Interreligious Service for Peace “No longer slaves, but brothers and sisters”

Buddhists, Jews and Muslims joined Christians to pray and reflect on Pope Francis’ message for the world day for peace 2015 titled “No longer slaves, but brothers and sisters” at an interreligious service, held at Saint Nicolas de Flüe Church in Geneva this past January 19th. A warm message from Mgr. Richard Gyhra (First Secretary of the Permanent Mission of the Holy See in Geneva) commenced the ceremony that welcomed the representatives of the distinct faiths and guests to reflect about the negative connotations that slavery denotes, as well as...

The Charlie Hebdo attack from a Human Rights Perspective

 “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood”. After the terrorist attack against Charlie Hebdo’s headquarters in France last January 7th, there are no better words to help us reflect on the appalling nature of such events than those encompassed in the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UNDHR). If we, as a global community, wish to build a peaceful, democratic, and safer world, the notion of these...

Adoption of the UN Child Rights Resolution on Children Deprived of Liberty

On December 2014 the Child Rights Resolution of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), requesting for a Global Study on Children Deprived of Liberty to be carried out, was formally adopted. This was also achieved thanks to the efforts and mobilization of Civil Society. IIMA and VIDES contributed to support the campaign calling for such important Study. The text of the Resolution is available at http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/C.3/69/L.24/Rev.1 ...

Human rights 365

On 10 December every year, Human Rights Day commemorates the date on which the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, proclaiming its principles as the “common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations.” This year’s slogan, Human Rights 365, encompasses the idea that every day is Human Rights Day. It celebrates the fundamental proposition in the Universal Declaration that each one of us, everywhere, at all times is entitled to the full range of human rights, that human rights belong equally to each of us and bind...

“United Nations International Volunteers Day”

 The United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme will organize a special event on 5 December 2014 in observance of International Volunteer Day (IVD). This year’s celebration at the United Nations Headquarters in New York will recognize and celebrate the contributions and engagement of  corporate volunteers making change happen locally, nationally and internationally. The highlight of International Volunteer Day 2014 will be the launch of IMPACT 2030 - a business-led global collaboration between the United Nations, the private sector and civil society organizations, created to appropriately mobilize corporate volunteers to directly and substantially...

7th Forum on Minority Issues

On November 25-26, the 7th Forum on Minority Issues took place to promote dialogue and cooperation. The goal was to identify, share, and analyze the good practices, opportunities, challenges, and initiatives to better implement the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious, and Linguistic Minorities. In the introductory speech it was reminded that people are not born with a  sense of categorization, children do not have the idea of friend/enemy; external elements, such as society or competition, introduced this notion. For this reason there is a strong...

From Lampedusa to Geneva: the second UPR of Italy

Monday, October 27 in room XX at the United Nations in Geneva the second cycle of the Universal Periodic Review of Italy took place.  Lapo Pistelli, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation stated that the new government was accelerating the implementation of international recommendations, for example in the matters of cyber crime, of migrant workers rights and of their families, of torture and also about the creation of a National Human Rights Institution in accordance with Paris Principles. During the interactive dialogue, many States congratulated the Italian Government for the efforts done on carrying out the recommendations of the first cycle and for the significant progress. Pistelli underlined that...

Leave no one behind: think, decide and act together against extreme poverty

The International Day for the Eradication of Poverty has been commemorated consistently since 1993, when the United Nations General Assembly, by reslution 47/196, assigned this day to raise familiarity with the need to eradicate destitution and desperation in all nations. Battling neediness stays at the center of the Millennium Development Goals (Mdgs) and the advancement of the post-2015 development agenda. The 2014 subject perceives and underscores the requesting test of distinguishing and securing the investment of those encountering great destitution and social prohibition in the "Post-2015 Development Agenda" that will supplant the Millennium Development Goals. The official commemoration on 17 October...

During the 27th session of the UN Human Rights Council ( September 8 to 26 , 2014) IIMA and VIDES have contributed to the Periodic Review of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Costa Rica and Nicaragua with a Joint Oral Statement for each country during the  item 6 ( Universal Periodic Review , UPR consideration of outcomes ) . Also presented was another oral statement on the empowerment of young people (Youth Empowerment: a human rights perspective) during Item 8 (General Debate on Follow Up) . The latter was a response to the recent side event (Youth...

Panel on history teaching and memorialization processes

On Thuesday, September 9th, 2014 IIMA attended the High-Level Panel Discussion on history teaching and memorialization at the 27th Session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva. The President of the HRC(Baudelaire Ndong Ella) opened the meeting by giving the floor to Flavia Pansieri (United Nations Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights), who has introduced the two reports of Pablo de Greiff (the Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and Guarantees of non-recurrence). In the first report on the writing and teaching of history, the Special Rapporteur stressed that, in many countries, the historical narratives promoted by...