Human Rights Watch Denmark and The Danish Foreign Policy Society, invite you to join us for the presentation of Human Rights Watch World Report 2026, an annual review of human rights around the globe.
This World Report Day includes a presentation of global human rights trends, and a panel discussion on the status of democracy and human rights as we move into 2026.
The event will be held in English and will include a Q&A session.
Welcome!
Federico Borello presents the World Report 2026 with a focus on global human rights trends and challenges, spotlighting the human rights situation in countries such as Iran, Ukraine, USA, and Palestine. He will also bring his fresh perspectives from his attendance at the recently concluded Munich Security Conference.
Måns Molander will provide the Nordic perspective, as we near the one-year-mark of Denmark's membership of the UN Security Council.
As wars escalate, democracies backslide, and security dominates political agendas, human rights are increasingly treated as optional, negotiable or even obstructive. States are redefining what human rights mean in practice, selectively applying them, or openly questioning their universality. In many parts of the world, human rights and fundamental freedoms have slipped far down the list of political priorities.
In this discussion, Mette Thygesen, Federico Borello and Måns Molander will confront a difficult but necessary question: Do human rights still matter and if so, how do we make them matter in today’s political reality?
Moderated by Charlotte Flindt Pedersen.
Practical details
The event will be held at the offices of DLA Piper, Oslo Plads 2, 2100 Copenhagen Ø.
If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to Martha Bernild at bernilm@hrw.org.
Federico Borello is Chief Programs Officer at Human Rights Watch since 2024.
Prior to joining Human Rights Watch, Borello was the Executive Director at the Center for Civilians in Conflict (CIVIC) for nearly a decade. He also served as Director of Investments at Humanity United and as a Senior Policy Advisor to Mary Robinson, the United Nations special envoy to the Great Lakes region of Africa. Other roles include being a legal adviser for the UN International Commission of Inquiry on Guinea and the UN Justice Mapping Exercise in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and as Coordinator for the Transitional Justice Unit at the UN Mission in the Congo. He has also worked as a senior associate at the International Center for Transitional Justice and had a host of other human rights roles focusing on Argentina, Cambodia, Rwanda, Croatia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, among others.
Federico Borello presents the World Report 2026 with a focus on global human rights trends and challenges, spotlighting the human rights situation in countries such as Iran, Ukraine, USA, and Palestine. He will also bring his fresh perspectives from his attendance at the recently concluded Munich Security Conference.
Måns Molander will provide the Nordic perspective, as we near the one-year-mark of Denmark's membership of the UN Security Council.
As wars escalate, democracies backslide, and security dominates political agendas, human rights are increasingly treated as optional, negotiable or even obstructive. States are redefining what human rights mean in practice, selectively applying them, or openly questioning their universality. In many parts of the world, human rights and fundamental freedoms have slipped far down the list of political priorities.
In this discussion, Mette Thygesen, Federico Borello and Måns Molander will confront a difficult but necessary question: Do human rights still matter and if so, how do we make them matter in today’s political reality?
Moderated by Charlotte Flindt Pedersen.
Mette Thygesen is International Director of the Danish Institute for Human Rights since 2022.
Mette is an experienced diplomat who has served as ambassador to Ethiopia, Sudan and South Sudan, Danish representative to the African Union, and Special Representative in the Sahel and Maghreb countries. From 2019 to 2022, she was head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with responsibility for Humanitarian Efforts, Civil Society and Engagement, which also includes development policy efforts to promote democracy and human rights. Mette Thygesen has previously been employed by the European Commission and has had a strong focus on multilateral cooperation within the EU and the UN throughout her career.
As wars escalate, democracies backslide, and security dominates political agendas, human rights are increasingly treated as optional, negotiable or even obstructive. States are redefining what human rights mean in practice, selectively applying them, or openly questioning their universality. In many parts of the world, human rights and fundamental freedoms have slipped far down the list of political priorities.
In this discussion, Mette Thygesen, Federico Borello and Måns Molander will confront a difficult but necessary question: Do human rights still matter and if so, how do we make them matter in today’s political reality?
Moderated by Charlotte Flindt Pedersen.
Måns Molander is the Nordic Director of Human Rights Watch.
Based in Stockholm, he advocates for the Nordic countries to pursue rights-respecting foreign policies. Måns regularly briefs journalists, politicians and government officials, appears on television and radio programs, and speaks at public events.
Federico Borello presents the World Report 2026 with a focus on global human rights trends and challenges, spotlighting the human rights situation in countries such as Iran, Ukraine, USA, and Palestine. He will also bring his fresh perspectives from his attendance at the recently concluded Munich Security Conference.
Måns Molander will provide the Nordic perspective, as we near the one-year-mark of Denmark's membership of the UN Security Council.
As wars escalate, democracies backslide, and security dominates political agendas, human rights are increasingly treated as optional, negotiable or even obstructive. States are redefining what human rights mean in practice, selectively applying them, or openly questioning their universality. In many parts of the world, human rights and fundamental freedoms have slipped far down the list of political priorities.
In this discussion, Mette Thygesen, Federico Borello and Måns Molander will confront a difficult but necessary question: Do human rights still matter and if so, how do we make them matter in today’s political reality?
Moderated by Charlotte Flindt Pedersen.
Charlotte Flindt Pedersen is Director of the Danish Foreign Policy Society since 2015.
She holds a Master of Arts degree in Eastern European Studies and Social Sciences, specialising in minority studies, from the University of Copenhagen. In 1990, she published the book ‘The Experiment – Images from the Soviet Union’. Before joining the Danish Foreign Policy Society, she was at the Danish Institute for Human Rights, where she worked with international human rights for 17 years. At the Institute, she was responsible for work in the Baltic States, Central Asia, Ukraine, Belarus and Serbia, including reforms of the police and judiciary in the Balkans after the war, and as head of international civil society cooperation. From 2009, she was deputy director and international director at the Danish Institute for Human Rights.
Charlotte Flindt Pedersen is a member of several boards, including the Wisti Foundation (Chair), DIPD (Danish Institute for Parties and Democracy) and the Europe Foundation in Georgia. She also sits on the Development Policy Council and the employer panel for Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies (ToRS).
As wars escalate, democracies backslide, and security dominates political agendas, human rights are increasingly treated as optional, negotiable or even obstructive. States are redefining what human rights mean in practice, selectively applying them, or openly questioning their universality. In many parts of the world, human rights and fundamental freedoms have slipped far down the list of political priorities.
In this discussion, Mette Thygesen, Federico Borello and Måns Molander will confront a difficult but necessary question: Do human rights still matter and if so, how do we make them matter in today’s political reality?
Moderated by Charlotte Flindt Pedersen.
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