“Wien ohne Menschenrechte? – Eine Gedankenreise in eine Stadt ohne Rechte”: This was the provocative topic of a panel discussion hosted by the Human Rights Office of the City of Vienna and the Wiener Urania on April 22, 2025 in the packed attic hall of the Wiener Urania. The event took place on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the Human Rights Office of the City of Vienna and as part of the annual focus 2025 “Our Vienna” of the Wiener Volkshochschulen.

Shams Asadi, Human Rights Officer and Head of the Human Rights Office, moderated the discussion with Friedrich Forsthuber, President of the Vienna Regional Criminal Court, Laura Wimmer, Head of the Women’s Service of the City of Vienna, and our colleague Camilla Haake, PostDoc at the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Fundamental and Human Rights (LBI-GMR). Together with the interested audience, they discussed the following questions, among others: How and why do human rights make our coexistence possible? And what would be the consequences if they suddenly no longer existed?

Friedrich Forsthuber emphasized the great importance of democracy, fundamental rights and the rule of law for our daily lives and recalled the massive restrictions on fundamental rights and freedoms during the National Socialist regime.

Laura Wimmer emphasized that women’s rights are also human rights that require protection and promotion.

Our colleague Camilla Haake conducts research at the LBI-GMR in the program line “Sustainability, Development, Business, Social” (NEWS) on topics such as human rights and the environment, human rights and business and “rights of nature”. During the event, she explained what our fundamental and human rights have to do with climate change. She also made it clear at why it is important to continuously develop existing human rights and, where necessary, to develop new human rights in response to actual social needs and that companies must also comply with human rights.