the 70th anniversary of the universal declaration and the contemporary human rights emergency of climate change

David R. Boyd is the UN’s Special Rapporteur on human rights and the environment and a professor at the University of British Columbia.

Two concurrent news stories, seemingly unrelated. First, the 70^th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a moment in history reflecting humanity’s ambition for a more just and equal world. Second, world leaders gathered in Katowice, Poland, to finalise the rules for implementing the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change.

In fact, these two events are closely connected. True, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights does not mention climate change. This issue was not on the world’s radar screen back in 1948.

Today, however, climate change is causing grave human rights violations around the world, and threatening far worse violations in the foreseeable future. Stronger and more frequent storms, heat-waves, droughts, floods, wildfires and other climate-induced disasters can violate the rights to life, health, food, water and culture, as well as the right to live in a healthy and sustainable environment.
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LATEST Policy Reports

Global Human Rights Implementation Agenda: the role of national parliaments

By the Commonwealth Secretariat, Universal Rights Group

This new policy brief, published by the URG and the Commonwealth secretariat, is the second in a new series of URG publications exploring how universal human rights standards are translated, through the actions of governments, parliaments, national human rights institutions and NGOs, in some cases with the support of development partners, into on-the-ground improvements in the enjoyment of human rights. This second report explores the role of parliaments.

The policy brief seeks to map and analyse contemporary debates, decisions and initiatives focused on parliamentary engagement with the universal human rights system, and to assess the contribution of the Commonwealth to worldwide efforts to strengthen that engagement and thereby improve the on-the-ground enjoyment of human rights. In order to do so, the report looks at current efforts at the UN to strengthen the implementation of human rights recommendations and the realisation of human rights norms, and how parliaments are being positioned as key stakeholders in those efforts. It then addresses the contribution of Commonwealth parliaments to that wider movement, including through the development of declarations of principle; the establishment of parliamentary human rights committees, caucuses, associations and networks; and the exchange of good practices between Commonwealth legislatures.

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URG Insights

Report of the 73rd Session of the Third Committee of the General Assembly

By Danica Damplo, Universal Rights Group

On 13 October, the Third Committee tabled resolution A/C.3/73/L.56 on the Report of the Human Rights Council and opened the floor to State comments. The two key areas of debate were the procedural credibility of the resolution itself, and the inclusion of country specific measures. On the first, the representative of Costa Rica, and also the representative of Lichtenstein (speaking on behalf of 4 others), pointed out that A/Res/65/281 called for the Third Committee to discuss the recommendations of the Council, while it is the responsibility ...
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Turning the Implementation Agenda into Reality: IMPACT OSS - the latest in human rights technology

By Ashley Bowe, Founding Trustee and Secretary of the Impact Open Source Software Trust

The ‘implementation agenda’ called for in the lead up to the next review of the Human Rights Council in 2021 is a lofty yet largely unrealized ambition. On February 28 this year, almost three years on from its conception, a High Level Panel convened at the Human Rights Council to discuss how this agenda might work in practice, suggesting that it ...
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The future of human rights accountability edges closer: Magnitsky laws move to centre stage in US and Europe

By Marc Limon, Universal Rights Group and Ben Greenacre, Universal Rights Group

The extrajudicial killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi Arabian consulate in Turkey, and the international reaction thereto, could well represent a defining moment in the evolution of systems of international accountability for serious human rights violations. In particular, the US response to the killing is being shaped (or, from the perspective of President Trump, perhaps dictated) by the country’s Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act (GMA). The GMA is a new type of domestic law through which governments can be ordered (by the legislature) to investigate ...
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Council efficiency drive ends with important changes, but also disappointments

By Marc Limon, Universal Rights Group and Ben Greenacre, Universal Rights Group

On Monday 3 December, H.E Mr Vojislav Šuc presided over his last meeting as the twelfth President of the UN Human Rights Council. The purpose of the meeting was twofold. Firstly, to formally elect the next President of the Council and his Bureau. In this regard, the Council elected Senegal’s Permanent Representative, H.E. Mr Coly Seck, as its thirteenth President. The Ambassadors of Iceland and Croatia were also appointed as Vice-Presidents. Secondly – and crucially – the meeting was expected to bring to an end a one-year process of negotiations to strengthen the efficiency of the Council. Unfortunately, despite ...
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Time for High Commissioner to publish 'Global state of human rights' report?

By Marc Limon, Universal Rights Group

Much has been written over recent months, including in Foreign Policy magazine, OpenGlobalRights and URG Insights, about the multifaceted mandate of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and the acute challenges involved in asking one person to fulfil all parts of that mandate, some of which appear to exist in mutual-tension. ...
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URG Events

FUTURE EVENTS

January 9-10th / 2019
Tunisia
Regional workshop on ‘Lifting religion-based reservations as a means of strengthening women’s rights’
(By invitation)
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PAST EVENTS

November 26th / 2018
Geneva
Working Smarter for human Rights: Are Digital Tools the Way Forward?
(Public)
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November 21st / 2018
Geneva
The global human rights implementation agenda: the role of national parliaments
(Public)
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November 5th / 2018
Geneva
High-Level Conference on 'Human Rights Council Investigative Mechanisms and Preventing Mass Atrocities'
(Public)
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September 24th / 2018
Geneva
Launch of the YourHRC.org Election Guide to the 2018 Human Rights Council Elections
(By invitation)
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the 70th anniversary of the universal declaration and the contemporary human rights emergency of climate change

LATEST Policy Reports

Global Human Rights Implementation Agenda: the role of national parliaments By the Commonwealth Secretariat, Universal Rights Group

URG Insights

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URG Events

URG TOOLKIT

Global Human Rights Implementation Agenda: the role of national parliaments

By the Commonwealth Secretariat, Universal Rights Group