CANCELLED: Can human rights survive the new geopolitics?

This event has been postponed until further notice.

Intensifying geopolitical rivalry and challenges to multilateralism are putting the international human rights system under severe strain, as funding declines and states increasingly undermine human rights mechanisms and courts. 

Norway is one of the world’s largest per capita contributors to the multilateral system, with a foreign policy that emphasizes international law, support for the UN, and the promotion of human rights. Yet the architecture of international law and the human rights system is under growing pressure, as weak domestic implementation and deliberate pushback against international mechanisms and regional courts undermine the credibility of human rights norms.

This seminar brings together leading voices from the UN, academia and civil society to unpack what is happening on the ground and to explore how Norway can continue to shape and defend human rights norms in a geopolitical landscape where they are increasingly under attack.

Co-hosted by the Norwegian Centre for Human Rights (NCHR) at the University of Oslo, and the United Nations Association of Norway, this event responds to the project “Vendepunkt”, which will help shape clearer priorities for Norwegian development policy ahead of a white paper to Parliament in spring 2027.

Key questions to be addressed in the seminar

• How do global power shifts affect human rights norms, international institutions, and the UN - and what reforms are needed for the UN to meet these challenges?
   
• What role can development assistance play in sustaining civil society and international human rights mechanisms in this changing geopolitical context?
   
• How can donors such as Norway balance political realism with principled engagement while using development assistance to uphold and advance human rights?

Program:

• 14:00 - 14:05: Opening: Marianne Jenum Hotvedt, Dean at The Faculty of Law, University of Oslo
   
• 14:05 - 14:20: Keynote:  Eric Tistounet: Human rights architecture under pressure
   
• 14:20 - 14:55: Panel discussion: Rebuilding trust in Human Rights: How can key stakeholder engagement and development assistance support a multilateral system under strain?
   
  • Eric Tistounet, Geneva, Former Chief of the Human Rights Council Branch, OHCHR
  • Felix Kirchmeier – Geneva Human Rights Hub
  • Cecilie Figenschou Bakke - Norwegian Centre for Human Rights (NCHR)

  • Clément Voule, Former UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Peaceful Assembly and Association

    Moderated by Julie Viker Aanensen. NCHR (Including Q & A with the audience) 

• 14:55 - 15:10: Q & A  on development and human rights
  • Dan Banik: Centre for Global Sustainability
  • Catharina Bu – UN Association of Norway
     
• 15:10-15:15:  Summing up and the way forward: Tine Mørch Smith, Director General, Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
   
• 15:15 - 15:20 Closing remarks: UN Association of Norway
   

• 15:20 - 15:45: Mingling, drinks and snacks

  Moderated by Catharina Bu, UN Association of Norway

Participate

The event is free and open to all. Sign up via the link below.

Go to registration

Welcome!

Please note that the seminar programme may be subject to change.

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