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Corruption, especially grand corruption, has enormous implications, both direct and indirect, for the enjoyment of human rights. Corruption undermines – perhaps even violates – a wide array of economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development. Where governments fail to respect and protect civil and political rights, it in turn creates governance conditions…
Reform of the UN human rights petitions system
by Marc Limon (URG)In this groundbreaking new policy report on the UN human rights petitions system, Marc Limon offers a first-ever comparative analysis of the visibility, accessibility, responsiveness and effectiveness of all the…
Reform of the UN human rights petitions system
by Marc Limon (URG)The human rights communications procedures are central to the purpose, effectiveness and credibility of the United Nations – representing the only direct link between the victims of human rights violations…
Human Rights Council strengthening conference
There is a growing recognition that as the Human Rights Council (HRC) approaches its twelve year anniversary there is a need to undertake an inclusive, cross regional and structured dialogue…
Human Rights and the Sustainable Development Goals – Pursuing Synergies
If the 2030 Agenda is to be realised in a way that truly does ‘leave no one behind,’ then human rights obligations and commitments must be applied, implemented and protected…
The Human Rights Council in 2017
The ‘Human Rights Council in 2017’ report provides a critique of the main events, developments, successes and failures of the Human Rights Council in 2017. The review includes: – A quantitative…
Media coverage of the United Nations Human Rights Council in 2016
Global human rights crises and concerns are never far for the front pages of the world’s major newspapers, nor far from the screens of our TVs and iPads. Yet this…
Operationalizing the Council’s ‘prevention’ mandate (Glion IV)
by the URG teamThe Human Rights Council’s mandate to respond to human rights violations, including gross and systematic violations – as set down in operative paragraph 3 of GA resolution 60/251 – is…
URG Insights
URG officially opens New York office
by the URG team
On 1st July, Universal Rights Group New York (URG NYC) was formally incorporated, with the primary aims of strengthening URG’s engagement with States, UN officials and NGOs active at UN headquarters, and more effectively covering and analyzing developments in key New York-based UN bodies and organizations, including the General Assembly (especially the Third Committee), the…
Pablo de Greiff joins URG Board of Trustees
by the URG team
The Universal Rights Group is pleased to announce that renowned human rights expert Pablo de Greiff (Colombia) has joined the organisation’s Board of Trustees. Pablo de Greiff has over 20 years experience in global policy development of country level initiatives to prevent and recover from mass atrocities and human rights violations. His work focuses on…
US calls Human Rights Council the “UN’s greatest failure” but recommits to pushing for reforms
by Danica Damplo, Universal Rights Group
On July 18, the Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley gave the keynote address at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative American think tank, on the US withdrawal from the UN Human Rights Council. The full speech and subsequent panel discussion can be found here. Ambassador Haley characterised the United States as a unique nation, with…
Why the US left the UN Human Rights Council – and why it matters
by Dr. Rosa Freedman
The US’s announcement that it is leaving the UN Human Rights Council should not surprise anyone, since the Trump administration has long made clear its disdain for many parts of the United Nations. But the damage that the decision is likely to cause could nonetheless topple an increasingly wobbly house of cards. When the Human Rights Council…
Time for a ‘Universal Magnitsky Act’?
by Marc Limon, Mary Grace Carey, Universal Rights Group
In 2009, Russian tax accountant Sergei Magnitsky died in a Moscow prison after investigating a $230 million tax fraud involving Russian officials. A subsequent investigation into his case by the Kremlin’s own human rights commission, ordered and endorsed (in July 2011) by the-then Russian President, Dmitry Medvedev, found that in order to silence Magnitsky, corrupt…