Olivier Chamard / Geneva Academy
Launched in 2014 and now fully integrated in the Geneva Human Rights Platform, the Treaty Body Members Platform (TBMP) connects experts in United Nations (UN) treaty bodies (TBs) with each other as well as with Geneva-based practitioners, academics and diplomats to share expertise, exchange views on topical questions and develop synergies.
Around ten meetings are organized every year allowing peer exchanges among UN TBs experts, as well as discussions with other Geneva-based actors on issues of common concern.
Activities of the TBMP in 2018 included discussions on the harmonization of TBs, exchanges among peers and with external experts and other institutions on thematic issues, and briefings on the 2020 review of TBs by the UN General Assembly.
In collaboration with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), several workshops involving members of all TBs addressed key harmonization issues like the simplified reporting procedure and the handling of individual communications.
‘These workshops allowed TBs members to share best practices and procedures and to identify avenues for the harmonization of their working methods’ underlines Felix Kirchmeier, Coordinator of the Geneva Human Rights Platform.
In 2018, experts from all TBs – the Human Rights Committee, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, the Committee on Enforced Disappearances, the Committee on the Rights of the Child, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, the Committee against Torture, the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families – discussed a range of issues among themselves as well as with external experts and practitioners, including staff of the World Health Organization, Geneva-based NGOs or members of other mechanisms, like the UN Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
‘These exchanges notably addressed a human rights-based approach to fight corruption, the right of indigenous peoples to free, prior, and informed consent, how to address ‘harmful practices’ and the right to life as part of the drafting of General Comment No 36 on article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights’ explains Felix Kirchmeier.
Several meetings, including specific briefings during the various Committees’ session and a discussion during the Chairpersons’ meeting in New York, also allowed UN TB members to be informed and reflect upon the ongoing discussions towards the 2020 TB Review by the General Assembly.
Our Senior Researcher Alice Priddy presented our research project on disability in armed conflict to the members of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
Olivier Chamard / Geneva Academy
Our annual seminar, held in the context of the Geneva Human Rights Platform and its focus on current human rights challenges related to the use of force, will discuss the use of less-lethal weapons in the context of law enforcement, management of assemblies and crowd control.
Óglaigh na hÉireann
This IHL Talk will discuss the legal framework and the main critical questions related to search and rescue in the Mediterranean Sea, using concrete cases and examples to illustrate current issues and challenges.
ICRC
Truth Commissions are by now an integral part of the transitional justice vocabulary and practice. The 2019 Spring School will provide a comprehensive, multidimensional and practical examination of this transitional justice mechanism, shedding light on both its aims and the practical challenges it has met or is likely to meet.
UNEP
This training course provides participants with a deep understanding of the international legal framework for the protection of human rights and the environment as well as in-depth knowledge of how to promote environmental protection through existing human rights mechanisms. The 2019 edition will dedicate special attention to plastic pollution.
Adam Cohn
This research project, aims via the drafting of a practitioners’ guide on human rights and countering corruption, to clarify the conceptual relationship between human rights, good governance and anticorruption, demonstrate the negative impact of corruption on human rights and provide guidance and make practical recommendations for effectively using the UN human rights system in anti-corruption efforts.
Sandra Pointet / Geneva Academy
The digital age offers unique opportunities to strengthen human rights implementation and monitoring and has transformed the means through which human rights are exercised. Equally, the digital age poses unique challenges in ensuring that states and businesses respect and protect our rights in the digital forum. The full extent of the human rights implications of the digital age remain unknown.