We use various third-party cookies to provide social media features and to analyze our traffic. Please use the options below to manage your cookie settings. You can change your cookie settings at any time. Please be aware, if you deny cookies, certain features of our website may not work.
This will apply to all services
Google Analytics
YouTube
Adobe>
11 December 2023
Our new Research Brief Parameters for a Global Helpdesk on Business and Human Rights, published with the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, discusses the proposal to establish a global helpdesk on business and human rights at the Office of the United Nations (UN) High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). The author – Stefania Di Stefano, Project Officer at our Geneva Human Rights Platform – unpacks the potential of this initiative, but also the risks and challenges that it may face.
‘The helpdesk proposal was first articulated by the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights in its Roadmap for the Next Decade of Business and Human Rights. While an interesting capacity-building measure to ensure implementation of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, its efficiency and credibility will rely on a number of parameters that I address in my paper’ underlines Stefania Di Stefano.
Geneva Academy
Geneva Academy
The paper examines the main risks and challenges related to the establishment of this helpdesk – its positioning, audience, complementarity with regional and national initiatives, ‘cosmetic compliance’, funding, human resources and information management – and makes proposals to address them.
‘By responding to these questions, we will ensure that, if established, this helpdesk will significantly contribute to building business capacity on UNGPs’ implementation and will respond to their requests for guidance in human rights implementation’ explains Stefania Di Stefano.
This paper was released during the UN Forum on Business and Human Rights and will be discussed in early 2024 at an event co-organized between our Geneva Human Rights Platform and the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung.
News
Geneva Academy
Sixteen diplomats from fifteen Small Island Developing States and Least Developed Countries participated in a two-day Practical Training on Human Rights Council Procedures.
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.
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.
Event
Wikimedia
This evening dialogue will present the publication: International Human Rights Law: A Treatise, Cambridge University Press (2025).
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
Adobe
To unpack the challenges raised by artificial intelligence, this project will target two emerging and under-researched areas: digital military technologies and neurotechnology.
Project
Publication
