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9 December 2016, 12:30-14:30
Event
UN Photo / Pierre Albouy
The principle of human rights (HR) universality is one of the core principles defined in the mandate of the UN Human Rights Council (HRC). How does this principle articulate with other key HR concepts including equality, respect for diversity and the indivisibility and interdependence of HR?
To commemorate Human Rights Day and the 10th Anniversary of the HRC, panelists at this event will explore how the HRC has developed the concept of universality and responded to the contemporary challenges to the universal application of international HR law.
These challenges include those related to cultural relativism and to appeals to exempt states from the reach of human rights guarantees due to their particular economic or security contexts. Broader issues of universality in relation to HR work in the field and the impact and development of this concept in daily practice are also explored.
Specific examples of the HRC’s discussions in connection with counter terrorism and HR, the right to development and the rights of marginalised groups, including LGBTI persons and migrants, will be used to illustrate the ways in which the institution is approaching universality.
Dr Joanna Bourke Martignoni, Research Fellow, Geneva Academy
Professor Lyal S. Sunga, Visiting Professor, Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law
H.E. Ambassador Keith Harper, Permanent Representative of the United States of America to the UN Human Rights Council
News
ITU
Our event brought together human rights practitioners, data scientists, and AI experts to explore how artificial intelligence can support efforts to monitor human rights and the Sustainable Development Goals.
News
Geneva Academy
The Geneva Human Rights Platform has taken its work on strengthening the international human rights system to the heart of European policymaking.
Event
Wikimedia
This evening dialogue will present the publication: International Human Rights Law: A Treatise, Cambridge University Press (2025).
Event
Adobe Stock
This side event will bring together stakeholders to discuss the growing concerning recurrence to short-term enforced disappearances worldwide, and the challenges they pose for victims and accountability.
Training
UN Photo / Jean-Marc Ferré
This training course will explore the origin and evolution of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) and its functioning in Geneva and will focus on the nature of implementation of the UPR recommendations at the national level.
Training
Adobe
This training course, specifically designed for staff of city and regional governments, will explore the means and mechanisms through which local and regional governments can interact with and integrate the recommendations of international human rights bodies in their concrete work at the local level.
Project
The Geneva Human Rights Platform contributes to this review process by providing expert input via different avenues, by facilitating dialogue on the review among various stakeholders, as well as by accompanying the development of a follow-up resolution to 68/268 in New York and in Geneva.
Project
Victoria Pickering
This project aims at providing support to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and of Association Clément Voulé by addressing emerging issues affecting civic space and eveloping tools and materials allowing various stakeholders to promote and defend civic space.
Publication
