We use various third-party cookies to provide social media features and to analyze our traffic. Please use the options below to manage your cookie settings. You can change your cookie settings at any time. Please be aware, if you deny cookies, certain features of our website may not work.
This will apply to all services
Google Analytics
YouTube
Geneva Academy>
21 September 2020
During one week, 13 practitioners – including staff from NGOs and government representatives – explored the relationship between economic, social and cultural rights (ESCR) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Due to the COVID-19 crisis, the training course took place both in Geneva and online – with four participants in Geneva and nine online.
‘Despite the fact that most participants were online, we ensured the same level of quality and interaction as if they were all here at our headquarters. The diverse backgrounds of participants – coming from Asia, Africa, Latin America, the Middle East and Europe – allowed for rich discussions and interactions, notably during the group exercises’ underlines Dr Christophe Golay, Strategic Adviser on ESCR at the Geneva Academy.
Juraj Varga
UN>
The five-day course entailed a busy programme, which allowed participants to acquire the practical tools to include ESCR and the SDGs in their work.
Topics covered through interactive lectures and group exercises included the inclusion of human rights in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development; the relationship between the SDGs and specific rights like the rights to health, social security, education, water and sanitation, food and housing; gender equality and women empowerment; indicators and disaggregated data; as well as monitoring and accountability.
‘Our objective is that participants, at the end of the course, are familiar with both the human rights and SDGs frameworks and are able to integrate tools for implementing and monitoring ESCR and the SDGs in their work’ explains Dr Golay.
Geneva Academy
Participants could also exchange with United Nations (UN) independent experts – Léo Heller, UN Special Rapporteur on the rights to water and sanitation, Olivier De Schutter, UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, and Meskerem Geset Techane, member of the Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and in practice – on their respective mandates and work on the SDGs.
‘For me, this training course served as a reminder of the value of integrating human rights and the SDGs in the work of national civil society organizations as they navigate economic, financial and health crisis in Lebanon.
The course provided a range of information on ESCR and the SDGs, and on how they both relate to development. The content of the course was very relevant to the work I do as a behavioural analyst. Additionally, what made the course unique is the presence of a multitude of experts working with the UN and other organizations and the fact that they shared their experience and knowledge surrounding human rights and the challenges faced due to the COVID-19 pandemic’ explains Rewa El Masry, Behavioural Economics Consultant for the NGO Nudge Lebanon.
UN Photo/Jean-Marc Ferré
UN Photo / Jean-Marc Ferré
US Mission in Geneva
Three training courses – on the Universal Periodic Review (2–6 November), the Protection of Human Rights and the Environment (23–27 November), and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants (7– 11 December) – are scheduled until the end of the year: applications are still open for the three of them!
They will also take place in Geneva and online, allowing participants who cannot travel to Geneva to follow them and interact with other participants and experts.
Water Alternatives
UN Photo/Jean-Marc Ferré
CIFOR
News
Geneva Academy
The Geneva Human Rights Platform has taken its work on strengthening the international human rights system to the heart of European policymaking.
News
Geneva Academy
Sixteen diplomats from fifteen Small Island Developing States and Least Developed Countries participated in a two-day Practical Training on Human Rights Council Procedures.
Event
Wikimedia
This evening dialogue will present the publication: International Human Rights Law: A Treatise, Cambridge University Press (2025).
Event
LATSIS Symposium
This Human Rights Conversation will explore how AI is being used by human rights institutions to enhance the efficiency, scope, and impact of monitoring and implementation frameworks.
Training
UN Photo / Jean-Marc Ferré
This training course will explore the origin and evolution of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) and its functioning in Geneva and will focus on the nature of implementation of the UPR recommendations at the national level.
Project
CCPR Centre
The Geneva Human Rights Platform collaborates with a series of actors to reflect on the implementation of international human rights norms at the local level and propose solutions to improve uptake of recommendations and decisions taken by Geneva-based human rights bodies at the local level.
Project
Olivier Chamard / Geneva Academy
The Treaty Body Members’ Platform connects experts in UN treaty bodies with each other as well as with Geneva-based practitioners, academics and diplomats to share expertise, exchange views on topical questions and develop synergies.
Publication
