International Institutions

By: Daniel Braaten
Español

The Chinese government’s impact on the international human rights regime is not well documented and a recommitment from the US to human rights is not fully clear ...

By: Jamie O'Connell & James Cavallaro
Español

The ICC can do better by learning from regional human rights institutions.

By: Sophie Mulphin & Tom Clarke
Español

Stories told at the UN about human rights defenders have a major impact on how they are perceived and supported on the ground.

By: Freya Doughty
Español

What’s next for the Lima Programme, a two-year work program created during COP20 to advance gender-responsive climate policies.

By: Alicia Ely Yamin & Joel Curtain
Español

There is a window of opportunity to move toward a model of financing based on Global Public Investment (GPI) to advance health and other social rights.

By: Marcia V. J. Kran & Shelley Inglis
Español

Five reasons why the proposal to regionalize treaty body meetings would work.

By: Mmabatho Motsamai & Carol Werunga & Jean Kemitare
Español | Français

The Kenyan government has illustrated the critical role of Action Coalitions as the co-lead of the Action Coalition on Gender-Based Violence.

By: Steven L. B. Jensen
Español | العربية | Français

The nexus between human rights and tech is more foundational to the evolution of the international human rights legal project than we normally think.

By: Raymond A. Smith
Español

The term “non-binary” has entered some UN reports and media, but there is still a lack of recognition of this identity in human rights law.

By: Umyra Ahmad
Español | Français

At the latest Human Rights Council session, anti-rights language started making its way into some resolutions under discussion.

By: Vincent Ploton
Español | Français | العربية

Michelle Bachelet will not seek a second term as High Commissioner for Human Rights, kicking off a race to find a suitable replacement.

By: Johanna Gusman
Español

The continual failure of governments to adequately address the climate crisis constitutes a violation of children’s rights and Pacific youth know this better than ...

By: Jacqueline Parisi
Español

For a country whose founding universalist principles are imbued with humanitarian rhetoric, it’s astounding how egregiously égalité has been violated.

By: Marisa Hutchinson & Jhannel Tomlinson
Español

For many Global South activists and communities, the pledges and actions agreed upon at COP26 were too late, inadequate, and exclusive.

By: Claire Methven O’Brien & Rebekah Wilson
Español

The operation of care facilities for vulnerable children by private-equity backed companies poses threats to human rights.

By: Everaldo Lamprea Montealegre
Español

Despite Big Pharma's decisive role in the transformation of the right to health, it continues to play a secondary role in the literature.

By: Kathryn Hampton
Español | Українська

While it is imperative that parties to the conflict must stop using landmines, we are also faced with the question of how to respond when they do not.

By: Garth Meintjes
Español

We would do better to deepen our understanding of human rights as a kind of reference narrative that can help to guide decision-making in the face of radical uncertainty.

By: Ohene Ampofo-Anti & Camila Barretto Maia & Joshua Castellino & Pillkyu Hwang
Español | Français | العربية

Institutional failures enabling global COVID inequity can also deepen structural discrimination.

By: Maysa Zorob & Hector Candray
Español | Français

For the first time in its history, the Court explicitly stipulates clear business and human rights standards to be met by states and companies.

By: Dominique Calañas
Español

The human rights movement needs new ways of working which may even sound a little far-fetched.

By: Mimi Hapig
Español

The current expressions of solidarity by various European countries towards refugees from Ukraine should reignite the discourse about Europe’s response to refugees ...

By: Juan Pablo Bohoslavsky  & Francisco Cantamutto & María Julia Eliosoff Ferrero & Ana Fraile
Español

The video documentary series on "IMF and Human Rights" and the podcast "Promise is Debt" are political and cultural tools to limit the control of finance over our ...

By: Koldo Casla
Español

Putin’s aggression requires a human rights strategy that accounts for existing power relationships, and attempts to steer the balance in the direction of peace.

By: Natalie R. Davidson
Español

A new book revisits ATS litigation, suggesting that the retreat of the U.S. judicial system from its commitment to international human rights has positive implications.

By: Anne Lauder
Español

Here’s how the existing human rights framework confronts statelessness and the gaps that remain.

By: Laurel E. Fletcher & Khalid Ibrahim
Español

In the age of the internet, online human rights activism needs to be supported—and protected—as a vital part of the cybercommunications ecosystem.

By: Jonathan Cohen & Sofia Gruskin
Español

As the COVID-19 pandemic approaches the end of its second year, the importance of reaffirming this principle is clear.

By: James Jennion
Español

Given that the idea of using emotion recognition technology as a tool of governance is an entirely flawed premise, a ban makes the most sense.

By: Alejandro Anaya Muñoz & Amanda Murdie
Español

Neither state capacity nor elite willingness are sufficient on their own to improve compliance with human rights norms.

By: Sandra Liebenberg
Español

The Chilean Constitutional Convention should give careful thought to how to strengthen the relationship between social rights and the right to equality and non-discrimination.

By: Miriam Saage-Maaß
Español | Deutsch

A human rights-based approach should always ask who is affected and how by certain climate mitigation measures.

By: Eszter Hartay & Ivana Rosenzweigova
Español

Restrictions on civil society undermine climate mitigation efforts and impede the collaboration that is so crucial to slowing the climate crisis over the next decade.

By: S. Priya Morley
Español

A transnational racial justice lens is essential to understand recent Haitian migration through the Americas, but also to develop any future policy responses.

By: Els Heile
Español

Legal action should not substitute a holistic approach to green transition.

By: Mariana Montoya & Marc Limon
Français | Español

History has shown that despite strong opposition to Special Procedures, they have been valuable mechanisms for catalyzing positive changes at the local level.

By: Viviana Krsticevic
Español

The human rights framework can buttress the responses needed to address the emergency, providing tools to guarantee human dignity and the right to a healthy environment.

By: Peter Splinter
Español

It is essential to translate human rights principles and standards into practicable pragmatic measures that can provide that coherence, legitimacy, and sustainability.

By: Lauren Segal & Lwando Xaso
Español | Français

A new online archive and exhibition tells the little-known stories and behind-the-scenes challenges of the country's constitution.

By: Steven L. B. Jensen
Español | Français

How the domestic trends of human rights policy in the Global South can provide a deeper understanding of modern international rights practice

By: Thomas Pogge
Español | Deutsch | Français | Italiano

Impact funds would make the business of innovation more cost-effective and enable a triple win for the potential beneficiaries of innovations.

By: James Kirby
Français | Español

While some economists and political scientists praise Botswana as a ‘success story’, the country provides more than just a tale of growth and stability.

By: Jonathan Cohen
Español | Français

The forces arrayed against vaccine justice—monopolies, charity, and individualism—stand in the way of a just response to other shared global problems.

By: Rebecca Adami & Dan Plesch
Español | العربية | Français

Critical human rights theory has problematized the dominant narrative of European, western male rights.

By: Gráinne de Burca
Español

If attention is directed towards the dynamism of social movements and human rights activism around the world, a different set of views of the cathedral emerges.

By: Nora Noralla
Español | العربية

It is important to look at the CDHR as a symbolic document rather than a human rights instrument.

By: Bibbi Abruzzini & Sanaâ Nadir & Yohan Cambet
Español | Français | Italiano

The digital world needs to be shared with and understood by the public in order to define together what our “collective digital rights” are.

By: Simten Coşar
Türkçe | Español

The withdrawal decision is the most recent step on the part of the ruling circles in their policy practices against gender equality, mostly based on Islamic moralistic ...

By: Meredith Veit
Español | Français | Português | हिन्दी | Русский

The impact of lockdowns has been costly in more ways than one.

By: Viviana Krsticevic
Español

Increasing the breadth of actors involved in the common platform of fundamental rights ideals would strengthen the human rights movement’s ability to hold its ground ...

By: Meredith Veit
Español | Português | हिन्दी | Français | Русский

We should continue to advocate for imprisoned HRDs whose rights have been most restricted, as well as focus on preventative protection to ensure that their conditions ...

By: Meredith Veit
Español | Français | हिन्दी | Português | Русский

Limitations on fundamental freedoms have been purposely and disproportionately used against activists who have refused to put their work on pause.

By: Charles Walton
Español | العربية | Français

Achieving a consensus on the terms of social obligation in a society based on equality is both complex and extremely important.

By: Steven L. B. Jensen
Español | Français | العربية

A new series explores different approaches to the temporalities of human rights history and how this relates to their past, present, and future

By: James Silk
Español

The greatest value of international human rights law has been as a language for people, communities, and social movements to use to demand respect for their human ...

By: Tatiana Andia Rey
Español

If we add the usual policy of transnational pharmaceutical companies to the usual policy of how developed countries operate, we begin to see why regions like Latin ...

By: Jackie Dugard & Jeff Handmaker & Bruce Porter
Español

Beyond the looming humanitarian and moral catastrophe of COVID-19, lie opportunities for mobilizing international human rights law to compel states to take action, ...

By: Jayati Ghosh
Español

An ‘every-country-for-itself’ approach is irrational and even counterproductive, yet that is exactly what has happened.

By: César Rodríguez-Garavito
Español

In this OGR Up Close, a series of distinguished authors go beyond denouncing the vaccine apartheid. They advocate solutions that address the current health emergency ...

By: Frank Foley
Español

The UK looked set to undermine the international prohibition against torture, but relentless campaigning and shaming forced a change.

By: Juan Pablo Bohoslavsky  & Francisco Cantamutto
Español

Human rights have the power and mandate to challenge the orthodox economic policies that the IMF promotes.

By: David Kaye
Español

Human rights law needs to evolve in order to meet the challenges and reconceptualized international law and institutions of this moment.

By: Matthew Burnett & Connor Smith
Español

Here are several social enterprise models that legal empowerment organizations have experimented with and that align with the values and work of many frontline ...

By: Matthew Burnett & Connor Smith
Español

The Open Society Foundation shares key lessons from its work supporting organizations that are experimenting with earned income models.

By: Peter Splinter

How the USA deals with the process launched with resolution 43/1 will speak volumes about how it intends to engage with the Human Rights Council.

By: Stephen Meili
Español

At a time when many refugee-receiving nations have ignored their international obligation to protect those fleeing persecution, constitutionalized human rights ...

By: Katerina Linos & Laura Jakli & Melissa Carlson
Español

While many NGOs emphasize human rights in their appeals to raise money, new research shows that it is much more effective to emphasize basic needs.

By: Joshua Cooper & Shelley Inglis & Joel R. Pruce
Español

A genuine step for the Biden-Harris administration would be to formally establish a standing coordination mechanism across all relevant parts of the US government ...

By: Peter Splinter
Español

Time will tell whether Resolution 43/1 will dispose Human Rights Council membership to address situations of gross and systematic violations in other countries ...

By: Barbara Frey & Fionnuala Ní Aoláin & Joachim Savelsberg & Jessica Stanton
Español

Long-term partnerships between academics and practitioners can build knowledge that both protects and advances human rights.

By: Ravindran Daniel
Español

The closure of Amnesty International’s India office raises questions about AI's global strategy and the democratization of the global human rights movement.

By: David Forsythe
Español

In Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s report on inalienable human rights, it is unclear why freedom of religion and property rights should be elevated over other ...

By: Japhet Biegon
Français

The first ever virtual session, triggered by a pandemic, may have just heralded a potential future of more accessible and inclusive ACHPR sessions.

By: Ashley Bowe & Joshua Cooper
Français

Samoa held a ground-breaking treaty body session on child rights, evidencing the benefits of extending these sessions beyond Geneva.

By: Alexandre Skander Galand & Başak Çalı
Español | Français

UN human rights treaties allow individuals to launch complaints when their rights are violated—but the system for dealing with them needs urgent reform.

By: Irina Criveț
Español | Türkçe

Many victims are denied access to international justice because states do not act in a timely manner, but reforming the treaty body follow-up process could help.

By: Steven L. B. Jensen
Español

In order for human rights and development to be mutually reinforcing, the connection between the two must be made as explicit as possible.

By: Christof Heyns & Frans Viljoen
Español | Français

A new, global academic study to answer this question is launched in collaboration with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

By: Raymond A. Smith
Español

How can international human rights law be creatively deployed to expand protections to other characteristics related to severe and systematic rights violations?

By: Malene Alleyne & Felix Kirchmeier
Español | Français

Small states often lack the capacity to engage effectively with the treaty body system as currently structured—it must become more streamlined and present locally ...

By: Armel Niyongere
Español | Français

Treaty bodies showed their ability to take the right measures in situations of crisis like in Burundi. A coordination with the high-level bodies of the United Nations, ...

By: Olivier de Frouville
Español | Français

The treaty body system has been in crisis for at least thirty years. Will the year 2020 bring change?

By: Marcia V. J. Kran
Español

UN treaty bodies need to monitor and follow-up on the recommendations they make to states. Some have begun doing so in innovative ways, and more could be done.

By: Alexandre Sommer-Schaechtele
Français

The indigenous peoples of French Guiana used an urgent procedure of the UN’s Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination to help stop a mining development—more ...

By: Kamelia Kemileva
Français

The UN treaty bodies receive thousands of individual complaints, but the secretariat that deals with them is ill-equipped to do so effectively.

By: Marianna A. Romero
Español

Venezuela’s election to the Human Rights Council despite UN scrutiny—including by Treaty Bodies—of human rights abuses shows need for greater coherence in the international ...

By: Kseniya Kirichenko
Español | Русский

The UN treaty bodies are increasingly scrutinizing states’ treatment of LGBTI persons, and this is having positive local impact.

By: Navi Pillay
Español | Français

The human rights treaty bodies are central to human rights reform efforts, but are burdened by inefficiencies. The upcoming UN review offers a chance to make them ...

By: Quincy Cloet
Español

While many Ukranians place their hopes in the ICC to end impunity, improving the local judiciary could be a more effective development.

By: Steven L. B. Jensen
Español | Français | العربية

The SDGs are mostly aligned with human rights objectives—to emphasize this, the UN human rights mechanisms are showing a willingness to hold states accountable ...

By: Param-Preet Singh
Español

In giving undue weight to politics and practicalities in their decision to abandon war crimes investigations in Afghanistan, the ICC judges have set a dangerous ...

By: Alicia Ely Yamin
Español

The SDGs are a step forward for women’s equality and sexual and reproductive rights, but the indicators used to measure progress may prove problematic for rights ...

By: Mark Kersten
Español | Français

The acquittal of Laurent Gbagbo by the ICC is seen by many as a blow to the Court’s legitimacy – but legitimacy is a measure of expectations and these vary widely ...

By: Marte Hellema & Hannie Meesters
Español

If there is no fundamental and transformational change in how gender equality is addressed as part of the Sustainable Development Goals, the entire SDG agenda is ...

By: Sukti Dhital & Margaret Satterthwaite
Español | Français

SDG 16 promises access to justice for all, but current plans for measuring progress are far too limited. There are opportunities in 2019 to change this.

By: Elizabeth Andersen
Español

Several key events in 2019 provide a real opportunity to progress on SDG 16—ensuring access to justice for all—and to do so in ways that tackle inequality too.

By: Keetie Roelen
Español

Non-invasive and non-punitive interventions that draw on positive emotions have promising potential to break the poverty cycle, but this approach risks ignoring ...

By: Daniel Krcmaric
Español | Français

The advance of international justice means that the “golden parachute” of exile is no longer an easy option for abusive rulers. The bad news is that this may be ...

By: Kate Donald  & Silke Staab
Français | Español

In a challenging global context for equality and women’s rights, a new UN Women report illustrates how human rights can move SDGs beyond rhetoric of “leaving no ...

By: Ted Piccone
Español | 简体中文 | العربية | Français

The dangers of a growing global divergence on human rights, with the rise of authoritarian powers, might be avoided by embracing the global consensus of rights-based ...

By: Geoff Dancy

Anti-ICC narratives resonate with a crucial minority of Kenyan citizens, but not with victims of political violence.

By: Martin S. Edwards & Lis Kabashi

The Sustainable Development Goals could give activists the rhetoric they need to hold the Trump administration accountable.

By: Ayodele Akenroye

African governments are withdrawing from the ICC with valid criticisms—but what can be done to make the Court less imbalanced?

By: Kate Donald 
Español

Sustainable Development Goal 10 on reducing inequality will require profound changes to “business-as-usual” and close attention to human rights.

By: Chris Dolan

Are presidents who seek to withdraw from the ICC in denial about a rare instance of achieved gender equality?

By: Sarah Kihika Kasande & Virginie Ladisch

Dominic Ongwen faces trial at the ICC for crimes of which he was also a victim—forcing us to reevaluate dichotomies of guilt and innocence.

By: Reed Brody
Français

To survive the current crisis, the ICC must recruit its most persuasive allies—the victims of atrocity crimes themselves.

By: James A. Goldston

Three African states have pulled out of the ICC with other departures in the works, putting ICC legitimacy in crisis.

By: Richard J. Rogers 
Español

The ICC is now prioritizing crimes involving environmental destruction and land grabbing. How will this change economic development?

By: Paul Seils & Myriam Raymond-Jetté 

A DRC warlord convicted by the ICC will now also face prosecution by national courts in the DRC—an enormously welcome step.

By: Valerie Arnould
Français

When measuring ICC success, we need to examine the local impact and not just the international effects.

By: Savio Carvalho

Recent global assemblies make it clear—to achieve the SDGs we need to find ways to hold governments, UN agencies and the private sector accountable for the pledges ...

By: Charles Kojo Vandyck  & Maame Darkwaa Twum Barima

Increasing threats to citizens’ freedoms will derail the sustainable development goals.

By: Sandra Borda & Courtney Hillebrecht & Alexandra Huneeus
Español

The Colombia case shows international courts do impact local peace-making, but in ways more subtle and nuanced than commonly claimed.

By: Yvonne M. Dutton  & Tessa Alleblas

Although recent empirical work suggests that the International Criminal Court (ICC) has a deterrent effect, Kenya’s experience requires a deeper look.

By: Gaby Oré Aguilar & Ignacio Saiz
Español | Français

Human rights can help confront economic inequality, but four conceptual, normative, strategic and methodological challenges must be overcome.

By: Hyeran Jo & Beth A. Simmons
Español

Systematic assessments reveal that the ICC can deter intentional civilian killing, but only under the right conditions.

By: Eric-Aimé Semien
Français

Four years after the ICC's intervention in Ivory Coast, opinions are still divided regarding its impact

By: Elizabeth Evenson & Jonathan O’Donohue 

The ICC’s proposed expansion still falls well short of meeting the significant demands on the court.

By: Charles F. Maccormack & Sarah Stroup
Español

The SDGs are certainly more comprehensive, and inclusive of human rights concerns and all relevant actors, than the previous development goals, but this may make ...

By: Kate Donald 
Español | العربية

Though far from perfect, the new Sustainable Development Goals include important human rights commitments and do a better job than the MDGs of linking human rights ...

By: James A. Goldston
Español | Français

Technical legal arguments are insufficient to address growing disenchantment with the ICC. More must be done to extend the reach of international justice to the ...

By: Elizabeth Evenson
Français

Delivering justice for victims is the raison d’etre of the ICC. But making justice count for victims requires much more than fair trials in a Hague courtroom.

By: Benson Chinedu Olugbuo

The ICC should be above politics, but some of the rules found in the Rome Statute make that difficult.

By: Kip Hale 
Español

No one would argue the law should be subservient to politics when confronting domestic criminality, so why should this be the case for international crimes?

By: Ruben Reike
Français | العربية

Evidence from Syria and Libya suggests that linkages between the ICC and R2P are not always win-win.

By: Valentina Azarov
العربية

Noisy discussions in the Israeli/Palestinian context have obscured how the ICC’s role may impact Israel’s relations with other states, especially in Europe.

By: Mariana Rodríguez-Pareja  & Salvador Herencia-Carrasco
Español

To deter atrocities, the ICC requires more diplomatic support, financial resources and logistical assistance from the Security Council.

By: Paul Seils
Español

The debate about whether or not—or how—to punish the crimes committed in Colombia’s long civil war should focus instead on the objectives punishment might achieve.

By: Jack Snyder & Leslie Vinjamuri
Español | Français

Recent studies pointing to the global deterrent effect of the ICC and international law in reducing atrocities are highly speculative.

By: Elizabeth Evenson & Jonathan O’Donohue 
Español | Français

With all-too-limited resources, the ICC is falling behind in the fight against impunity. Unless drastic measures are taken, it may never catch up.

By: Leslie Vinjamuri

While civil society pushes a rights-first agenda in Palestine, resistance towards Palestine’s ICC membership suggests that governments may not embrace this approach.

By: Kate Cronin-Furman
Español | Français

In countries like Sri Lanka – not party to the ICC – international pressure plays an important role in keeping a focus on the issue of accountability for mass atrocities.

By: Nafissatou J. Diop
Français | العربية

The UN’s proposed new development goals include a target to end harmful traditional practices like FGM by 2030. We now know the key steps needed to get there.

By: Mark Drumbl
Español | العربية

LRA commander and former child soldier Dominic Ongwen’s forthcoming trial at the ICC risks obscuring the complex question of how to achieve justice when a victim ...

By: Thomas Ebbs & Elham Saudi
العربية

The ICC has issued only 3 indictments in Libya, and no new ones since 2011 – even amidst growing violence. New approaches are needed to make the Court’s mandate ...

By: Rodrigo Uprimny & Nelson Camilo Sanchez
Español | Français

The Colombian case shows the need for flexibility in balancing the duty to prosecute international crimes with the duty to negotiate an end to the civil war.

By: Geoff Dancy & Bridget Marchesi & Florencia Montal & Kathryn Sikkink
Español | Français

Despite increased criticism against the International Criminal Court, new evidence suggests that the Court may be having a real deterrent impact.

By: Ottilia Anna Maunganidze

International Criminal Court developments in 2014 have certainly been important, but we must also look to key events in regional and national institutions that ...

By: Richard Dicker
Français

Past experience suggests warnings that international criminal trials impede peace efforts are overblown. The ICC prosecutor mustn’t politicize her mandate by paying ...

By: Jessica Montell
العربية | עברית

Palestinian accession to the ICC could provide an impetus for Israel to resolve the issue of settlements in the political arena before it reaches a legal adjudication.

By: Pascal Kambale
Français

The ICC has pursued the "small fish" in the DRC, letting those most responsible for the worst crimes off the hook.

By: Dan Saxon

The ICC may consider the local context, but no policy or legal decision that permits impunity for gross human rights abuse can satisfy the interests of justice.

By: Sarah Nouwen
Español

The intervention of the ICC in some countries has many effects, but little impact on promoting real accountability – and at times working against that goal.

By: Kamal Elgizouli
Español | العربية

Respect for ‘sovereignty’ is no defence against ICC action in Sudan, as the government claims. International standards, many that Sudan signed, make clear a state’s ...

By: Paul Seils
العربية

Demanding accountability for war crimes does make the job of peace mediators more difficult, but so be it – an ICC investigation cannot be bargained away.

By: Mwangi S. Kimenyi

Africa can benefit greatly from an International Criminal Court that is credible, fair, competent and independent - the current Court fails on all counts.

By: Usha Ramanathan
हिन्दी

Though India refuses to join the ICC, the Rome Statute has proved very useful in pushing for law reform that would put an end to decades of impunity for state complicity ...

By: Njonjo Mue
Kiswahili

While the ICC has encountered serious challenges in Kenya, the Court has an important role to play in strengthening Kenyan rule of law and holding elites to account.

By: Mark Kersten
Français | Español

When it comes to the ICC’s impact on peace processes, we actually know very little, which may be because we are asking the wrong questions. It’s time to create ...

By: Priscilla Hayner
Français | Español

What exactly are the “interests of justice” in the context of the ICC? And should the ICC prosecutor take conflict resolution into account, or do the interests ...

By: David Petrasek & Archana Pandya

The Rome Statute established the ICC with an independent Prosecutor and a robust and comprehensive mandate to end impunity for the worst crimes. But now, after ...

By: David Petrasek
Français

The International Criminal Court has failed to live up to expectations that it would mark the end of impunity. Beset by controversy, and its continued relevance ...

By: Alicia Ely Yamin

The Ebola crisis shows the necessity of a human rights approach to public health that focuses on discrimination and accountability, and the crisis itself has been ...

By: V. Nagaraj
Español

The human rights framework provides an inadequate tool for understanding the deeper processes of development, and its uncritical embrace risks imposing a legal ...

By: Radhika Balakrishnan & Ignacio Saiz

The UN General Assembly later this month will begin negotiations over the content of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), to succeed the Millennium Development ...

By: Michael Broache
Français

When does the ICC have a preventive effect? Evidence from DRC shows that it may not be the logic of deterrence that works best to prevent atrocities.