4 March 2022, 14:00-15:30
Human Rights Conversations
UN Photo / Violaine Martin
Third World Approaches to International Law (TWAIL) is a movement encompassing scholars and practitioners of international law and policy who are concerned with issues related to the Global South in its broad conception.
While the scholarly agendas associated with TWAIL are diverse, the common themes of TWAIL’s interventions are to unpack and deconstruct the colonial legacies of international law. TWAIL is, as Makau Mutua writes: ‘a response to decolonization and the end of direct European colonial rule over non-Europeans. It basically describes a response to a condition, and is both reactive and proactive.’ Over the last twenty years, the TWAIL network has grown and flourished, encompassing thousands of people on all five continents.
This Human Rights Conversation aims at sensitising Western-centric stakeholders – both academics and practitioners active in multilateral fora – to legitimate criticism coming from the Global South through the so-called TWAIL movement. Panelists will notably discuss how to respond to theoretical arguments such as cultural relativism, which now permeate political dynamics and multilateral negotiations – making it increasingly harder to achieve (or sometimes even maintain) consensus.
To this end, this discussion will constitute an integral part of an ongoing research project at the Geneva Academy aimed at taking stock of and contributing to a better understanding of the various criticisms and tensions around the principle of universality of human rights, contrasting or reconciling different narratives.
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.
Watch this Human Rights Conversation aims at sensitising Western-centric stakeholders – both academics and practitioners active in multilateral fora – to legitimate criticism coming from the Global South through the so-called TWAIL movement.
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Our research brief 'Neurotechnology - Integrating Human Rights in Regulation' examines the human rights challenges posed by the rapid development of neurotechnology.
Geneva Academy
The Geneva Human Rights Platform hosted an expert roundtable with the theme 'Opportunities for Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in Human Rights Monitoring.'
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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.
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.
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This project addresses the human rights implications stemming from the development of neurotechnology for commercial, non-therapeutic ends, and is based on a partnership between the Geneva Academy, the Geneva University Neurocentre and the UN Human Rights Council Advisory Committee.
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.
Geneva Academy