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11 December 2023
Our new Research Brief Parameters for a Global Helpdesk on Business and Human Rights, published with the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, discusses the proposal to establish a global helpdesk on business and human rights at the Office of the United Nations (UN) High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). The author – Stefania Di Stefano, Project Officer at our Geneva Human Rights Platform – unpacks the potential of this initiative, but also the risks and challenges that it may face.
‘The helpdesk proposal was first articulated by the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights in its Roadmap for the Next Decade of Business and Human Rights. While an interesting capacity-building measure to ensure implementation of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, its efficiency and credibility will rely on a number of parameters that I address in my paper’ underlines Stefania Di Stefano.
Geneva Academy
Geneva Academy
The paper examines the main risks and challenges related to the establishment of this helpdesk – its positioning, audience, complementarity with regional and national initiatives, ‘cosmetic compliance’, funding, human resources and information management – and makes proposals to address them.
‘By responding to these questions, we will ensure that, if established, this helpdesk will significantly contribute to building business capacity on UNGPs’ implementation and will respond to their requests for guidance in human rights implementation’ explains Stefania Di Stefano.
This paper was released during the UN Forum on Business and Human Rights and will be discussed in early 2024 at an event co-organized between our Geneva Human Rights Platform and the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung.
ITU
Our event brought together human rights practitioners, data scientists, and AI experts to explore how artificial intelligence can support efforts to monitor human rights and the Sustainable Development Goals.
ECHR
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 current highlight of the directory: ECHR Knowledge Sharing Platform
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This side event will bring together stakeholders to discuss the growing concerning recurrence to short-term enforced disappearances worldwide, and the challenges they pose for victims and accountability.
Wikimedia
This evening dialogue will present the publication: International Human Rights Law: A Treatise, Cambridge University Press (2025).
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 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.
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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.
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.