Is being the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights an impossible job?

by Marc Limon, Executive Director of the Universal Rights Group Uncategorized BORRAR

A response to David Petrasek’s article in OpenGlobaRights  entitled ‘ Another one bites the dust ’ (8 February 2018). David Petrasek’s recent article on the early departure of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, provides an extremely timely insight into the under-the-surface tensions and dynamics that help explain Zeid’s decision to step down. The article also offers clues as to what needs to happen …

Palabras del Presidente de URG

by URG Chair Uncategorized BORRAR

En nombre de la Junta Directiva y del personal de Universal Rights Group, me gustaría expresar nuestra profunda conmoción y pesar por el fallecimiento de nuestra estimada miembro de la Junta Fundadora, Asma Jahangir. Asma había sido una importante fuente de orientación y sabiduría en nuestro trabajo durante los últimos cinco años. Ella también ha sido, por supuesto, una inspiración …

Otro más que muerde el polvo: ¿qué futuro tiene el Alto Comisionado de las Naciones Unidas para los Derechos Humanos?

by David Petrasek and Geneva By invitation, High Commissioner, Human rights institutions and mechanisms

La partida prematura, una vez más, de un Alto Comisionado de las Naciones Unidas para los Derechos Humanos sugiere que es hora de reconsiderar las prioridades de la oficina y fortalecer su mandato. Cuando, en diciembre de 2017, el Príncipe Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein de Jordania anunció que no buscaría un segundo mandato como Alto Comisionado de las Naciones Unidas para los …

Another one bites the dust — what future for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights?

by David Petrasek and Geneva By invitation

The early departure — yet again — of a UN High Commissioner for Human Rights suggests it’s time to re-think the office’s priorities and strengthen its mandate. The announcement in December 2017 by Prince Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein of Jordan that he would not seek a second term as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights—leaving the post in the middle of 2018—came …

Para acabar con el estigma y la persistencia de la lepra, es necesario que los gobiernos intensifiquen sus esfuerzos

by Alice Cruz, Relatora Especial sobre la eliminación de la discriminación contra las personas afectadas por la lepra y sus familiares and Geneva By invitation, Thematic human rights issues

En el Día Mundial Contra la Lepra, las organizaciones de todo el mundo deben unirse para crear conciencia y trabajar en pro de la consecución de objetivos concretos para poner fin a la discriminación contra la lepra. Elton (alias) nació en 1980 en Río de Janeiro en un favela. Sin acceso a la educación o al mercado laboral formal, Elton tuvo que …

Ending the stigma and persistence of leprosy requires governments to step up

by Alice Cruz, Special Rapporteur on the elimination of discrimination against persons affected by leprosy and their family members and Geneva By invitation, Thematic human rights issues

On World Leprosy Day, organizations across the world must come together to raise awareness and work towards the implementation of concrete goals to end discrimination around leprosy. Elton (alias) was born in 1980 in Rio de Janeiro. He was born in a favela, without access to education or to the formal labor market, and he had to depend on manual …

The Human Rights Council: Cooperation and dialogue for the benefit of all

by H.E. Ambassador Vojislav Šuc, 12th President of the Human Rights Council By invitation, Human rights institutions and mechanisms

5 February 2018, Geneva It has been almost seventy years since the nations of the world adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the preamble of which reminds all of us that the ‘recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace …

2018: the start of a meaningful process of Human Rights Council strengthening and reform?

by Charlotte Marres Human rights institutions and mechanisms, Prevention, Prevention, accountability and justice

There is a growing recognition that as the Human Rights Council approaches its twelfth anniversary there is a need to undertake an inclusive, cross regional and structured dialogue to review how States might strengthen the fulfilment of the Council’s mandate and purpose, as set down in GA resolution 60/251 . Following an important event organised by the Netherlands, UK, Latvia, Rwanda and Mexico on …

Report of Council Special Session on the situation of the Rohingya and other minorities in Myanmar

by the URG team Human rights institutions and mechanisms

On Tuesday 5th December, the Human Rights Council (Council) held a special session on the ‘human rights situation of the minority Rohingya Muslim population and other minorities in the Rakhine State of Myanmar’. The special Session was requested on 28 November 2017, via two official letters written by H.E Mr Shameem Ahsan, Ambassador of Bangladesh; and H.E Dr Abdulaziz Alwasil, Ambassador of Saudi …

Strengthening coherence between the Human Rights Council and the Third Committee

by Geneva Uncategorized BORRAR

One consequence of the General Assembly’s decision, in 2006, not to make the new Human Rights Council a main body of the UN, on par with the Security Council and the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC); and of its 2011 decision to maintain that subsidiary status; has been significant institutional confusion about the relationship between the Council and the GA, …