Topics

The topic pages below profile resources on mainstreaming human rights in a diverse range of thematic areas.  Each topic features tabs for relevant international standards, examples of practical case studies, HuriTALK consolidated replies, and related links.


Business and Corporate Social Responsibility

International human rights standards and practices have traditionally focused on national governments as duty-bearers and their obligations towards rights-holders. Globalization has led to the emergence, however, of non-state actors such as transnational corporations whose busine...Learn more

Children

The rights of the Child are enshrined in the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and its two optional protocols.  Child rights programming uses as its basis the rights enshrined in the CRC as well as its guiding principles which include universality, non-discrimination, ...Learn more

Decent Work

The Right to Decent Work is supported by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the ILO's Decent Work Agenda, and many internationally recognised conventions. Programming in support of the Right to Decent Work aims to ensure that everyone – without discrimination – has su...Learn more

Disability

The Convention on the Rights of Persons with disabilities  is one of the newest human rights instruments of the 21st Century.  The convention symbolizes a shift in perspective from viewing persons with disabilities as ‘objects’ of protection, treatment and assist...Learn more

Education

Education is both a human right in itself and an indispensable means of realizing other human rights. As an empowerment right, education is the primary vehicle by which economically and socially marginalized adults and children can lift themselves out of poverty and obtain the me...Learn more

Environment / Climate Change

Threats to the environment, including from the illicit dumping of toxic and dangerous products and from climate change pose an immediate and far-reaching threat to the enjoyment of basic human rights, including the right to life, the rights to clean water and adequate food, the e...Learn more

Food & Nutrition

The right to adequate food means that everyone must have physical and economic access at all times to food that is adequate in quantity and quality to allow for a healthy and active life. Adequate food must also be culturally acceptable, its provision must not interfere with the ...Learn more

Governance

Good governance and human rights are mutually reinforcing. Human rights principles provide a set of values to guide the work of governments and other political and social actors, and a set of performance standards against which these actors can be held accountable.  On the other...Learn more

Health

The right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health refers not only to access to health care services but also a wide range of factors that can help us lead a healthy life including safe drinking water and adequate sanitation; safe food; ad...Learn more

HIV/AIDS

Human rights are inextricably linked with the spread and impact of HIV/AIDS. A lack of respect for human rights fuels the spread and exacerbates the impact of the disease; at the same time HIV/AIDS undermines progress in the realisation of human rights. The protection and promoti...Learn more

Housing & Land & Property

Population growth, climate change, urban migration, conflicting claims for existing land, forced evictions, insufficient tenure and diminishing natural resources have resulted in over 100 million homeless people and over 1 billion inadequately ho...Learn more

Humanitarian & Emergency Settings

Human rights are relevant to humanitarian programming and in protection responses to emergency situations. In the first place humanitarian responses, in general, are intended to address acute cases of human rights deprivation. Human rights violations and resulting protection issu...Learn more

Indigenous Peoples

In recent years, there have been significant advances in the international field with regards to indigenous issues and rights, including the 2007 landmark adoption of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The Declaration establishes a universal framework of min...Learn more

International Human Rights Mechanisms

The international human rights machinery refers to the various treaty and charter based bodies established by the UN to monitor implementation of the core international human rights treaties as well as mechanisms and procedures established by the Human Rights Council such as Spec...Learn more

Justice & Rule of Law

The section on justice aims to highlight practical linkages between the different components of the justice sector and the normative framework of human rights.  Access to justice supports and is supported by, a human rights-based approach: access to justice is a fundamental righ...Learn more

Migrants & Refugees & Internally Displaced Persons

Migrants, Refugees or IDPs often encounter discrimination, abuse, exploitation, violence, and a myriad of other human rights violations. The human rights-based approach is relevant to mitigating this situation. Programming in support of the rights-based approach to refugee, migra...Learn more

Minorities

Minorities in all regions of the world continue to face serious threats, discrimination and racism, and are frequently excluded from taking part fully in the economic, political, social and cultural life available to the majorities in the countries or societies where they live. ...Learn more

National Human Rights Institutions

National Human Rights Institutions (NHRI) compliant with the Paris Principles, are central to national human rights protection systems and are important counterparts.  They have clearly defined roles and opportunities to participate in the international human rights system and c...Learn more

Older Persons

Across the globe, the number of persons aged 60 and over is expanding at an unprecedented rate, estimated to reach 1 billion by the end of the decade.  Currently, there are too few protection mechanisms and too many gaps in policies and programs that protect the rights of this r...Learn more

Parliaments

Parliaments play a fundamental role in establishing the rule of law, overseeing transparent government processes, and representing peoples’ views in the policy making process. Strong parliamentary institutions are vital to promoting access to justice and human rights and for e...Learn more

Poverty Reduction

A human rights-based approach to poverty reduction links poverty reduction to questions of obligation, rather than welfare or charity. It compels us to look behind national averages and identify the most vulnerable people – and design strategies to help them. One of the most di...Learn more

Water & Sanitation

Currently, over 1 billion people lack access to safe drinking water and 2.6 billion lack access to safe sanitation.  Access to safe drinking water and sanitation is central to living a life in dignity and for realizing other rights including the enjoyment of the right to upholdi...Learn more

Women & Gender

One of the central principles human rights law has established is that all human beings, women included, are equal and should not be subjected to discrimination. Gender equality, then can/should be understood as a human right.  Human rights standards in treaties such as the Conv...Learn more