The Missing Peace? Global-Regional Partnerships in Africa
UN peace operations have reached unprecedented levels of cost, complexity and risk – and its operational focus is clear. Nine of the 16 current UN peacekeeping missions are in Africa,...
Using the Convention Against Torture to Advance Transgender and Intersex Rights
Violence and cruelty towards LGBTQI people worldwide is still far too common, making the Convention Against Torture (CAT) an obvious tool for LGBTQI activists. However, it is less obvious that...
Human Rights Advisory Panel urges the UN to compensate Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian families for lead poisoning in IDP camps
On 8 April 2016, the Human Rights Advisory Panel (HRAP) released its long-awaited opinion in the case of N.M & others against the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo...
UNHRC Working Group on discrimination against women in law and in practice country mission to the United States
In December 2015, the UN Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and in practice (WGDAW) issued its end-of-mission statement regarding the status of women’s equality...
Ebola and Understanding Health Crises as Threats to International Security
On 14 January 2016, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared an end to the two-year Ebola outbreak in West Africa. The epidemic claimed more than 11,300 lives and infected over...
Defending Privacy on a Global Scale: The Task of the Century
Ever since Edward Snowden revealed the existence of the United States’ and other governments’ massive and indiscriminate citizen surveillance system, various actors and organizations have attempted to document, discuss and...
Including Water Security on the UN Security Council Agenda
Water is indispensable to human survival and economic production. The management of water access has thus become a focal point of tensions between and within states. With forecasts of increasing...
UN Women Panel: Progress of the World’s Women 2015 Report
On 18 November, OxHRH held a panel event for the recently released UN Women’s Progress of the World’s Women 2015-2016 Report ‘Transforming Economies, Realizing Rights’. For the first time, OxHRH...
UN Human Rights Council Adopts Belgian Resolution on Capital Punishment
On 1 October 2015, the UN Human Rights Council (‘UNHRC’) in Geneva adopted a resolution on capital punishment (‘the resolution’) drafted by Belgium. Belgium took the initiative to draft the...
Rerouting From the Treaty Road Most Travelled
The corporate entity has been described as the most effective structure for capital accumulation because it allows for the separation of ownership from management. The transnational corporation (TNC) in particular,...
Sustainable Development Goals: A Beacon of Light or Another Stumble in Global Governance?
The United Nation’s new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were adopted yesterday by the world’s leaders in a highly anticipated Summit in New York. At the end of the year, the...
Recent Developments in the UN Human Rights Council: Traditional Values and Women’s Right to Equality in the Family
In recent years at the United Nation’s Human Right’s Council (UNHRC) an ideological challenge has been directed against the universality of international human rights by a strong religious lobby. Religions...