From 7th to 11th March, Universal Rights Group (URG), together with the Permanent Mission of the Netherlands and World Press Photo, was pleased to begin a project to showcase the real-world impact of important Human Rights Council initiatives, using the medium of photography. Between those dates, URG brought five press photographers to attend and photograph the 31st session of the UN Human Rights Council. The aim was to allow them to capture the Council at work, especially on the issue of women’s rights and equal opportunities – the negotiation of resolutions, the holding of thematic debates and interactive dialogues, and the holding of side events.
After attending the 31st session, the photographers, who hail from Czech Republic, Mozambique, Netherlands, Peru and Indonesia, will return home and take photographs to try to capture the ‘implementation’ or ‘realisation’ of the resolutions and other UN actions they witnessed in Geneva – again with a focus on women’s rights.
This would allow them to capture images that will be included in a photo exhibition to be held on the sidelines of the 32nd session of the Council in June.
That exhibition will be called: ‘From resolution to reality: the impact of the Human Rights Council on women’s rights, equal opportunities and breaking the glass ceiling’
The exhibition will showcase the work of the five photographers who will, between February-April, try to follow the ‘life cycle’ of relevant Council resolutions, from inception to negotiation, and from adoption to implementation. In particular, the photographers will seek to capture:
- The human rights challenge (in their country) that the resolution(s) seeks to address;
- The nature of the development, negotiation and adoption of such resolutions (at the Human Rights Council);
- How the resolution(s), once adopted at the Human Rights Council, is translated from words into on-the-ground action in their country of origin;
- What is the impact of those actions and policies in terms of individual human rights in their home country?
URG is pleased to support this project which contributes to thinking on implementation and impact, in the context of the Human Rights Council’s 10th anniversary (2016).
ENDS
Information for editors
2016 marks the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the UN Human Rights Council. At the time of the creation of the body in 2006, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan called on the Council to lead the international community from “the era of declaration” to “the era of implementation.”
Ten years on, States and civil society are increasingly asking the question: has the Council succeeded in bridging this long-standing ‘implementation gap.’ The answer to that question is important for both the effectiveness and the credibility of the Council.
To contribute to that discussion, and to mark the 10th anniversary of the Council’s first regular session in June 2006, the partners will hold a photo exhibition at HRC32 (June 2016).
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