Human Rights Consortium
News, projects, publications and events
Genocide, human rights and the campaign to eradicate ecocide
Dr Damien Short On the 10th December 1948 the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly at its third session. The Declaration consists of 30 articles affirming an individual's fundamental rights and freedoms which,...
Reflections on Business & Human Rights
By Stephanie Vélez* Following the 6th UN Forum on Business and Human Rights that took place in Geneva last week, you may be forgiven for wondering whether these high-level get-togethers ever change anything for people on the ground – for workers in garment factories...
Female indigenous activism in Guatemala: inspiration and challenges for women as agents of change
By Roslynn Beighton* Introduction Mayan women represent significant actors in resistance movements and social development organizations calling for basic human rights in Guatemala. During a research trip earlier in the year, I was fortunate enough to meet and stay...
Eliminating violence against women: individual approaches, or a group concern?
Today, 25 November, marks the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. Considering the decades the international community has had to identify and working to resolving the problems of gender-based violence, why is it still such a prominent...
Freedom of the press: an essential cornerstone of human and civil rights
Today is the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists, an outcome of a 2013 United Nations General Assembly resolution on the safety of journalists and the issue of impunity. Drawing on a range of resolutions and human rights treaties,...
Implementing the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in Japan: Ainu and Forest Certification
By Fumiya Nagai* It has been 10 years since the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) was adopted at the UN General Assembly on 13 September 2007. The adoption of the UNDRIP was one of the most important achievements in the indigenous peoples’...
Eradicating poverty, achieving human rights: the links between development and human rights goals
Today, 17 October, marks the 25th International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. The reduction and eradication of poverty and achievement of development goals is often closely linked to human rights rhetoric – but how, and why, are they connected? To explain the...
On the Limits of Abuse: Bruce Gilley and his worldview of Colonial History
By Rahul Ranjan* It is a fatiguing exercise, or rather a much-unsolicited task to respond to Bruce Gilley in his innocuous article published in the ‘Third World Quarterly’ that makes a defensive overtone for colonialism. In fact, it can be seen as the exercise of...
Reminding ‘Power’ about the historical importance of ‘Truth’
By Adam Hughes Henry* The Quaker concept ‘Speaking truth to power’ is an approach based on the idea that it is an act of bearing public witness. There is also the hope that the information they present will shine a light on the darkness of hidden human rights abuses,...
Event report: “Shrinking Space for Civil Society in Russia: challenges and new strategies”
By Lilija Alijeva* “First, we started with providing legal assistance to those who became victims of human rights abuses of Russian law enforcement officers. Then, in 2011, when mass protests started in Moscow and other regions, many people were arrested. We started...
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