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.
The 2025 Latsis Symposium on Science for Global Development and Humanitarian Action, organized by ETH for Development, gave prominent space to human rights issues.
Geneva Academy
The Geneva Human Rights Platform has taken its work on strengthening the international human rights system to the heart of European policymaking.
UN Photo / Jean-Marc Ferré
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.
The Geneva Human Rights Platform contributes to this review process by providing expert input via different avenues, by facilitating dialogue on the review among various stakeholders, as well as by accompanying the development of a follow-up resolution to 68/268 in New York and in Geneva.
ICRC
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.