Across the world, environmental human rights defenders (EHRDs) have been catalysing actions to safeguard a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment. Their work has been crucial to the protection and respect of their human rights, the rights of their communities, and, ultimately, of all people. Their work also plays a major role in protecting the planet’s flora, fauna, and ecosystems. By …
The objective of this document is to provide information about the status and scope of human rights related to the environment to States, United Nations entities, other intergovernmental organizations, civil society, and the private sector. It aims to support their efforts in achieving the effective implementation of human rights, particularly where their enjoyment depends upon the environment. This document seeks …
Universal Rights Group’s groundbreaking new policy report on national mechanisms for implementation, reporting, and follow-up (NMIRFs) addresses head-on, and for the first time, one of the great unanswered questions of the international human rights system: namely, how do States, the duty-bearers of that system, implement the recommendations they receive from the three main UN human rights mechanisms (Special Procedures, Treaty …
What were the main developments, achievements and flash-points at the Human Rights Council in 2023? What were the Council’s principle outputs and what kind of impact did the body and its mechanisms have on the on-the-ground enjoyment of human rights? Did members of the Council cooperate with the international human rights mechanisms, and with OHCHR in 2023? Does their voting …
The ninth Glion Human Rights Dialogue ( Glion IX ), organised by the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Korea to the United Nations in Geneva and the Universal Rights Group was held on 25-26 May 2023 and focused on the topic: ‘Placing new and emerging technologies at the service of human rights and democracy – what role for the Human Rights Council and its mechanisms? …
The ninth annual yourHRC.org Guide to the Human Rights Council elections provides comprehensive at-a-glance information on the 2023 Council elections (which are scheduled to take place on 10 October at the General Assembly in New York), when States from all regions will compete to win seats for new three-year membership terms (2024-2026). In particular, the Guide aims to promote transparency …
This report summarises the transatlantic dialogue on prevention organised by International Crisis Group and the Universal Rights Group, in collaboration with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on 20th February 2023.
On 11-13 April 2023, ALLIED – the Alliance for Land, Indigenous, and Environmental Defenders – brought together ALLIED members; donors; indigenous, environmental and land defenders (ILEDs); and regional and international organisations working to support ILEDs in Bogotá, Colombia, with the overarching objective of identifying pathways and strategies for increased protection for these defenders and ways to accelerate change in the …
On Friday 8 October 2021, member states of the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council (Council) moved to adopt two historic resolutions. With the first of these (Council resolution 48/13), presented by Costa Rica, Maldives, Morocco, Slovenia, and Switzerland (the core group on human rights and the environment), the Council recognised a new universal human right: the right to a …
This report reviews how the UN human rights system has taken up women’s rights, gender equality and sexual and reproductive health and rights and the degree to which these recommendations have been translated into action, with UNFPA’s support. Country examples demonstrate the impact of UNFPA’s strategic engagement with UN human rights mechanisms for advancing the rights and choices of women and girls.
