The Global Compact on Refugees: A Step Towards Mending a Broken System
In September 2016, the General Assembly convened the first-ever high level summit on refugees and migrants. Heads of State met against a background of crisis: 65 million people displaced; seemingly...
The Soviet Legacy and Current Human Rights Debates
A recent post by Steven Jensen has suggested that a model of ‘generations of rights’ – civil and political rights; economic, social, and cultural rights; and collective or solidarity rights...
Understanding Indigenous Peoples’ Rights: Collective or Individual?
Earlier this month, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visited Mexico in an attempt to build upon the commercial ties between the two nations. While Canada has championed the promotion of...
Negotiating for Change in Climate Change
Last month, leaders from around the world gathered in New York for the 72nd Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). The Paris Agreement dominated high-level discussions, a poignant...
CEDAW Committee General Recommendation on Violence against Women Updated
In July 2017, the CEDAW Committee released a new General Recommendation (No. 35) on Violence Against Women (VAW), 25 years after the first on the topic, General Recommendation No.19. This...
The World Day Against Trafficking in Persons
July 30th marked the UN’s fourth annual World Day Against Trafficking in Persons, which seeks to increase awareness of human trafficking as a serious crime and human rights violation. Traffickers...
Fact-Finding and the Rohingya Community
In March of this year, the Human Rights Council (HRC) unanimously adopted a resolution concerning the Myanmar Government’s treatment of its Rohingya minority, which declared an imminent need to dispatch...
Reframing the Agenda, Repurposing the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights In Support Of Regime Change in Weak Governance Zones
The governance gap – the gap between where law extends compared to where business activity goes – was a driving force behind the creation of the Guiding Principles on Business...
Preserving Evidence of ISIL Atrocities: The International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism
On 21 December 2016, the UN General Assembly adopted Resolution 71/248, establishing an ‘International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism to Assist in the Investigation and Prosecution of Those Responsible for the...
UN Committee Condemns Australia’s Punitive Asylum Policy
On 23 June 2017, the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights adopted its concluding observations on the fifth periodic report of Australia on its implementation of the International...
Utilising The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea To Resolve the Pacific Islands Predicament
Island nations located in the midst of the Pacific Ocean unfortunately find themselves at the frontline in the global battle against climate change. The survival of the Islanders and the...
The New UN General Comment And Privatisation, Part 2: Can States Entirely Privatise The Delivery Of Essential Services?
Two weeks ago, the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) published the much-awaited new General Comment 24 – an authoritative interpretation of international human rights law –...
