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
Raising the fight against corruption to the top of the international agenda: A proposal for a new Optional Protocol to the ICESCR
by Marc Limon, Executive Director of the Universal Rights Group
The collapse of democracy is Afghanistan, after 20 years and billions of dollars of international engagement; the collapse of democracy in Myanmar following February’s coup d’état and ouster of Aung San Suu Kyi; the collapse of democracy in Sudan following October’s coup d’état and the detention of the civilian government. What do each of these salutary tales of democratic roll-back and international human rights failure have in common? In a word: corruption. Corruption was the cause of the precipitate collapse of democratic government in Afghanistan and the fall of Kabul, and was the primary motivating factor of the army chiefs…
previous URG Insights
Making it real: Why members of the Human Rights Council should make use of their power to conduct ‘good offices’ missions
by Marc Limon, Executive Director of the Universal Rights Group
From 23-25 October, members of the Security Council carried out country missions to Mali and Niger, under the auspices of the Kenyan presidency of the body. In Mali, they met with members of the Transitional Government, including the Transitional President and Prime Minister, signatory armed groups, representatives of civil society, the Special Representative of the Secretary‑General for Mali, and representatives of the UN country team. Members of the Council used the mission to reiterate the body’s strong support for the mediation efforts of the Economic Community of West African States and the African Union, and urge authorities to complete the…
Report of the 32nd Special Session of the Human Rights Council on the human rights implications of the ongoing situation in the Sudan
by the URG team
On Friday 5 November 2021, the Human Rights Council convened a Special Session to address the ‘human rights implications of the ongoing situation in the Sudan’. The Special Session was requested via an official letter dated 1 November 2021 and signed by H.E. Simon Manley, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom to the UN in Geneva. This letter, addressed to H.E. Nazhat Shameem Khan, the President of the Human Rights Council, was jointly submitted by the ’troika of countries on the Sudan’ (United Kingdom, United States of America, and Norway), Germany and the Government of the Sudan. The…
Cop 26 and Beyond: A Human Rights-Based Response to Climate Change and Scotland’s Contribution
by Professor Alan Miller, Professor of Practice in Human Rights Law at the University of Strathclyde
Introduction The science and living experience of climate change is no longer for debate. Its current and future impact upon our lives, livelihoods and ways of life represent the greatest 21st Century threat to the enjoyment of human rights. The UN Secretary-General is right to state we are at "Code Red" for humanity. There is hope and it needs COP 26 to signal a leadership of both humility and ambition. The best way to bring this about at and beyond COP 26 is through increased public participation and accountability. Systemic and transformative change is required. Business as usual is unsustainable.…
Superpower rivalry ‘captures’ the Human Rights Council
by Marc Limon, Executive Director of the Universal Rights Group
As argued in the Universal Rights Group’s end of session report, the recently concluded 48th session of the Human Rights Council (HRC48) was one of the most acrimonious gatherings in the fifteen-year history of the Council, with heightened contemporary geopolitical tensions spilling over into, and in many ways ‘capturing,’ the critical wider work of the UN’s main human rights body. Much of the acrimony was centred on, and much of the growing division generated by, the ‘Great Power’ rivalry of, on the one side, the US, together with its Western (especially Anglo-Saxon) allies, and on the other side, China, Russia,…
latest policy report
The seventh Glion Human Rights Dialogue (Glion VII), organised by the Governments of Switzerland and Liechtenstein, and the Universal Rights Group (URG), in partnership with the…
previous policy reports
Building a coherent Human Rights Council-Security Council relationship - The prevention of human rights crises, violent conflict and atrocity crimes
In her first address to the United Nations General Assembly’s (UNGA) Third Committee as High Commissioner for Human Rights in 2018, Michelle Bachelet urged States…#The time is now - The case for universal recognition of the right to a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment
This new policy report tells the story of international discussions on human rights and environment, human rights and climate change, and the push for the right…OSLO+Digital – International support for the national implementation of UN human rights recommendations, including as a contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals during the COVID-19 pandemic
On 9 and 10 June 2020, the Permanent Missions of Denmark and The Netherlands to the UN in Geneva, in cooperation with the Universal Rights…URG next event
Building capacities to help environmental human rights defenders in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean find and access support
By invitation only
The Universal Rights Group in cooperation with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), and the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and the Environment - David Boyd, and with the support of the Permanent Mission of Denmark in Geneva are organising a virtual workshop, ...future events
past events
-
12 Oct 2021
-
07 Oct 2021
-
28 Sep 2021
-
31 Aug 2021
-
31 Aug 2021
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.
> View the website
