain that in just a minute. I'm very happy that we are here, that you all are here, I'm

happy to see so many faces, many faces that I just met for the first time two weeks ago,

three weeks ago, some faces that I actually met ten years ago. So I'm very happy that

you're all here for the ceremony and I would like to now give the floor to Vice President

for Education, Professor Andrea Brehar. Thank you very much.

Ladies and gentlemen, dear students, dear colleagues, dear guests, I'm here as Mark

Azores said to represent the board, the directorate of the university and I'm here to welcome all of

you or actually I'm not just welcoming, there are a lot of reasons why we are here and I

wondered if yet another format to include in this event could be to sing songs, like one is of

course Happy Birthday because celebrate the ten years and the other one could be the Beatles song

Hello Goodbye. We have the new students and those ones who have already graduated. So I'm very

pleased also to welcome or to greet Katrin Kinzelbach, my colleague and of course Markus,

both of you. I'm also here to greet the keynote speaker, she's now in the back, Mr. Paul Rauzio,

I hope I pronounced correctly, who since 2023 is the new FRA, that's the EU Agency for Fundamental

Rights Director. If you have heard speeches by our president, he would always start with saying FAU

is one of the most innovative universities in Germany and worldwide, which is true, but he thinks

in technical terms. I'm myself from the philosophy of faculty, so I think in slightly different terms,

most of the time. So one of the big innovations I think that the FAU also had is that the first

chair of human rights in Germany was created at FAU and the CRAN and the FAU is on the way to follow

the transformation of human rights in the future. This is of course a pun to your project that is in

the course of evaluation and for which I wish you all the best and a great success. So ten years ago

we invented the Human Rights Master Program at FAU as part of our commitment to this field of

action. Our program has nurtured a vibrant community of scholars, activists, leaders who

are dedicated to promoting and protecting human rights around the world. Together we have engaged

in critical dialogue, challenged injustices and contributed to meaningful change in various

contexts. Many of our alumni are now making an impact in organizations, governments and

communities and their achievements are a testament to the dedication and passion that this program

certainly instills. As you, the new students, I have seen some of you on Monday at the FAU awards

ceremony but I don't recognize all of you now here. The new students, you will step into a new chapter,

maybe not entirely new, you come from the field I guess and I think it's important that you remember

that you are joining a legacy that is built on the principles of justice, equity and compassion

since ten years here. You will be surrounded by great peers who share your commitment and who are

not only experts in the field but all passionate advocates of human rights. Please embrace this

opportunity and take advantage to ask difficult questions, to challenge your peers also and to

explore all the different perspectives, the diverse perspectives that one can have on the

human rights question. Because this program is dedicated to equip you with knowledge and skills

that is necessary to confront the complex issues that the world is facing today. So it's not a

one-dimensional thing as you all certainly know. There's systematic inequality, social injustice,

climate change and digital rights are all issues that are closely related today to human rights.

Your education at FAU will both be rigorous and transformative and it will push you I think to

think critically and to engage with real-world challenges. So you're not in one of these abstract

ivory towers like mathematicians but you are confronted, you're gonna work on real-world

challenges. As we commemorate today also as one-third of this ceremony, the 10-year anniversary,

we invite you to reflect how human rights developed during these past years and I think

this has considerably changed also due to the efforts that a lot of people have made and invested

into this as activists or through research. Each of you also brings something unique, a unique