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Olivier Chamard / Geneva Academy
Our Academic Platform on Treaty Body Review 2020 organizes two briefings – one for states on 14 December and one for NGOs on 7 December – to discuss proposals that are emerging from the seven regional consultations that took place in 2016-2017, informal thematic and global conferences, continued engagement with members of treaty bodies and an open call for papers.
‘These two briefings will allow us to update the diplomatic and NGO community on the development of the project and to receive feedback on emerging reform proposals that will be presented in the final report of the project in spring 2018’ underlines Felix Kirchmeier, Manager of Policy Studies at the Geneva Academy.
The United Nations (UN) human rights (HR) treaty bodies are a central pillar of the international HR protection system. They prevent HR violations by warning states about areas of concern, by advising them on durable solutions that address root causes and by adjudicating individual complaints.
Since the establishment of the first UN treaty body in 1970, both treaty ratifications and the treaty body system have expanded significantly. While this has enhanced HR protection worldwide, it has also created complex challenges that affect the system and those who interact with it: states, national HR institutions, UN entities, civil society organizations, individual complainants and rights-holders at large.
On 9 April 2014, the UN General Assembly (GA) adopted a landmark resolution (A/RES/68/268) on strengthening the treaty body system, which envisages a review of the measures taken at GA level in 2020. This review represents an opportunity to further reflect on the treaty body system’s future and develop innovative proposals and solutions without weakening the HR protection that the system currently affords.
The Geneva Academy is coordinating the academic input to this 2020 review via the creation of an academic network of independent researchers, a call for papers, a series of regional workshops, annual conferences in Geneva, as well as ongoing interactions with key stakeholders (i.e. states, UN treaty bodies, national HR institutions, civil society, UN entities and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights).
News
The adoption of the UN Declaration on the rights of peasants and other people living in rural areas is the outcome of more than ten years of work by social movements, civil society organizations, experts, and academic institutions like the Geneva Academy
News
UN Photo/Yubi Hoffmann
On 29–30 May 2018, our Manager of Policy Studies, Felix Kirchmeier, presented our publication Optimizing the UN Treaty Body System in New York to the Chairpersons of United Nations treaty bodies, diplomats and civil society representatives.
Event
UN Photo
This symposium, co-organized with the Department of International History of the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, will discuss recent and ongoing research related to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Event
UN Photo
This public lecture by Philippe Sands QC, Professor of Law, University College London, will close the public symposium on ‘The Universal Declaration of Human Rights at Seventy: Historical and Juridical Perspectives’.
Spring School
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.
Short Course
ICRC
This short course provides participants with a comprehensive introduction to both substantive human rights law as well as the functioning of international mechanisms for the protection of human rights.
Project
© ILO/ Joydeep Mukherjee
This project aims to support the UN working group’s consultation process and thus contribute the promotion and protection of human rights and gender equality in relation to the business sector via research on international human rights law and policy related to gender equality guarantees and their application to business activities, and the organization of a global conference in Geneva.
Project
Hugo Escalpelo
We are a partner of the Human Rights, Big Data and Technology Project, housed at the University of Essex’s Human Rights Centre, which aims to map and analyse the human rights challenges and opportunities presented by the use of big data and associated technologies. It notably examines whether fundamental human rights concepts and approaches need to be updated and adapted to meet the new realities of the digital age.
