2024 Conference: Human Rights System under pressure: a reason to expand connectivity
The 2024 Annual Conference focused on the on the connectivity between the manifold policy areas addressed in Geneva, in their human rights dimensions. To this end, panels were co-organized with sister Platforms and specific organizations on the human rights aspects in various policy areas.
The human rights system is currently facing unprecedented pressure. A financial crisis threatens the functionality of UN human rights bodies, with significant implications for the work carried out by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. Additionally, the deteriorating global situation is creating or intensifying human rights crises, while political support for human rights continues to wane, leading to a growing perception that the UN Human Rights System is failing to deliver on its promises in specific country contexts.
Despite the challenges, human rights remain the guiding principles that unite humanity and offer a path through the current crises, as recently emphasized by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. In these turbulent times, the interconnections between human rights and various policy areas are becoming increasingly evident, including global health, internet governance and new technologies, environmental issues, and climate change.
As human rights intersect with a wide range of policy domains, the Sixth Annual Conference of the Geneva Human Rights Platform focused on these connections. The conference explored how the strength and potential of human rights can be harnessed to benefit the work of other actors, even those who may not traditionally view human rights protection as their primary mission.
A panel with high-level representatives of UN Agencies and Programs present in Geneva concluded the conference forging alliances to enhance collaborations in the future.
2023 Conference: Strengthening Geneva-New York Human Rights Interconnectedness
The 2023 Annual Conference – held in New York – focused on the need to bridge the gap between Geneva-based human rights mechanisms and the United Nations (UN) in New York, based on the interrelated nature of human rights issues across both cities.
Four distinct panel discussions – organized with a broad range of partners – focused on the connectivity of the human rights debates that take place in both cities to strengthen the toolbox for networked multilateralism, and a strengthened role for human rights in the UN peace and security architecture. These addressed the practice and role of UN treaty bodies in international law-making, cooperation between Geneva and New York for the protection of children in armed conflict and from other forms of violence, UN accountability mechanisms, and the connectivity between the UN Human Rights Council and UN General Assembly Third Committee.
These were complemented by an informal briefing to members of the UN Security Council on the links between Geneva-based UN human rights mechanisms and the UN peace and security architecture, focusing on the substantive inputs that the human rights system can provide to NYC-centered debates.
2022 Conference: Implications of Digital Connectivity on Human Rights
The 2022 Annual Conference – in Geneva and online – addressed the issue of digital connectivity in the field of human rights via an expert meeting in the morning and a public discussion in the afternoon. Participants notably looked at digital connections by and among mechanisms within the human rights system, but also at the substantive impacts of digitalization.
The morning expert roundtable brought together representatives of 15 different governments, international organizations and civil society organizations that manage innovative digital human rights tracking tools and databases. The afternoon’s public segment addressed – via two panels – the impact of digitalization on human rights, the implications of being ON and OFF the grid, and the role of UN human rights mechanisms.
2021 Conference: Connectivity between Global and National Human Rights Mechanisms and Actors
The 2021 Annual Conference addressed the connectivity between UN and national human rights mechanisms and actors and discussed the crucial links between national human rights actors and Geneva-based international mechanisms.
With over 500 registered participants in Geneva and online and 24 partners – including the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, UN-Habitat, the EU Fundamental Rights Agency, renowned academic institutions, major international NGOs and fellow Geneva-based platforms – the conference’s sessions focused on the capacity of domestic actors to mutually engage with each other and liaise with Geneva-based international human rights bodies in the context of implementation, monitoring and follow-up to UN human rights recommendations.
2020 Conference: Connectivity between Global and Regional Human Rights Mechanisms
The 2020 Annual Conference addressed the connectivity between regional and global human rights mechanisms.
In plenary panels and dedicated working-groups participants – experts, practitioners, diplomats, civil society representatives, members of global and regional human rights mechanisms, as well as the staff of international organizations – notably discussed the overall effectiveness of these interactions, including in a number of specific policy areas like climate change, the fight against corruption or the COVID-19 pandemic.
2019 Conference: The Connectivity of Human Rights Mechanisms
During one day, more than 100 experts, practitioners, academics, diplomats and representatives of NGOs, international organizations and National Human Rights Institutions discussed and debated the connectivity of human rights mechanisms during the first Annual Conference of the Geneva Human Rights Platform.
The conference’s four panels have been organized with a wide range of partners, including civil society organizations, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and academic institutions.
