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20 April 2021
The Geneva Human Rights Platform (GHRP) is collaborating with the Centre for Human Rights at the University of Pretoria and the Office of the United Nations (UN) High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in the development of an online database aimed at assessing the impact of the UN human rights treaty body (TB) system.
The ‘Impact Database 2020+' will be an open-access, online database that allows interested parties worldwide to have access to core sources – documents available in the UN system or at the domestic level – that provide evidence of the direct impact of UN human rights treaties and of decisions taken by the related UN TBs. ‘Impact database 2020 +’ will thus serve as a ‘first-stop shop’ for those who wish to obtain the full picture of impact globally, or on any particular subject, country or geographical area.
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This database will constitute an essential tool for all domestic stakeholders working with UN TBs, including civil society organizations and academics. Their direct input to the database and the resulting data made available in digital format are expected to increase domestic ownership of TB processes as well as strengthening the monitoring and follow-up of TBs’ recommendations by all stakeholders of the system.
Centre for Human Rights at the University of Pretoria
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In 2021, the research team will develop a network of core partner universities – around 50 with one per country –, which will act as national focal points for the database. Throughout the year, selected national focal points/partner universities will be trained on how to collect ‘country documentation’.
Clinical groups at leading universities such as Harvard, the Geneva Academy, Bristol and others have already started to participate by collecting such information.
At the Geneva Academy, a team of students from the LLM programme is already working on the identification of TB impact in a number of selected countries, under the supervision of Dr Domenico Zipoli and the GHRP team. Furthermore, 20 contacts have already been established through an edited book initiative led by Professors Christof Heyns, Frans Viljoen and Rachel Murray on the impact of the UN human rights treaty system on the domestic level (forthcoming, 2021).
CCPR Centre
Geneva Academy
Applications for the 2024–2025 academic year of our LLM in International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights are open. They will run until 26 January 2024 for applications with a scholarship and until 24 February 2024 for applications without a scholarship.
Geneva Academy
This landmark event of our Geneva Human Rights Platform focused on the need to bridge the gap between Geneva-based human rights mechanisms and the UN in New York, based on the interrelated nature of human rights issues across both cities.
CCPR Centre
This discussion will look into election processes for UN TBs, the impact of Feminist Foreign Policy on this process, what can we learn from fellow international mechanisms, as well as the inclusion of a vetting process.
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.
UN Photo
This online short course analyses the main international and regional norms governing the international protection of refugees. It notably examines the sources of international refugee law, including the 1951 Geneva Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, and their interaction with human rights law and international humanitarian law.
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.
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