The United Nations Human Rights Council held its fifty-first session from 12 September to 07 October 2022 at the Palais des Nations in Geneva. Several topical issues were addressed during this session of the Council, such as the right to privacy in the digital age as well as the Human rights implications of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic on young people. To both discussions, IIMA and VIDES contributed through two oral statements which were prepared based on the information provided by local members and partners from Ecuador and the Philippines. In particular the...

The United Nations Human Rights Council held its forty-ninth session from 28 February to 1 April 2022 at the Palais des Nations in Geneva. The agenda of the session included several high-level meetings addressing crucial human rights issues, such as the Annual full-day meeting on the rights of the child focusing on the rights of the child and family reunification, and the Panel discussion on the importance of robust public policies and services for the protection of economic, social and cultural rights in contributing to the COVID-19 pandemic recovery. During the forty-ninth...

(Regunathapuram-India) On March 12, 2022, IIMA members in India, and in particular the Auxilium College of Education in Regunathapuram, organized an International Seminar on "The Role of Youth in Safeguarding Mother Earth", which was attended by 500 people, including students, professors and educators, in the framework of the Institutes of Higher Learning of Asia and Africa. There were important references on: 1. How environmental degradation occurs. 2. The impact of human activities on the environment, climate change and global warming. 3. Strategies to stop the deterioration of the environment: the use...

The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the great inequalities of our times, the poverty, abuses, violations of human rights, as well as the weaknesses of the political, social, economic, civil, and cultural systems at the local, national and international levels. Equality and inclusion remain an elusive dream and a challenge if we are to build a humanism of justice and peace based on the respect of the human rights of all, irrespective of one’s age, gender, race, nationality, religion, and status. The Human Rights Day brings to our attention the fact that “all human...

Every year, on the 8th of March, we celebrate International Women’s Day, an event promoted by the United Nations in order to celebrate the progress reached by women in the economic, political, and cultural fields. The theme proposed for 2021 is: “Women in leadership: Achieving an equal future in a COVID-19 world”. This celebrates the tremendous efforts by women and girls around the world in shaping a more equal future and recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. The campaign slogan is: “Choose to challenge”. It is important to know this celebration as...

Every year, on the 8th of March, we celebrate International Women’s Day, an event promoted by the United Nations in order to celebrate the progress reached by women in the economic, political, and cultural fields. The theme proposed for 2021 is: “Women in leadership: Achieving an equal future in a COVID-19 world”. This celebrates the tremendous efforts by women and girls around the world in shaping a more equal future and recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. The campaign slogan is: “Choose to challenge”. It is important to know this celebration as...

The 37th Universal Periodic Review Working Group (UPRWG) Session was held from the 18th to the 29th of January 2021. The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) is a mechanism of the Human Rights Council that reviews the human rights situation of each of the 193 UN Member States once every 4 ½ years. It provides an opportunity for all States to declare what actions they have taken to improve the human rights situations in their countries and which recommendations they will have to implement before the next review. Istituto Internazionale Maria...

Geneva, Switzerland - December 10, 2020 The theme of this year’s Human Rights Day observance: Recover Better – Stand Up for Human Rights, is closely related to the Covid-19 pandemic, the greatest challenge of our times. It highlights the “need to build back better by ensuring Human Rights are central to recovery efforts”. The Covid-19 crisis has unmasked the fact that human rights are far from being universal. In fact, we are confronted by deepening poverty, inequalities, injustice, discrimination, exclusion, destruction of the environment, and structural gaps in human rights protection. The...

In view of the world event Global Compact on Education, wanted by Pope Francis, which took place online on October 15, 2020, IIMA contributed to a video on the plural reality of Catholic education in the world, through a short video on moving forward the Global Youth Agenda. This contribution is based on the longstanding commitment of IIMA Human Rights Office in promoting Youth Empowerment and Human Rights through multiple advocacy activities within several UN human rights bodies and in especially the Human Rights Council. To learn more about IIMA work on Youth rights,...

Since 1999, the UN General Assembly has declared the 12th of August as the International Youth Day, an opportunity to celebrate and mainstream young peoples’ voices, actions and initiatives, as well as their meaningful, universal and equitable engagement and participation in political, economic and social life and processes. This year, the International Youth Day will focus on “Youth Engagement for Global Action”, seeking to highlight the ways in which the engagement of young people at the local, national and global levels is enriching national and multilateral institutions and processes, as well...