UN Human Rights Research Articles

“Humanity's new frontier”: Human rights implications of artificial intelligence and new technologies

AbstractNew technologies based on digitalization, automation, and artificial intelligence have fundamentally transformed our lives and society as a whole, in just a few decades. These technologies support human well-being and prosperity by enhancing progress and innovation, however, they also have the potential to negatively impact human rights, democracy, and the rule of law. Discrimination, the violation of privacy, increasing surveillance, the weakening of personal autonomy, disinformation and electoral interference are but a few of the many concerns. This paper examines the specific human rights implications of AI-driven systems through the lens of the most important international instruments adopted by the UN and regional human rights mechanisms. The paper shows how AI can affect the exercise of all human rights, not only a most obvious few. In line with major international organizations, the author calls on decision-makers to take a precautionary approach by adopting AI regulations that are consistent with the standards of fundamental human rights, and that balance the realization of the opportunities with the potential risks which AI presents.

Some issues of the status and functioning of the United Nations human rights monitoring mission in Ukraine

Today, the United Nations plays a leading role in the development of international law and cooperation among the world's states. Member states have pledged to realize their rights and fulfill their obligations under the UN Charter. The main objectives of the UN are envisaged in Article 1 of the Charter, where the key provision relating to human rights is reflected in paragraph 3 of Article 1. According to it, the UN aims to achieve international cooperation in solving international problems of an economic, social, cultural and humanitarian character and in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms for all without distinction of race, sex, language or religion [1]. As it can be seen, the Charter only calls on states parties to promote the protection of human rights, without establishing clear obligations to protect and guarantee them.
 Since 2014, i.e. since Russia launched its war against Ukraine, the aggressor has not stopped committing crimes against our country and our people. Russia's actions encroach not only on the sovereignty of our state, but also on human rights and freedoms. Under such circumstances, the international community cannot stand aside from these events. Many international human rights organizations have offices in Ukraine. Among them is the UN. On 31.07.2014, the Government of Ukraine and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights signed an agreement on the deployment of a short-term UN human rights monitoring mission in Ukraine.
 The legal status of UN monitoring missions in legal science has not been the subject of a separate study. Certain aspects of the activities and competence of such missions have been considered in the works of such scholars as I.A. Shumilo [14], F. Megre [13], K. Boyle [12] and others, which are devoted to the coverage of international mechanisms for the protection of human rights and freedoms, the status of the UN General Assembly and the UN Human Rights Council. Therefore, the task set out in this article is to analyze and establish the specifics of the legal status of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission (hereinafter - the Mission), in particular, the one established for Ukraine, and the limits of the Mission's powers under the UN Charter, UN General Assembly resolutions, and international agreements between UN agencies and Ukraine. Therefore, the relevance of this article is beyond doubt. It has been established that the purpose of the Mission is to facilitate cooperation between the Government of Ukraine and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (hereinafter - OHCHR)[2] and it plays the role of a subsidiary mechanism for the protection of human rights and freedoms within the UN. The conclusions of the mission will undoubtedly serve as a convincing additional evidence base for Ukraine in international judicial and other bodies in protecting its interests and establishing the guilt of the Russian Federation for actions committed against our country.

Human rights cities and the expanding global toolkit for decolonization and racial justice

Amid a growing white backlash against racial progress that is rolling back voting rights and restraining public discourse and education about the history and legacies of slavery and colonialism, a global “George Floyd effect” has amplified efforts outside the United States to address systemic racism and engage growing numbers of US activists in the UN human rights system. Global institutions provide opportunities for US activists to expose US human rights violations linked to systemic racism, expand support and legitimacy for their claims, and attract influential global allies. Today’s activism builds on the earlier internationalism of US advocates, which helped build international legal and institutional foundations for combating systemic racism. Within this globalized context of antiracism activism, local human rights city advocates in the United States have leveraged treaty reviews and mobilized around the newly created Permanent Forum on People of African Descent to heighten attention to systemic racism and broaden their analyses and alliances. These new global modes of engagement can help neutralize and roll back some of the threats to human rights that proliferate today.

Reclaiming Political Rights During a Rule of Law Crisis: The Role of the UN Human Rights Committee

How should democratic states approach and respond to secessionist movements using tactics contrary to the constitution to achieve their goals? What is the role of international human rights mechanisms in these processes? This article sheds light on these questions by examining how the UN Human Rights Committee approached and assessed two complaints that came before it in the wake of the Catalan Declaration of Independence in 2017. The aim is to discuss the Committee’s examination of the merits in the two cases and the procedural hurdles faced. Specifically, it will analyse the effects of examining the merits in hindsight and the extent to which this perspective may have influenced its views. It will further reflect on the potential costs of acting with procedural flexibility towards the two complaints which, while driven by a sense of urgency, did not meet the threshold for irreparable harm. It is concluded that, while a protective stance towards petitioners is the bedrock of its mandate related to individual complaints, acting with such degree of flexibility risks undermining its procedural effectiveness and the integrity of its individual complaint procedure. It also made it come too close to act as a fourth instance in relation to facts that had already been examined by domestic courts by the time of its assessment. At the same time, it did not challenge Spain’s rule of law approach as such.

Principle and power: The struggle to protect human rights

Professor Theo van Boven sent this piece to the Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights as part of his reflections on the 75 years anniversary of the UDHR. Professor van Boven is the former Director of the UN Human Rights Secretariat between 1977 and 1982, about which the film “The Subversives” was made in 2019. He was a Dutch representative on the UN Commission on Human Rights, an expert member of the Sub-Commission on the Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, an expert Member on the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, the UN Special Rapporteur against Torture, Consultant at the World Council of Churches and Professor of Human Rights at Maastricht University from 1982 to 1999. [Formula: see text]

International and European Institutions and Catalan Nationalism

AbstractThe exercise of public power by substate entities poses a challenge for international law. Although such entities lack international legal personality, their actions can have international significance and, because they are state organs, must always adhere to the international obligations assumed by the state. In Spain, the autonomous communities exercise broad powers, which, in the case of Catalonia (via the Generalitat), include education, healthcare, prisons and police. Research shows that the Generalitat has exercised – and, to some extent, continues to exercise – some of its powers in disregard of certain constitutional and legal obligations. This action by public authorities in disregard of the law can have international consequences, and various international organizations have expressed positions on it through their bodies. This paper examines these positions on the Generalitat’s actions in connection with the secession process and other related policies, including both those that have been critical of this behaviour and those that have expressed direct or indirect support for it. The practice of the European Union, the Council of Europe, and the UN Human Rights Council through its Special Rapporteur on minority issues is analysed.

Dissecting Stakeholder Participation in UN Human Rights Treaty Body Activities with Normative and Empirical Approaches: A Comparison of NGO and NHRI Participation

Abstract By addressing the question “Are the roles and values of stakeholder participation qualitatively different for non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and national human rights institutions (NHRIs), and if so, how?” this article dissects stakeholder participation in UN human rights treaty body activities. First, it normatively posits that stakeholder participation in treaty body activities carries three values, which weigh differently based on the actor and the treaty body activity concerned: facilitating “bounded” national deliberations, promoting international deliberations on human rights treaty standards, and supplementing the treaty bodies’ fact-finding capacity. It offers concrete normative guidance for treaty bodies on their engagement with NGO and NHRI participation to maximize the benefits of these values. It then empirically analyzes their current practice in light of the above-mentioned normative guidance. This article contributes, first, to the theorization of stakeholder participation in treaty body activities, which has been discussed but only in generalized or fragmented ways in previous studies. Second, it supports the effectiveness and legitimacy of treaty bodies by endorsing their practice that is consistent with the guidance and finding space for improvement. Finally, it provides a rationale for establishing and strengthening NHRIs by showing that NHRI participation has unique roles distinct from those of NGOs.

The Czech Republic: Human Rights Defender, Yet No R2P Champion

ABSTRACT The Czech Republic has a strong tradition of promoting human rights; starting in the 1990s it established itself as an active human rights defender, particularly in relation to priority countries such as North Korea, Belarus, Burma/Myanmar, and Cuba. Human rights and their advancement are significant focal points in Czech foreign policy, both bilaterally and within multilateral organizations like the UN Human Rights Council and the Council of Europe with its Venice Commission. It is therefore interesting to examine the Czech position towards the responsibility to protect (R2P) and whether relevant policymakers actively promote R2P norms. Does the Czech Republic rank among R2P champions, which include small states like Costa Rica, Ghana, Rwanda, Denmark, and Slovenia? While the R2P concept may be considered a complement to traditional human rights norms, I argue that a narrow and selective human rights agenda clearly takes precedence among the Czech political elites. This was evident in the Czech response to the crisis in Myanmar. In 2017, despite international calls for a stronger response to the ongoing genocidal violence against the Rohingya, Czech foreign policy focused on the positive prospects of the democratization process and its policy of human rights promotion.

Framing UN Human Rights Discourses on Climate Change: The Concept of Vulnerability and its Relation to the Concepts of Inequality and Discrimination

The concept of vulnerability is widely used in human rights policy documents, reports, and case law focusing on the impacts of climate change on human rights. In academic discussions, the concept, however, has also sparked a discussion on its benefits and challenges for the advancement of human rights, especially concerning the principles of equality and non-discrimination. This article aims at contributing to this debate from a frame-analytical perspective. In social sciences, frame-analysis is a form of discourse analysis which focuses on the consequences of different concepts for legal, political, and social discussions and norms. With the example of selected UN documents on different human rights issues in the context of climate change, the article, firstly, analyzes whether and how the concept of vulnerability is defined in the documents and why it is used in the documents. Secondly, it is elaborated to which individuals and groups the concept is applied. Thirdly, it is discussed how vulnerability is conceptualized in relation to or in distinction to the concepts of inequality and discrimination. In a further section it is analyzed what narratives are mobilized by the frame of vulnerability. The article concludes that from a discourse-analytical perspective the frame of vulnerability mobilizes problematic narratives which has gendered and racialized implications for those labeled vulnerable.

The Impact of New and Emerging Internet Technologies on Climate Change and Human Rights [Submission to the Advisory Committee to the UN Human Rights Council]

The Impact of New and Emerging Internet Technologies on Climate Change and Human Rights [Submission to the Advisory Committee to the UN Human Rights Council]

A case for the inclusion of oculocutaneous albinism as a skin-related Neglected Tropical Disease

Oculocutaneous albinism (OCA) is genetically transmitted. In this paper we advocate for this disease to be included in the NTD list of the WHO. OCA type 2 is the most common form of albinism in sub-Saharan Africa, with a prevalence of 1 in 7900 among the Bamileke of Cameroon, 1 in 3900 in South Africa and 1 in 1100 among the Ibos of Nigeria, as compared to a prevalence of 1 in 10,000 among African Americans and 1 in 36,000 among White Americans and Europeans. The medical problems related to ophthalmological aspects (poor visual acuity, ametropia, nystagmus, photophobia) and dermatological aspects of albinism (sensitivity to UV rays from the sun and development of skin cancers) are well known. However, their management is often challenging for persons with albinism in sub-Saharan Africa because of their financial burden and the difficulty of accessing medical specialists. In many African countries, persons with albinism are also very often the subject of social, cultural, medical, moral and economic discrimination, which can limit their access to education, employment and community life. They are considered 'white Africans', intermediary and incomplete, with innate powers for good and evil. This particularity has made persons with albinism the targets of mutilations and/or ritual attacks for the purposes of using their body parts in the preparation of charms to bring good luck, health or prosperity. On 13 June 2013, as a result of lobbying by the Canadian NGO Under the Same Sun and African albinism associations, United Nations bodies including UNESCO and the WHO (World Health Organization) responded and a Resolution addressing the discrimination and attacks was voted in. The date has since become International Albinism Awareness Day and is celebrated on a different theme each year with great energy and impact, especially by French, English and Portuguese speaking albinism associations across sub-Saharan Africa. In 2015 the Human Rights Council created the position of Independent Expert on Albinism to better collect and analyse data on the rights of persons with albinism around the world, and especially in countries where ritual attacks occur. The data collected by albinism associations and the authorities thus go directly to the UN Human Rights Directorate. Despite this international attention to the attacks on persons with albinism, one of the biggest threats is skin cancer, which very often leads to early death. In 2022, the WHO launched a strategic framework for the control and management of neglected skin-related neglected tropical diseases - an additional reason to include oculocutaneous albinism as an NTD. Although the focus is currently limited to dermatoses of an infectious nature, we argue here for the integration of oculocutaneous albinism among NTDs because the deadliness of these carcinomas in sub-Saharan Africa is well-known and has been examined in a number of medical publications. Here, we propose that oculocutaneous albinism in sub-Saharan Africa be classified as an NTD to help people with albinism have access to health, economic, social and cultural rights.

How Expert Committees Become Group Agents: Self-Legitimation in the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

Abstract The UN human rights treaty bodies—groups of experts tasked with monitoring how states implement international human rights conventions—are increasingly portrayed as powerful collective entities with agency. This article focuses on one mechanism that helps collectives of individuals become group agents, namely internal self-legitimation. By internal self-legitimation, we mean practices such as narratives and rituals enacted by a group that ascribe legitimacy to it in the eyes of its members and are key to building common identification among them. We explore how self-legitimation facilitates group agency on the basis of a case study on the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), obtaining empirical evidence for the study from content analysis of CRPD documents and interviews with former and present members. We show that specific legitimation narratives—related to the moral value of the committee’s task and the moral integrity of its members, the fairness of the CRPD’s procedures, and the committee’s association with other presumably legitimate institutions—facilitated identity-building and helped the CRPD to develop the characteristics of a group agent and take decisions. Finally, we explore the conditions on which the findings might be applicable to other human rights treaty bodies.

The trials of judge Garzón and the enforceability of decisions by human rights treaty bodies in Spain

ABSTRACT In 2021, the UN Human Rights Committee (HRC) held Spain responsible for violations of Articles 14(1), 14(5) and 15 (1) of the ICCPR in the Garzón v Spain case. The purposes of this article are three-fold. Firstly, it provides an analysis of the ‘Francoism’ case and the ‘Gürtel’ case, the two trials held by the Spanish Supreme Court (SSC) against Judge Garzón, which the HRC declared were ‘arbitrary and did not comply with the principles of judicial independence and impartiality’, and an assessment of their political and legal aftermaths. Secondly, it assesses the dim prospects for Spain complying with the HRC’s views on the Garzón case by providing an updated and comprehensive statistical account of Spain’s extremely low record of compliance with previous HRC’s decisions. Thirdly, it provides an analysis of the new opportunities for judicial enforceability in cases of non-compliance by Spain with the views of the HRC in the wake of the SSC’s landmark judgement on the González Carreño v. Spain case and subsequent case law. The conclusion considers the enhanced potential role of domestic courts in fostering the enforceability of decisions by quasi-adjudicatory human rights bodies both in Spain and in the light of the Spanish experience.

Beyond Non-bindingness: States’ Implementation of UN Human Rights Treaties Bodies’ Concluding Observations

ABSTRACT Insufficient scholarly attention has been given to how UN human rights treaty bodies can induce states to implement concluding observations (COBs). This is because previous studies tend to underestimate the treaty bodies as weak, and instead focus on domestic factors. A case study of the Japanese implementation of treaty bodies’ COBs, however, reveals that domestic mobilization does not always succeed in changing government policies because of Japanese authorities’ inadequate understanding of international human rights law in areas such as gender equality and the prohibition of hate speech. Exploring treaty bodies’ role in inducing such states’ implementation of COBs is therefore crucial. To tackle this, this paper applies the theory of Goodman and Jinks, and reveals that the treaty bodies’ design is aimed primarily at persuading rather than acculturating states. If acculturation is incorporated into their design, it follows that treaty bodies should coordinate with the Human Rights Council, and that the Human Rights Council should follow up COBs in the Universal Periodic Review (UPR). Because ‘enforcement’ of COBs by the UPR could undermine treaty bodies’ work, this paper suggests a modest solution: that the UPR should cover the concerns expressed in COBs.

Children living in prison with a primary caregiver: a global mapping of age restrictions and duration of stay.

Women represent a growing proportion of the global prison population of 11·5 million people. No reliable estimates exist of the number of pregnant women or number of children born in or living in prison with a primary caregiver. Permitting a child to stay in prison with a primary caregiver for any duration has advantages and disadvantages for both the caregiver and the child. Global consensus on the age at which child confinement inhibits healthy development has not been reached. Human rights violations worldwide illustrate the failures of prison systems to consider the needs of children and ensure humane standards for children living in detention. In this Health Policy, we map the global variation in age restrictions and durations of stay in prison with a primary caregiver. We show a broad range of approaches and provisions for the placement of children in prison. Policy makers are advised to adopt provisions of Article 30 of the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, as it is the only set of explicit guidelines regarding individualised qualitative judicial decision-making processes, consideration of relevant safeguarding factors, practical application of permissions to stay in prison regarding standards of paediatric care, and provisions of safety-net supports on prison exit. Training of staff and routine monitoring of paediatric standards of detention by national prison inspectorates and UN Human Rights Treaty Bodies are crucial. Future research agendas must focus on optimal child safeguarding and development during transfer and confinement, and on requisite prison-exit supports in various cultural contexts and settings.

UN Human Rights Treaty Bodies Talking to Domestic Adjudicators Through Their Quasi-judicial Work: An Examination of CERD and CEDAW

ABSTRACT: The article examines the merit of UN treaty bodies' accumulated case law as a resource for domestic adjudicators, i.e., courts and quasi-judicial bodies (such as national human rights institutions) addressing human rights complaints at the national level. It has the objective of assessing the extent to which treaty bodies are "talking to" an audience beyond the parties in the case. Starting from a view that sees impact on national adjudicators as the key issue for treaty bodies' rulings on individual complaints, the article assesses to what extent the way that treaty bodies are exercising this role fits in this view. The study's focus is on two UN treaty bodies with a broadly similar output in quantitative terms, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CmERD) and the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CmEDAW).

Advisory Opinion on Obligations of States in Respect of Climate Change: Potential Contribution of Human Rights Bodies

Abstract On 29 March 2023, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution requesting an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice on the obligations of states in respect of climate change. The icj’s opinion, if given, will be the first of an international court determining the elements of human rights obligations in the context of climate change. These issues have already been grappled with by UN human rights treaty bodies. I argue that the icj is entitled to take account of these jurisprudential developments, and should do so.

Scandinavian Diplomacy on Human Rights and Economic Inequality at the United Nations in the 1970s

Abstract In the 1970s, United Nations debates on human rights and economic inequality were deeply shaped by the New International Economic Order (nieo) advocated by the developing countries and the basic needs development strategy championed by the World Bank and the United States. This article uses archives from Sweden, Denmark, and Norway as well as UN records, to examine the contributions Scandinavian diplomats and policymakers made to these debates. It demonstrates that the Scandinavians took a favorable position on both the nieo and basic needs, viewing them as complementary strategies to realize economic and social human rights. This view matched their activist foreign policies centered on UN diplomacy, human rights, and Global South solidarity. Finally, the article argues that the Scandinavian position reflected and was underpinned by a broad conception of human rights that put economic and social rights on an even footing with civil and political rights.

Lawful resctriction of the right to freedom of movement: international legal standards and practice of the European court of human rights

The article is devoted to the analysis of currentissues of restriction of the right to freedom of movement. The right to freedom of movement is one of the fundamental human rights in a democratic society and, accordingly, an integral part of the international human rights protection mechanism. At the same time, the right to freedom of movement is not absolute and is accompanied by certain restrictions necessary to ensure the realization of the rights, freedoms and interests of other people, the interests of the state and society. The author analyzed the provisions of international legal acts that enshrine the right to freedom of movement, in particular, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966), the American Convention on Human Rights (1969), the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights (1981), the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (1965) and Protocol No. 4 to the Convention on the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. The guarantees provided for in the above-mentioned acts and permissible cases of restriction of the right to freedom of movement were analyzed, as well as the criteria for compliance with which such a restriction would be considered legitimate were identified: legality; existence of a goal; necessity. The author has researched the approaches of the UN Human Rights Committee and the European Court of Human Rights to the understanding and interpretation of the mentioned criteria. Based on the analysis of the practice of the European Court of Human Rights on issues of verification of the legality of restrictions on the right to freedom of movement, it is substantiated that interference with the right to freedom of movement will be admissible if it is carried out only on the basis of the law, necessary in a democratic society with a legitimate aim (to protect state security , public order, health or morality of the population or the rights and freedoms of other persons, etc.), the interpretation of each of these requirements by the European Court of Human Rights is given, conclusions are drawn regarding the need to take them into account in national law-making and law-enforcement practice.

Operation Sukola II in the DRC: A critical review of the application of the UN human rights due diligence policy

ABSTRACT This article examines the extent to which peacekeeping operations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and specifically Operation Sukola II, effectively applied the UN human rights due diligence policy (HRDDP) in the period under review (2014–2021), based upon reports and interviews with individuals with knowledge of the peacekeeping operations. It analyses the complexity and challenges the peacekeepers and Congolese government confronted in the application of HRDDP in the DRC, noting the different challenges in applying this policy due to the highly volatile situations faced. The study argues that in applying the policy in situations such as the DRC, where the conflict is complex, the UN needs to be responsive to unexpected contingencies, with a high degree of flexibility and resilience. It recommends that the UN should review its HRDDP and update its procedures based on gained experience.