Originally published on the CGS blog on May 21, 2016.
The Global Citizenship Commission (GCC) under the leadership of the former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown presented its report The Universal Declaration of Human Rights in the 21st Century (free PDF download) to the United Nations on 18 April 2016.
The Global Citizenship Commission was created “to illuminate the ideal of global citizenship. What does it mean for each of us to be members of the global society?” The principal aim of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) was to create a framework for a world society that was in need of universal codes based on mutual consent in order to function. This universality was clearly reaffirmed in the 1993 Vienna Declaration of the World Conference on Human Rights in which nearly all UN Member States took part.
In 1948, the members of the UN Commission on Human Rights saw the human rights process as a three-step effort. First was the proclamation of the general principles which was the UDHR. The second step was to be the codification of these principles into laws both at the world and at national levels. The third step was to be some form of implementation through reports and observation, possible complaints procedures and ultimately some form of enforcement or sanctions. In 1948, it was not clear how the second and third steps should be carried out.
Largely through the efforts of NGO representatives, there has been progress made both on issues and on bringing attention to vulnerable people. The Global Citizenship Commission highlights these advances. Much of the report is devoted to the analysis of the way the UN has met past challenges and is a good overview for those who have not participated directly. The report calls in a general way for improvements. “The international community needs a toolkit of governmental and multilateral responses to rights violations that is more legitimate and sophisticated than what we have today and which relies on mechanisms other than the use of force.”
The report highlights two new challenges:
- Discrimination due to sexual orientation;
- Migration-refugee flows due to both short-term armed conflict and longer-term consequences of climate change.
On the first issue of discrimination due to sexual orientation, representatives of NGOs have already been active. There has been real progress from the mid-1980s when the issue had been first raised and then “swept under the rug” due to strong opposition from a number of States. Now, UN Secretariat members have taken the lead. There is still much to be done, especially in changing attitudes at the individual and local levels, but I think that the direction toward inclusiveness has been set.
Issues of migration and refugees go beyond what NGOs can do alone, although NGOs have been active on both refugee and climate change questions. On 19 September, at the start of the UN General Assembly, there will be a one-day Summit on migration issues at the UN in New York. NGOs should be able to make migration-policy suggestions in advance and to raise the issue of “statelessness” which is increasingly a result of migration.
The Global Citizenship Commission with its secretariat at New York University Global Institute for Advanced Study has set out a clear overview of the past and has highlighted some of the new challenges − a useful alert for those of us working on global issues and a call for an increased number of contributors to this work.
