Video
The Prevention Council
3 February 2020
For the UN’s prevention agenda to work, it is vital to build a business case for placing human rights at its heart.
URG Insights
Report on the 75th session of the Third Committee of the UN General Assembly
by URG-NYC Team
Quick summary During the 75th session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA), the Third Committee, tasked with addressing human rights issues and concerns, ran from 5 October - 20 November at UN Headquarters in New York, and online (due to the COVID-19 pandemic). This year’s Third Committee featured presentations by a number of senior UN officials, including Ms. Michelle Bachelet, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, H.E. Ms. Elisabeth Tichy-Fisslberger, President of the Human Rights Council, and Ms. Ilze Brands Kehris, Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights. The full list can be found here. The High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ms.…
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Time for the Human Rights Council to strengthen its focus on democracy and free and fair elections
by Marc Limon, Executive Director of the Universal Rights Group
16 November 2020, Geneva US diplomats are said to be horrified by the refusal of President Donald Trump, and senior Republicans from inside and outside the administration, to recognise the results of the 3 November 2020 presidential elections, their refusal to sign off on – for the moment – a smooth transition, and, more broadly, their efforts to sow doubts about the integrity of the polls. They were particularly alarmed when their own boss, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, told reporters there would be a smooth transition, but only to a ‘second Trump administration.’ The reason US diplomats are…
The pandemic, prevention and politics: the High Commissioner and HRC President highlight cross-cutting human rights work at the Third Committee
by Tess Kidney Bishop, Universal Rights Group NYC
As part of the 75th Session of the UN General Assembly, both the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the President of the Human Rights Council gave statements to the Third Committee. Statements, and the interactive dialogues with member States that followed, were conducted virtually and not without the occasional technological hiccup. Nevertheless, a higher number of states participated than last year, with states from the Asia-Pacific Group in particular better represented. Major topics of conversation were the impact of the pandemic on human rights and the functioning of the UN’s human rights system, and the role of the human…
The dangers of Trump’s attacks on American democracy – and the need to reinvigorate that democracy based on rights
by Danica Damplo, Universal Rights Group NYC
On the night of the US Presidential election, as predicted, no winner could be called, with millions of ballots yet to be counted in key battleground states. An impatient President Donald Trump began tweeting that he had won and that his win was being taken from him. As the days crawled by, and more and more votes were counted and revealed to have been cast for his opponent, Joe Biden, Trump and his surrogates launched a torrent of unsuccessful legal challenges and unsubstantiated claims of election fraud. This has continued even after Joe Biden was projected to be the winner…
What will US foreign policy look like under President Joe Biden?
by Marc Limon, Executive Director of the Universal Rights Group
Those listening to President-elect Joe Biden’s victory speech over the weekend would have heard him make a fleeting reference to his vision for resetting US foreign policy and renewing America’s global leadership. “Tonight,” he said, “the whole world is watching America. I believe at our best, America is a beacon for the globe. And we lead not by the example of our power, but by the power of our example.” But what did he mean by this? The last line is, in fact, a direct reference to a speech he gave in the summer of 2019 in New York, and…
latest policy report
The international community has invested enormous time and energy in building the international human rights system over the past 70 years. Yet for as long…
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Guide to the 2020 Human Rights Council Elections
The sixth annual yourHRC.org Guide to the Human Rights Council elections provides comprehensive at-a-glance information on the 2020 Council elections (tentatively scheduled to take place…The human rights implications of the COVID-19 pandemic: A summary of the RightOn web chat series
The COVID-19 pandemic and the uncertainty it has brought have upended our lives. One consequence has been that many parts of the UN have not…7th meeting of the Istanbul Process
On 18-19 November 2019, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands with the support of the Universal Rights Group (URG) hosted…A World Made New: Beyond COVID-19 to a low-carbon, resilient and inclusive world
In the midst of the COVID-19 public health emergency and economic crisis, as we yearn for the social contact and cultural activities that define our…URG next event
The Glion Human Rights Dialogue 2020 (‘Glion VII’): ‘Human rights in the digital age: making digital technology work for human rights’
By invitation only
The Glion Human Rights Dialogue is a retreat bringing together around seventy senior policy-makers and other stakeholders in an informal, non-attributable, digital setting designed to promote open, forward-looking and solutions-oriented debate. This year’s Dialogue, which is organised by the Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and the URG, in partnership with the Permanent Missions of Fiji, Iceland, Mexico, the Seychelles, and ...future events
past events
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23 Nov 2020
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03 Nov 2020
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30 Oct 2020
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21 Oct 2020
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20 Oct 2020
The Istanbul Process is the dedicated mechanism for follow-up on the implementation of the action plan set out in Human Rights Council resolution 16/18 on combatting intolerance, negative stereotyping and stigmatisation of, and discrimination, incitement to violence and violence against, persons based on religion or belief.
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