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Human Rights Preparedness

A platform for expert insights and debate on safeguarding human rights in times of crisis, strengthening resilience, and advancing justice worldwide.

GC Human Rights Preparedness Blog invites contributors to explain the ways in which protecting, respecting and fulfilling human rights is vital in meeting the challenges of pandemics and other emergencies, or to imagine how human rights could be better prepared for such challenges in view of where, how and why human rights have failed or done less well than anticipated.

About

In an ever-changing world, the ability to anticipate, respond to, and recover from human rights crises is crucial. To play a bold and reflective role in developing and promoting a rights-based approach to emergencies, the Global Campus is harnessing its multiregional and multidisciplinary approach, resources and outreach in order to offer a resource of enduring value, GC Human Rights Preparedness.

The title of our blog, Human Rights Preparedness, is a dual invitation: it invites contributors (i) to explain the ways in which protecting, respecting and fulfilling human rights, as we understand them today, is vital in meeting the challenges of emerging challenges—whether political, social, environmental, medical or humanitarian, or (ii) to imagine how human rights could be better prepared for such challenges.

We invite all members and friends of the Global Campus network —faculty, researchers, practitioners and experts, institutional partners, alumni and students— to contribute to this important new initiative.

Equality and Non-Discrimination

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Echoes of Chișinău: momentum for the European Social Charter system
This personal account of the Chișinău conference (March 2026) highlights the European Social Charter...
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Invisible and unheard: transgender men in Pakistan and silent resistance to domestic practices and state authority
Despite Pakistan’s human rights commitments, transgender men and AFAB gender-diverse individuals remain...
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Women striving for gender equality in Pakistan: greater awareness and state support needed
Pakistani women and minorities have suffered deeply rooted and structural prejudice and violence for...

Civil and Political Rights

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Student protests in Serbia: new standard of civil disobedience
A collapse of railway canopy in Serbia has sparked mass protests which spread nationwide and this student-led...
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Self-determination without choice: how Western Sahara signals a quiet shift in international law
Western Sahara illustrates how international law’s self-determination norm is being hollowed out. An...
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The preliminary draft law on the juvenile penal system in Argentina: a legal déjà vu in times of cholera
The Bill promoted by Argentina’s Minister of Justice and Minister of Security aims at reforming the juvenile...

Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

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Echoes of Chișinău: momentum for the European Social Charter system
This personal account of the Chișinău conference (March 2026) highlights the European Social Charter...
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Self-determination without choice: how Western Sahara signals a quiet shift in international law
Western Sahara illustrates how international law’s self-determination norm is being hollowed out. An...
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Upholding the right to food in emergencies in Africa
The right to food is an essential component of human dignity and survival. Africa is prone to hunger...

Democracy & Governance

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The Person She Was Is Dead: emergencies and lessons for rights-based preparedness
A review of survivor women in the context of the Beirut Port explosion in 2020 shows how neglecting human...
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A constitution for a state in the making: the draft of the Palestinian interim Constitution
The draft Palestinian Interim Constitution reflects a unique constitutional process shaped less by internal...
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Self-determination without choice: how Western Sahara signals a quiet shift in international law
Western Sahara illustrates how international law’s self-determination norm is being hollowed out. An...

Gender

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The Person She Was Is Dead: emergencies and lessons for rights-based preparedness
A review of survivor women in the context of the Beirut Port explosion in 2020 shows how neglecting human...
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Invisible and unheard: transgender men in Pakistan and silent resistance to domestic practices and state authority
Despite Pakistan’s human rights commitments, transgender men and AFAB gender-diverse individuals remain...
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Breathing inequality: how pregnant women in Punjab bear a hidden human rights burden
Each winter, smog engulfs Punjab, but its human cost is far from evenly shared. It is worth examining...

Children

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Children’s rights in Kazakhstan: discrepancies of child protection from violence in paper and in practice
Children, as rights holders, require effective protection from violence, abuse, and neglect. Kazakhstan...
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Disability rights: giving Palestinian women a voice
Palestinian women and girls with disabilities face double discrimination based on their gender and physical...
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The preliminary draft law on the juvenile penal system in Argentina: a legal déjà vu in times of cholera
The Bill promoted by Argentina’s Minister of Justice and Minister of Security aims at reforming the juvenile...

Development

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Empowering young people to defend human rights
In the recently concluded Summit of the Future, the United Nations ambitiously pledged to ensure meaningful...
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Global business sector must step up to climate change obligations
The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights remain relevant in terms of addressing business...
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Where are African solutions to Africa problems?
The African Union has been criticised for not doing enough to help the continent overcome its many crises....

Environment

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A potential off-ramp for fossil fuels?
The environmental cost of the war against Iran requires us to confront its estimated carbon emissions...
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Breathing inequality: how pregnant women in Punjab bear a hidden human rights burden
Each winter, smog engulfs Punjab, but its human cost is far from evenly shared. It is worth examining...
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Climate crisis in Latin America: the high cost of government inaction
Latin America faces escalating negative impacts from climate change, exacerbated by poverty and corruption,...

Migration

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EU: Fortress Europe Migration Plan endangers basic human rights
The European Union finds itself at a crucial moment, navigating the complex issue of migration. This...
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Where childhood meets the border: a call for non-discrimination
The international community grants children rights regardless of status, recognising their vulnerability....
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Forced back to terror: Pakistan and Iran’s mass deportation of Afghans
Pakistan and Iran are currently deporting thousands of Afghan refugees, which is rapidly tearing families...

Conflicts & Disasters

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The Person She Was Is Dead: emergencies and lessons for rights-based preparedness
A review of survivor women in the context of the Beirut Port explosion in 2020 shows how neglecting human...
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A constitution for a state in the making: the draft of the Palestinian interim Constitution
The draft Palestinian Interim Constitution reflects a unique constitutional process shaped less by internal...
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A potential off-ramp for fossil fuels?
The environmental cost of the war against Iran requires us to confront its estimated carbon emissions...

Science & Technology

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Digital Rights and AI: can the EU protect human rights in the age of artificial intelligence?
As the EU adopts the AI Act, it is worth exploring whether it can truly safeguard human rights in the...
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Cyber protection for human rights activists in key international instruments
There are major threats posed by digital technologies and AI when these are used malevolently against...
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China’s digital influence in the MENA region: A mixed blessing for MENA countries?
China’s growing digital influence in the MENA region through the Digital Silk Road initiative offers...

Human Rights Defenders

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Cyber protection for human rights activists in key international instruments
There are major threats posed by digital technologies and AI when these are used malevolently against...
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When mental health becomes disabling: supporting the human rights workforce
Amidst environments burning with hostility, violence, harassment, criminalisation, and political repression,...
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Reducing the mental health toll on environmental human rights defenders
Environmental rights defenders have been recognised as human rights defenders. This mitigates the costly...

Curated Series

Image: Holly Stapleton
When mental health becomes disabling: supporting the human rights workforce
Amidst environments burning with hostility, violence, harassment, criminalisation, and political repression,...
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Reducing the mental health toll on environmental human rights defenders
Environmental rights defenders have been recognised as human rights defenders. This mitigates the costly...
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From eco-anxiety to empowerment: cooling down the fear of a heated future
Eco-anxiety, though not a clinical disorder, impacts personal resilience. Addressing it requires therapeutic...