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
1 December 2021, 10:00-11:30
Register start 19 November 2021
Register end 30 November 2021
Human Rights Conversations
chrissie kremer, Unplash
Universality – i.e. the notion that international human rights law protects all individuals worldwide – has been a key principle of that legal framework since it was enshrined in the preamble of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. However, neither states nor scholars have ever ceased challenging this principle, on both normative and political grounds.
An ongoing research project at the Geneva Academy aims at taking stock of and contributing to a better understanding of the various criticisms while also questioning their validity. From a thematic perspective, it notably focuses on the relevant practice and associated discourse, in multilateral fora, around minority issues.
Ahead of the Fourteenth Session of the Forum on Minority Issues, and forming an integral part of the above-mentioned research project, this Human Rights Conversation thus aims at exploring how measures aimed at the effective protection of minorities and vulnerable groups could take into consideration the seemingly competing narratives between collective rights (the so-called 3rd generation of human rights) and individual rights. In other words, panelists will reflect on the principle of universality of human rights – and associated challenges – in specific relation to the advancement of minority issues at the United Nations.
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.
This Human Rights Conversation discussed how measures aimed at the effective protection of minorities and vulnerable groups could take into consideration the seemingly competing narratives between collective rights (the so-called 3rd generation of human rights) and individual rights. Panelists notably reflected on the principle of universality of human rights – and associated challenges – in specific relation to the advancement of minority issues at the UN.
News
Geneva Academy
The Geneva Human Rights Platform contributed to key discussions on AI, human rights, and sustainable digital governance at the World Economic Forum 2025.
News
Adobe
Our recent research brief series explores how the United Nations' human rights system can enhance its role in early warning and conflict prevention.
Training
Adobe
This training course will examine how the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights have been utilized to advance the concept of business respect for human rights throughout the UN system, the impact of the Guiding Principles on other international organizations, as well as the impact of standards and guidance developed by these different bodies.
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
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.
Project
Publication
Geneva Academy
