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Global Challenges to Human Rights

This research group focuses on contemporary challenges to and potential transformations in international human rights law, policy and practices.

Image of two men and a woman on a rooftop, holding papers. One of the men has his back turned to the camera, seemingly talking to the other two.

Illustration: Bård Anders Andreassen, Elsabe Boshoff and Peris Jones in discussion. Credit: Jarli & Jordan/UiO.

About the group

There are complex global challenges to human rights in the current era. From becoming a global lingua franca, human rights now appear under increasing pressure politically and legally, economically and socially. Many of these challenges are particularly acute in the global south but have become increasingly more global, making comparative North-South perspectives highly relevant.

There are also ongoing and future transformations associated with the human rights field, which provide new opportunities for promoting human rights. One example is the development of an international framework for business and human rights; another is the discussion of SDGs and of which normative framework will replace the SDGs after 2030.

These issues call not only for legal research on human rights, but also for empirical evidence and methodologies capable of assessing impact and implementation gaps in human rights, as well as research in political theory providing the moral justification for possible reforms in the international human rights framework.

The group will therefore constitute a platform for multidisciplinary research on global human rights issues. It combines legal and social science methods in its approach.

Events spring 2024

Research group meetings

Tuesday 13 February

Time: 13:15-14:45
Topic: 'Construction, recognition and protection of Sacred Natural Sites'
Presenter: Associate Professor Helge Årsheim

Tuesday 12 March

Time: 13:15-14:45
Topic: 'Reducing the use of isolation in Norwegian high-security prisons: staff and inmates' experiences of measures aimed to increase meaningful social contact'
Presenter: MA student Katarina Lavrinenko Friis-Olsen

Tuesday 16 April

Time: 14:15-15:30
Topic: 'Forced labour: More than a concept?'
Presenter: PhD Fellow Victoria Skeie

Tuesday 11 June

Time: 13:15-14:45
Topic: 'The right to sustainable development in practice: a case study of Kenya'
Presenter: PhD Fellow Elsabe Boshoff

Seminars

Thursday 2 May

Time: 13:15-14:45
Topic: 'Special Issue Launch: Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development and Human Rights'
For details and registration, go to this page: Special Issue Launch - Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development and Human Rights

Friday 24 May

Time: 10:00-12:00
Topic: 'Governing through soft law: the limits of the regime for ethical health worker migration'
Presenter: Associate professor at the London Scool of Economics, Department of International Development Tine Hanrieder
For details and registration, go to this page: Seminar - Governing Through Soft Law: The Limits of the Regime for Ethical Health Worker Migration

Wednesday 12 June

Time: 12:15-13:30
Topic: 'Between Forbearance and Audacity: The European Court of Human Rights and the Norm against Torture'
Presenter: Assistant Professor of International Relations at California State University Ezgi Yildiz
The seminar is organized together with the Research Group on International Law. For details, go to this page: Seminar - Between Forbearance and Audacity: The European Court of Human Rights and the Norm against Torture

Cooperation

The research group builds on and develops the networks gained from the previous Sustainable Development and Human Rights research group (including networks within the International Association of Human Rights Institutes (AHRI)).