Sustainable Development - The Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights

Christophe Golay

Senior Research Fellow

Areas of expertise

International Human Rights Law / Economic, Social and Cultural Rights / Extraterritoriality / Right to Food / Food Sustainability / Rights of Peasants / Non-Discrimination / UN Human Rights Mechanisms / Access to Justice / Human Rights and Development

Dr. Christophe Golay is Senior Research Fellow at the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights.

His expertise and more than 80 publications relate to the right to food, peasants’ rights, the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment, human rights and sustainable development, the fight against hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition with human-rights based approaches, and the United Nations (UN) human rights bodies.

Since 2009, Dr. Golay has been providing legal advice in relation to the elaboration and implementation of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas (UNDROP).

Between 2015 and 2022, he supervised the legal dimension of two research projects on the right to food in Bolivia, Cambodia, Ghana and Kenya, jointly funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation.

From 2001 to 2008, he was legal adviser to the first UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food and undertook missions with the UN in Brazil, Guatemala, Bolivia, Cuba, Niger, Ethiopia, Bangladesh, India and Palestine.

Dr Golay holds a PhD in International Relations (with a specialization in International Law) and a double Master’s in International Law and International Relations from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies.

The Right to Food in Europe

This research will provide legal expertise to a variety of stakeholders on the implementation of the right to food, and on the right to food as a legal basis for just transformation toward sustainable food systems in Europe. It will also identify lessons learned from the 2023 recognition of the right to food in the Constitution of the Canton of Geneva.

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

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.

The Right to Seeds in Europe

The project will notably identify the main opportunities and obstacles to protect the right to seeds in Europe. It will also discuss how to promote changes in European laws, policies and trade agreements to ensure that they do not infringe, but facilitate the realization of peasants’ right to seeds.

The Rights of Peasants

After having provided academic support to the negotiation of the UN Declaration for ten years, this research project focuses on the implementation of the UN Declaration on the rights of peasants and other people working in rural areas.