27 May 2020, 15:00-16:30
Right On
Diplo Foundation
The elderly are amongst the most affected groups by COVID-19. Not only do they face a higher threat to their rights to life and health, but also prevention and response-related decisions can deepen their social isolation. Unless their voices and views are taken into account, their ability to exercise their autonomy and rights might be compromised.
The social perception that COVID-19 is a disease that impacts the elderly exacerbates negative stereotypes about older persons who may be viewed as weak, unimportant and a burden on society. Such age-based discrimination may manifest in the provision of services because the treatment of older persons may be perceived as less important than the treatment of younger generations. Stigma and discrimination can be further aggravated in a context where older persons have been frequently overlooked in development and humanitarian strategies, and in their funding.
Considering the higher risks confronted by older persons in the COVID-19 pandemic, development and humanitarian strategies must explicitly identify and consider their needs, challenges and strengths at all levels and in all settings.
Join us online to discuss the protection of the rights of older persons during the COVID-19 pandemic.
To join the discussion, you need to register here.
‘Right On’ is a new digital initiative – co-organized by the Geneva Academy, the Geneva Human Rights Platform, the Geneva Internet Platform, the DiploFoundation, the Universal Right Group, the Human Rights Centre at the University of Essex, as well as the Permanent Missions of Denmark, Norway and the Netherlands to the United Nations in Geneva – that will keep the human rights dialogue going during these COVID-19 times.
Every Wednesday at 15:00, experts and practitioners will discuss key human rights issues related to the current health crisis.
In this online event of the ‘Right On’ digital initiative, panelists discussed the eldery during COVID-19 and how the disease exacerbates negative stereotypes about older persons who may be viewed as weak, unimportant and a burden on society.
To join the discussion, you need to register here.
Dr Amna Nazir is a Lecturer in Law and Associate Director of the Centre for Human Rights at Birmingham City University. She also holds an Editorship at Harvard Law School’s Program in Islamic Law. She just started as Visiting Fellow at the Geneva Academy, working remotely from Birmingham, and will stay with us until the end of March 2021.
Albinfo/Wikimedia Commons
Co-organized with the Counter-Terror Pro LegEm Project, the meeting examined the effectiveness of measures to prevent and counter terrorism – closure of places of worship, vague prohibitions of ‘glorification of terrorism’, stop-and-search operations – and their impact on human rights.
This online event will discuss experiences and outcomes of actions taken to promote the ratification of the International Convention for the Protection of all Persons from Enforced Disappearances.
ICRC
Through frontal lectures, complemented by interactive activities as case-studies and dialogues with practitioners, this online short course will provide a proper understanding of the rationale, structure and content of international law rules addressing the prevention, preparedness, response and recovery in the event of disasters and assess their impact for humanitarian actors, International Organisations and domestic stakeholders.
ICRC
This short course, which can be followed in Geneva or online, will provide participants with an introduction to substantive human rights law. It will start with an introduction to the nature and sources of international human rights law and its place in the international legal system. The course will then provide a presentation of the main principles applicable to substantive rights (jurisdiction, obligation and limitations).
MSF
This research aims at building a common understanding and vision as to how states and the relevant parts of the UN system can provide a concrete and practical framework to address human rights responsibilities of armed non-state actors.
CCPR Centre
Resulting from traditional legal research and informal interviews with experts, the project aims at examining how – if at all possible – IHL could be more systematically, appropriately and correctly dealt with by the human rights mechanisms emanating from the Charter of the United Nations, as well from universal and regional treaties.
Geneva Academy