Geneva Academy
3 December 2018
We co-organized on 29 November 2018 with the BCHR-network a consultation for the United Nations (UN) Working Group on Business and Human Rights (UN Working Group) to inform their new project on business in conflict and post-conflict settings.
This UN Working Group’s new project will look at the implementation of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) in conflict and post-conflict settings by identifying and clarifying policy options and best practices for states and businesses along the conflict cycle. Following research and consultations throughout 2019, the results and recommendations will be presented at the Human Rights Council in June 2020.
Anita Ramasastry, a member of the UN Working Group, presented this project and discussed with some 45 international experts the research components and potential contributions that may help inform the project.

The Geneva Academy will provide inputs and guidance to the UN Working Group on the implementation of the UNGPs in conflict and post-conflict settings.
‘This new project is an opportunity for us to share our work and expertise in the classification of armed conflicts and in the human rights obligations of non-state actors and therefore contribute to addressing the issue of business in conflict and post-conflict settings’ stresses Felix Kirchmeier, Coordinator of the Geneva Human Rights Platform.
‘Our expertise in transitional justice could also help the UN Working Group to look at the role of business throughout the entire conflict cycle’ he adds.
The Geneva Academy already collaborates with the UN Working Group on the gender dimension of the UNGPs.
‘It’s important for us to accompany the UN Working Group when it addresses issues that are in our areas of expertise, like we do now on gender and will do with this new project on business in conflict and post-conflict settings’ explains Felix Kirchmeier.
News
Geneva Academy
Francesca Gortan, Sarah Surget and Sophie Timmermans will represent the Geneva Academy at the 38th Edition of the Jean-Pictet Competition that will take place from 19 to 26 March in Durrës, Albania.
News
Geneva Academy
While applications with a scholarship for our LLM in International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights and MAS in Transitional Justice, Human Rights and the Rule of Law just closed, interested candidates can still apply until 25 February without a scholarship.
Short Course
ICRC
This short course examines the conduct of hostilities in situations of international armed conflict, also known as the Law of The Hague.
Short Course
ICRC
This short course, which can be followed in Geneva or online, focuses on the specific issues that arise in times of armed conflict regarding the respect, protection and fulfilment of human rights. It addresses key issues like the applicability of human rights in times of armed conflict; the possibilities of restricting human rights under systems of limitations and derogations; and the extraterritorial application of human rights law.
Project
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.
Project
UN Photo
This research aims at taking stock of and contributing to a better understanding of the above-mentioned challenges to the principle of universality of human rights while also questioning their validity. It will identify relevant political and legal arguments and develop counter-narratives that could be instrumental to dealing with and/or overcoming the polarization of negotiations processes at the multilateral level.
Publication