Human rights and the UN Secretary-General’s prevention agenda: Where are we now?

Universal Rights Group NYC and the Jacob Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights would like to invite you to a panel event on human rights and UN Secretary-General Guterres’ prevention agenda. In October 2019, URG-NYC published the report “Policy or aspiration: shedding light on the current status of Human Rights up Front”, which recommended that the Human Rights up Front (HRuF) initiative be supported and revitalized, with increased transparency around it and a re-emphasis on building the groundwork for prevention with proactive engagement with States, both at headquarters and in the field. It also includes recommendations for member States, whose support is crucial for the effective implementation of HRuF, and to members of civil society who can provide important technical and moral support.

This event will take place on the heels of the start of the 43rd Session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, where the Secretary-General announced a Call to Action for Human Rights. It also follows the creation of an internal UN task force to implement the recommendations of an independent report by Gert Rosenthal that found ‘systemic failure’ by the UN to respond to serious human rights violations in Myanmar and made recommendations echoing those of an earlier UN report that prompted the original HRuF initiative; as well as the recent publication of a report of a group of experts mandated by the Human Rights Council to consider its potential contribution to prevention. This event will provide an opportunity to discuss the status of the HRuF initiative and follow-up to the Rosenthal report, as well as the new Call to Action, and the place of these efforts within the Secretary-General’s prevention agenda with senior UN officials, independent experts and civil society advocates who have been closely engaged with these developments.

Concept Note_Human Rights & the Prevention Agenda_March 2 2020

Panelists:

Mr. Volker Türk, UN Assistant Secretary-General for Strategic Coordination

Mr. Ben Majekodunmi, Chief of Equality, Development and Rights Section, OHCHR

Ms. Akila Radhakrishnan, President, Global Justice Center

Opening remarks by Ms. Danica Damplo, Universal Rights Group NYC

Welcome and moderation by the Jacob Blaustein Institute