The international human rights system has expanded significantly over the past twenty years, both in terms of new human rights treaties, as well as the mechanisms established to monitor and advise States on human rights promotion and protection. It has empowered individuals worldwide, including the most marginalised and disadvantaged, to claim their rights and seek redress. At the same time …
UN takes important strides to build new human rights ‘Implementation Agenda’
As is well known, since 1948 the UN has debated and set a wide canopy of universal human rights norms. Through the Universal Declaration, the two Covenants, and various human rights conventions, optional protocols, guidelines, and resolutions, the international community has produced thousands of words across hundreds of documents, stipulating, in some detail, what States should do to better promote …
COP22 begins in Marrakech – UN leaders call for human rights principles to guide implementation of Paris Agreement
7th November 2016, Geneva The 22nd session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP22) begins today in Marrakech, Morocco. After the entry into force of the Paris Agreement on climate change on 4 November this year, the Marrakech meeting will also represent the first Meeting of the Parties to the Paris …
Are we seeing a new human rights ‘implementation agenda’?
Note: This article is based on a speech delivered by Ambassador CHOI Kyonglim, President of the Human Rights Council, on Monday 17th October 2016, at an event hosted by the Governments of Norway and Switzerland, supported by the Universal Rights Group, to mark the launch of the report of the third Glion Human Rights Dialogue. I will touch on three …
The Council’s impact on the ground: a view from Jakarta
5th September 2016, Jakarta On 2nd August I landed back in Jakarta after three-and-a-half years with the Indonesian team at the Human Rights Council. As well as giving me time to readjust to life back home, the intervening weeks have given me time to reflect on the nature and extent of the ‘on the ground’ impact of my work at …
How to push the implementation of human rights forward? A new strategy for a renewed commitment
Fostering respect for human rights is one of Switzerland’s foreign policy objectives, as provided for in our Federal Constitution. In Switzerland, promoting and protecting human rights is essential to direct democracy because it forms the basis for the freedom and security of every individual. At the international level, respect for human rights contributes to peace and global security, to the …
How to move forward with the implementation of resolution 16/18 and with global efforts to combat religious intolerance and discrimination
Incitement to religious hatred, discrimination and violence needs to be addressed by everyone, and at all levels. That is especially so when one considers the increasingly globalised and interconnected world in which we live — events on one side of the planet can have immediate and far-reaching consequences for people on the other side. News relating to religious discrimination or …
URG co-organises ‘From Resolution to Implementation’ photo exhibition
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 …
Denmark and URG launch ‘Friday Exchange’
Geneva, 12th February 2016 The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark and the Universal Rights Group today launched a new diplomatic initiative in Geneva: the ‘Friday Exchange.’ The Friday Exchange is a series of quarterly informal policy dialogues (small roundtable discussions) designed to allow States (ambassador level) from all regions to exchange opinions, bridge differences and identify common ground on …
Economic, social and cultural rights: exploding myths and building consensus
Beyond matters touching upon religion or belief, or on so-called ‘traditional values,’ it is difficult to think of an issue that divides members of the Human Rights Council (the Council) as much as the perceived disconnect between the importance placed on civil and political rights on the one hand, and economic, social and cultural rights (ESCRs) on the other. Twenty …