Event information

7 September 2022, 12:00-14:00
Register start 17 August 2022
Register end 6 September 2022

Downloads

Flyer >

Rethinking Human Rights Protection from the Ground Up

Event

The Phillipines,  Lanao del Norte, Iligan City: a woman's hands The Phillipines,  Lanao del Norte, Iligan City: a woman's hands

There is a consistent protection gap for survivors of torture within human rights work, with many survivors and vulnerable people who are unable, for multiple reasons, to effectively access existing national and international protection mechanisms.

  • What happens to the effectiveness of protection if we start with the perspectives of survivors of torture and ill-treatment rather than international human rights norms?
  • What are the implications of taking a more expansive approach to protection?
  • Might we understand protection differently, both in terms of mechanisms for access and the very forms of protection that are available?
  • And what lessons can we learn, in this regard, from other areas of practice, such as humanitarianism, child protection or gender-based violence?

These are some of the questions that this roundtable will address in a series of interventions from survivors, researchers, human rights activists and treaty bodies.

This roundtable – organized by the Geneva Human Rights Platform, the University of Edinburgh and DIGNITY-Danish Institute against Torture – emerges out of the research project ‘Protecting survivors of torture’ financed by the British Academy through the University of Edinburgh. The project explored protection strategies from below in Sri Lanka and Kenya, with additional analyses in Tunisia, the Philippines and Brazil. The research illustrated how often victims of torture and ill-treatment are left to their own devices and how they identify and employ strategies that are both testimonies to ingenuity as well as sometimes counter-productive.

There is therefore an urgent need to address questions around protection that do not only start with human rights frameworks but find ways to identify ways to support survivors in their struggle to stay safe.

Chair

  • Steffen Jensen, Senior Researcher, DIGNITY-Danish Institute Against Torture

Short Introduction

  • Felix Kirchmeier, Executive Director, Geneva Human Rights Platform

Setting the Scene

  • Toby Kelly, Professor of Political and Legal Anthropology, University of Edinburgh
  • Emriza Tegal, Human Rights Lawyer, Sri Lanka
  • Juliet Wanjira and Wangui Kimari, Grassroots Defender, Mathare Social Justice Centre, Kenya

The Perspective of Global Anti-Torture Mechanisms

  • Morten Olesen, Director of International Programs, DIGNITY
  • Gerald Staberock, Secretary General, World Organization against Torture
  • Ana Racu, Member, UN Committee Against Torture

Wider Perspectives on Protection

  • Robert Lewis-Lettington, Chief, Land, Housing and Shelter Section, UN-Habitat
  • Ilaria Paolazzi, Deputy Director, Child Rights Connect
  • Geneva Call (tbc)

Get Ready: Relevant Links

Draft Research Brief: The Possibilities and Limitations of Grassroots Human Rights Protection

MORE ON THIS THEMATIC AREA

neurotech image News

Research Brief Evaluates the Human Rights Implications of Neurotechnology in Therapeutic and Commercial Applications

27 March 2025

Our research brief, Neurotechnology and Human Rights: An Audit of Risks, Regulatory Challenges, and Opportunities, examines the human rights implications of neurotechnology in both therapeutic and commercial applications.

Read more

SIDS Training GHRP News

Practical Training on Human Rights Council Procedures Strengthens SIDS/LDCs Engagement

21 July 2025

Sixteen diplomats from fifteen Small Island Developing States and Least Developed Countries participated in a two-day Practical Training on Human Rights Council Procedures.

Read more

Special Rapporteur Sign Event

Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in an Era of Escalating Armed Conflict: Where Can International Human Rights Law Help?

25 September 2025, 18:30-20:00

This evening dialogue will present the publication: International Human Rights Law: A Treatise, Cambridge University Press (2025).

Read more

Enforced Disappearances Event

'Short-term' Enforced Disappearances

23 September 2025, 13:00-14:00

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.

Read more

Open dump Training

Protecting Human Rights and the Environment

15-19 September 2025

Participants in this training course will gain practical insights into UN human rights mechanisms and their role in environmental protection and learn about how to address the interplay between international human rights and environmental law, and explore environmental litigation paths.

Read more

A general view of participants during of the 33nd ordinary session of the Human Rights Council. Training

The Universal Periodic Review and the UN Human Rights System: Raising the Bar on Accountability

10-14 November 2025

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.

Read more

Plastic pollution on an Italian shore Project

Unpacking the Human Right to a Healthy Environment: Definition, Implementation and Impact

Started in January 2022

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.

Read more

George Floyd protest in Washington D.C. Project

Promoting and Protecting the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association and Civic Space Worldwide

Started in June 2020

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.

Read more

Cover of the 2023 Geneva Academy Annual Report Publication

Annual Report 2024

published on July 2025

Read more