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...
UN Immunity, Access to Justice and the Haitian Cholera Epidemic
A few weeks ago a group of Haitian cholera victims took the extraordinary step of filing a class action suit against the United Nations in the Manhattan Federal District Court....
UN Resolution on Women’s Involvement in Conflict-Prevention: a Move Towards Participative Equality for Women in Conflict Zones
Earlier this month, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 2122, designed to highlight the importance of women’s involvement in conflict prevention, resolution and peace-building. The adoption of this Resolution...
Provoking Debate: The UN Special Rapporteur and the Right to Housing in the UK
The right to housing seldom captures the public imagination or the media spotlight. Yet the visit of the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Housing to the UK earlier...
A New Role for Businesses in Safeguarding Human Rights
This summer, the European Commission published industry-specific guidelines on the implementation of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. These guidelines, directed at the information and communication technology...
Bringing balance to the international law with long-term perspectives
Editor’s Note: This post is a follow-up to an earlier post by Karen Moir prior to the July 4th and 5th conference in Geneva on intergenerational equity. On July 4th...
ICESCR Optional Protocol: Reconciling Standards of Review
Until very recently, there was no individual complaint procedure for a violation of the rights enshrined in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR); for almost forty...
Alternatives to Detention: Evidence from Canada and Switzerland
This is republished from Border Criminologies: Foreigners in a Carceral Age A new report in the UNHCR Legal and Protection Police Research Series co-authored by Cathryn Costello and Esra Kaytaz...
Failure to Protect Future Generations Undermines Universality of Law
As environmentalists, development practitioners and concerned citizens accelerate their efforts to institutionalize concrete protections for future generations, international human rights law continues to lag behind. The guiding principle of International...
Entry into force of the New Optional Protocol to the ICESCR
The new Optional Protocol (OP) to the UN International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) entered into force on 5 May 2013. The OP recognizes the competence of...
UN Arms Trade Treaty opens for signature
The United Nations Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), adopted by the UN General Assembly on 2 April 2013, was opened for signature today at the UN in New York in accordance...
Stealing Brides in Kyrgyzstan: Why Multiculturalism and Women’s Rights Make Such Uneasy Bedfellows
Liz Fouksman uses the case of bride kidnapping in Kyrgyzstan to delve into the uneasy intersection of culture and women’s rights highlighted by the debates at the UN Commission on...
