Over the past seventy years, United Nations (UN) member States have elaborated and adopted eight ‘core’ international human rights treaties. Together with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, these conventions provide the normative and legal backbone of the UN human rights system. Since their adoption, the number of States choosing to ratify and thus become Party to those treaties has …
Commentary on the worldwide human rights situation is often characterised by assertions of an unfolding human rights crisis in much of the developing world, and back-sliding in some of the world’s major democracies. Clearly human rights violations are far too commonplace in all parts of the world, and we have a long way to go to realise the vision set …
On 9th and 10th January 2019, the Universal Rights Group, with the support of the Federal Republic of Germany and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Tunisia, convened a regional workshop on ‘lifting religion-based reservations to the core international human rights conventions as a means of strengthening women’s rights at national level, and the role of women’s rights advocacy groups …
Between 2021 and 2026, the General Assembly (GA) is scheduled to consider the question of the status of the Human Rights Council (Council), i.e. whether it should remain a subsidiary body or become a main body of the United Nations (UN). Although the GA has not formally requested the Council to conduct a review of its work and functioning in …
‘The Human Rights Council in 2018’ report aims to provide, inter alia: A written analysis of the main events and development at the Council in 2018. Data on the quantitative evolution of the Council’s work in 2018, as well as since the body’s establishment in 2006. This includes the number of resolutions adopted; the number of voted resolutions; the number …
This new policy brief, published by the URG and the Commonwealth secretariat, is the second in a new series of URG publications exploring how universal human rights standards are translated, through the actions of governments, parliaments, national human rights institutions and NGOs, in some cases with the support of development partners , into on-the-ground improvements in the enjoyment of human rights. This second report explores …
Durante el 8 y el 9 de noviembre de 2017, Universal Rights Group América Latina, el Relator Especial de las Naciones Unidas para el Medio Ambiente y los Derechos Humanos, el Profesor John Knox, y la Unión Internacional para la Conservación de la Naturaleza – Comité Nacional de Holanda, IUCN-N, realizaron en las oficinas de la Agencia de Cooperación de …
This is the first in a new series of policy reports exploring how universal human rights standards are translated, through the actions of governments, parliaments, national human rights institutions and NGOs, in some cases with the support of development partners, into on-the-ground improvements in the enjoyment of human rights. This first report explores the role of multilateral and bilateral development …
The fifth Glion Human Rights Dialogue (Glion V), held in Chardonne, Switzerland, from 30-31 May 2018, considered the place of human rights in a modern, reformed United Nations. In particular, the Glion V retreat and its preparatory policy dialogues, looked at the human rights implications, of the ongoing UN reform process, launched in 2017 by the Secretary-General, António Guterres; and the parallel efforts of …
Corruption, especially grand corruption, has enormous implications, both direct and indirect, for the enjoyment of human rights. Corruption undermines – perhaps even violates – a wide array of economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development. Where governments fail to respect and protect civil and political rights, it in turn creates governance conditions in which corruption can thrive. …
