Human Rights Conversations
UN Photo
Virtual Side Event to the 46th Session of the UN Human Rights Council
At this side event, John Pace, Secretary of the former United Nations (UN) Commission on Human Rights will present his recent OUP book The United Nations Commission on Human Rights, a Very Great Enterprise, which provides a detailed account of the work of the Commission to the UN Human Rights Council (HRC), from 1946 to 2019.
Starting from this input, panelists will discuss the lessons learned from the Commission that are useful in terms of the HRC functioning, including for the 2021–2026 status review by the UN General Assembly (UNGA).
One issue in this review is the proposal to reconstitute the Council from a UNGA body to a Charter body in which all States (contrary to the current 47) participate equally. Panelists will discuss whether is it time to move to a Charter body or else to enhance the connectivity between the HRC and UN treaty bodies (TBs). They will also address how the results of the HRC own efficiency process weigh in on those questions.
In a more immediate manner, panelists will also look at the functioning of the Universal Periodic Review – the next cycle will start in 2022 and while this mechanism surely was a great achievement in the HRC creation, it might be time to evaluate how to enhance its impact and use, for example by strengthening the links to the independent expertise provided by UN Special Rapporteurs and the TB system.
Human Rights Conversations are a series of events, hosted by the Geneva Human Rights Platform, aimed at discussing contemporary issues and challenges related to the promotion and protection of human rights in Geneva and beyond.
Geneva Academy
The GHRP’s annual training equipped 19 diplomats with key insights into the UN Human Rights Council’s mechanisms and multilateral processes.
Geneva Academy
The 2024 Annual Conference of the Geneva Human Rights Platform (GHRP), held on 5 November at Maison de la Paix, focused on the theme Human Rights System Under Pressure: A Reason to Expand Connectivity.
Adobe
This Human Rights Conversation will highlight the significance of academic freedom, explore its legal foundations, and examine the concrete threats it faces.
Participants in this training course will be introduced to the major international and regional instruments for the promotion of human rights, as well as international environmental law and its implementation and enforcement mechanisms.
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.
CCPR Centre
The Geneva Human Rights Platform collaborates with a series of actors to reflect on the implementation of international human rights norms at the local level and propose solutions to improve uptake of recommendations and decisions taken by Geneva-based human rights bodies at the local level.
Paolo Margari
This research aims at mainstreaming the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment and the protection it affords in the work of the UN Human Rights Council, its Special Procedures and Universal Periodic Review, as well as in the work of the UN General Assembly and UN treaty bodies.
Geneva Academy