The web chat on Business, the Economy, and Livelihoods in a COVID-19 World marked the last ‘Right On’ online event before the summer break. The series will resume in September, at the pace of one online event per month.
‘While the series was originally developed to keep the human rights discussion going during the COVID-19 crisis, we decided – due to its success and the fact that it allowed us to reach out to audiences outside Geneva – to keep it alive after the summer’ explains Felix Kirchmeier, Coordinator of the Geneva Human Rights Platform.
‘We will broaden the scope, which will not necessarily relate to the COVID-19 pandemic. Among other issues, we will notably examine the human rights implications of post-COVID recovery plans’ underlines Natasa Perucica, Researcher at DiploFoundation.
10 events to address the multiple human rights dimensions of the COVID-19 pandemic
From early April, 10 online events – which brought leading experts and practitioners including the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet – allowed discussing the human rights dimensions and impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, including the gendered impact of the crisis, challenges to privacy, consequences in conflict-related contexts, or business responsibilities during such health crisis.
‘When we look at the series, we can see that we managed to discuss some of the major challenges raised by the COVID-19 crisis. While we are now gradually moving back to normal, all these issues are still relevant as the impact of the crisis will last much longer’ underlines Marc Limon, Executive Director at the Universal Rights Group.
For those who did not manage to follow these events, they have all been recorded and can, therefore, be watched or re-watched at any time.
A broad partnership
The series is a joint endeavour of a core group of partners: the Geneva Academy, the Geneva Human Rights Platform, the Universal Right Group, the DiploFoundation, the Human Rights Centre at the University of Essex, as well as the Permanent Missions of Denmark, Norway and the Netherlands to the United Nations in Geneva
‘More partners have joined us along the way, showing the worldwide relevance and interest for these type of online discussions’ stresses Andrew Fagan, Director of the Human Rights Centre at Essex University.
Record attendance from all over the world
‘Both the attendance and interaction went beyond our expectations. More than 1000 participants contributed substantially on pressing issues, thus helping bring about new dynamics to human rights discussions’ underlines Jovan Kurbalija, Founding Director of DiploFoundation and Head of the Geneva Internet Platform.
The series has attracted particular interest among the youth, an important constituency for universal human rights, and allowed young people to ask questions to people like Michelle Bachelet.
