Thematic Report – economic and social life with a focus on economic crisis
Editor’s note: The UN Human Rights Council Working Group on Discrimination against Women in Law and in Practice presented a thematic report on women’s economic and social life with a...
The Business of Traffic in Humans
Human trafficking is a complex phenomenon touching upon different legal and policy frameworks. Being first and foremost a very serious crime, its relationship with human rights law is not as...
Children Gain Access to International Justice
This week marks a major breakthrough in international justice for children. It is a turning point in a deeply personal battle of justice for children that I have fought for...
United Nations Human Rights Council: Commission of Inquiry into Human Rights Abuses in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea
On 26 March 2014 the United Nations Human Rights Council (“HRC”) passed a Resolution ‘condemning in the strongest terms’ the continuing violation of human rights and calling for the referral...
Dignifying the most vulnerable ‘in’ and ‘through’ Security Council Resolution 2139
Conflict — perhaps like no other happening — illuminates our shared vulnerability to hurt and harm of unimaginable form and depth. The legal protection of rights was born of such...
Women at work – positive obligations for positive results
The most significant change in recent decades influencing the position of women at work is the transformation of state-managed capitalism into a globally marketised, privatised, deregulated system. This is accompanied...
Women’s and children’s health: Evidence of impact of human rights
During 2011-13, I had the fortune to serve as a part-time Senior Human Rights Advisor to WHO Assistant Director-General Flavia Bustreo. The records show that the first Director-General of WHO...
Human Rights in Disputed Territories – Affixing Responsibility
“Human rights do not have any borders. It is vital to address underlying human rights issues in disputed territories, regardless of the political recognition or the legal status of a...
Equal Treatment for All…Except the Highest?
A recent resolution of Member States of the International Criminal Court (ICC) puts into question their commitment to respect the fundamental right of equality for all embedded within Article 1...
The UN Sanctions Regime Against Terrorists: Suggested Changes
The current UN sanctions regime against terrorists does not secure due process rights. Allowing the International Criminal Court to deal with these cases would be a preferable solution, as it...
Domestic Workers – The ILO Convention Comes into Force
On the 5th of September 2013, the ILO Domestic Workers Convention (C189) came into force. The adoption of the Convention and its supplementing recommendation, in June 2011, was a landmark...
Stigma and Exclusion to Rights and Dignity: a Human Rights Approach to Poverty
On 5 November 2013, Magdalena Sepúlveda Carmona, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights, addressed an audience at the Oxford Law Faculty on the subject of...
