6 February 2023, 13:15-14:45
Register start 19 January 2023
Register end 3 February 2023
Human Rights Conversations
UN Women/Ryan Brown
Children may engage in the work of United Nations (UN) human rights mechanisms in a variety of ways – largely through consultative, collaborative or child-led approaches - both at the international and national levels.
The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) is the only UN mechanism that has developed working methods to support children’s participation as it regularly includes children in its day-to-day work, including throughout CRC sessions as well as during CRC Days of General Discussion.
Over the last decade, there has been a gradual increase of opportunities for child participation across the UN system, notably through ongoing advocacy from civil society and other national actors, including ombudspersons for children. Such spaces today include the UN Human Rights Council annual day on the rights of the child, UPR pre-sessions, the UN General Assembly (UNGA) high-level weeks, UNGA Third Committee discussions and, more broadly, the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development and the UN Security Council. Furthermore, online modalities have significantly increased possibilities for children to contribute directly to such meetings.
The upcoming UN Guidance Note on Child Mainstreaming (2023) and the multi-stakeholder process leading to its adoption – including UN agencies, civil society and children – regards child participation as an essential element of the child rights approach that needs to be mainstreamed across the UN.
How to move beyond the current ad-hoc approach to child participation in the work of UN human rights mechanisms? What strategies can be adopted to institutionalise child participation in such processes, moving away from today’s reliance on individual organizations or UN representatives’ initiatives? What are the expectations and barriers encountered by children in accessing the UN human rights system? Finally, what is the outlook on ensuring a coherent UN-wide policy framework on child participation?
This Human Rights Conversation – co-organized with Child Rights Connect – will focus on responding to the above questions, through a panel inclusive of national and international experts as well as children and youth representatives engaged in UN human rights monitoring and reporting.
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 – co-organized with Child Rights Connect, discussed child participation in the work of UN human rights mechanisms and opportunities to move away from today’s reliance on individual organizations or UN representatives’ initiatives.
Via its DHRTTDs Directory, the Geneva Human Rights Platform provides a comprehensive list and description of such key tools and databases. But how to navigate them? Which tool should be used for what, and by whom? This interview helps us understand better the specificities of the new highlight of the directory: UPR Info's Database
Adobe
Our new Research Brief discusses the proposal to establish a global helpdesk on business and human rights at the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
CIEL
Organized by the Geneva Human Rights Platform in co-operation with Center for International Environmental Law this event will explore the significance of this ruling by the European Court of Human Rights.
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.
Adobe
Participants in this training course, made of two modules, will examine the major international and regional instruments for the promotion of human rights and the environment, familiarizing themselves with the respective implementation and enforcement mechanisms.
Adobe
This initiative wishes to contribute to better and more coordinated implementation, reporting and follow-up of international human rights recommendations through a global study on digital human rights tracking tools and databases.
Victoria Pickering
This project aims at providing support to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and of Association Clément Voulé by addressing emerging issues affecting civic space and eveloping tools and materials allowing various stakeholders to promote and defend civic space.
Geneva Academy
Geneva Academy