Promoting universality of human rights: Participation of LDCs/SIDS in the work of the Human Rights Council

by Fatou Camara Houel and Geneva By invitation, Human Rights Council membership

The commemoration of the fifteenth anniversary of Switzerland’s membership of the United Nations presents an excellent opportunity to recognise the strategic importance of the United Nations Office at Geneva (UNOG). Importantly, the Human Rights Council (HRC), the principal UN intergovernmental body mandated to promote and protect human rights globally, and the OHCHR tasked with its support, are both based at …

The missing human rights chapter in Secretary-General Guterres’ strategic priorities

by Dr Bertrand G. Ramcharan and Geneva By invitation, Human rights institutions and mechanisms

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has set about the modernisation of some sectors of the United Nations and has been fulsome in his recognition of the interrelatedness of the three sectors of the UN: peace and security, development, and human rights. He has made impassioned statements about the need to protect human rights. But, beyond rhetoric, there has so far been no …

The case of Argentina: the experience of the Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances

by Estela B. de Carlotto and Geneva By invitation

16 February 2017 In 2015, on the occasion of its 35th anniversary, the Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances traveled to our country to hold periodic meetings. It held meetings with human rights organisations and various State bodies working on the ground to prevent and guarantee justice in each case of enforced disappearances. The expert group concluded that Argentina is …

El caso Argentina: la experiencia del Grupo de Trabajo sobre las Desapariciones Forzadas e Involuntarias

by Estela B. de Carlotto and Geneva By invitation, Thematic human rights issues

16 de febrero de 2017 En 2015, al cumplirse el aniversario número 35 de su conformación, el Grupo de Trabajo sobre Desapariciones Forzadas e Involuntarias viajó a nuestro país para realizar las sesiones periódicas y mantuvo reuniones con los organismos de derechos humanos y los diferentes órganos del Estado que trabajan en pos de prevenir y garantizar la justicia en …

Bringing the UN Treaty Body system closer to the people

by Christof Heyns, Professor of Human Rights Law, Univeristy of Pretoria and Member of the UN Human Rights Committee, Willem Gravett, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria and Geneva By invitation, Human rights implementation and impact, Treaty Bodies

The ongoing process of strengthening the UN Treaty Body system provides a welcome opportunity to reflect on some of our hidden assumptions. The Treaty Bodies have over time gravitated towards Geneva, and it now appears to be the assumption that this is simply the way things should be done. Notwithstanding, we want to argue that reform of the human rights Treaty …

Human rights as ‘part of the cure’

by Peter Sørensen, Ambassador, Head of Delegation of the European Union to the UN, Geneva and Geneva By invitation, Prevention, Prevention, accountability and justice

When UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, addressed the Human Rights Council for the first time earlier this year, he did not mince his words: ‘Disregard for human rights is a disease, and it’s a disease that is spreading.’ He appealed to the Council to be ‘part of the cure,’ especially through being ‘pivotal for prevention – sounding early warnings of crises.’ …

“Los derechos humanos son parte integrante de cada uno de los ODS”

by Michael Møller, UN Under-Secretary General, Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva and Geneva By invitation, Thematic human rights issues

Nota: Este artículo está basado en una nota presentada por S.E. Sr. Michael Møller, Secretario Adjunto de las Naciones Unidas y Director General de La Oficina en Ginebra de las Naciones Unidas, el jueves 19 de junio de 2017, durante una consulta informal de un día completo sobre ‘Derechos Humanos y la Agenda 2030 de Desarrollo Sostenible: Oportunidades y retos …

Es momento de borrar las restantes leyes de blasfemia del mundo

by Joelle Fiss and Geneva By invitation, Thematic human rights issues

En mayo pasado, Irlanda se despertó ante la extraña noticia de que la policía irlandesa estaba investigando comentarios hechos por el actor Stephen Fry, que, según se alega, podría considerarse blasfemo. En una entrevista televisiva de 2015, Fry había acusado a Dios de ser un maníaco egoísta, y preguntó: “¿por qué debería yo respetar a un Dios estúpido caprichoso, mezquino, …

Modernizando el Sistema de Derechos Humanos de las Naciones Unidas

by Dr Bertrand G. Ramcharan and Geneva By invitation, Prevention, Prevention, accountability and justice

En su edición de fin de semana del 15-16 de febrero de 2014, el Financial Times publicó extractos de un libro reciente: “En 100 años: los economistas líderes predicen el futuro”, editado por Ignacio Palacios-Huerta y publicado por MIT Press. En uno de los extractos, Robert Shiller, Premio Nobel de Economía, profesor de Economía en la Universidad de Yale, escribió …

La Organización de Naciones Unidas debería crear la ‘libertad de la corrupción’ como un derecho humano

by Matthew H. Murray* and Geneva By invitation, Corruption and human rights, Thematic human rights issues

Matthew Murray es un abogado internacional, fue un asesor principal en la administración de Obama en asuntos anticorrupción de 2012 a 2017. Fue Subdirector Adjunto para Europa, Oriente Medio y África para el Departamento de Comercio de Estados Unidos de 2012 a2015 y Asesor Principal de Gobernanza y Estado de Derecho de la Agencia de los Estados Unidos para el …