Edmund Rice International

Edmund Rice International is an ECOSOC accredited NGO working within the UN. This means that it can be active within the UN in a variety of ways. From its very inception, NGOs have been recognised as having had a major role to play within the UN, particularly with regards to human rights. Increasing restrictions on […]

The International Labour Organization (ILO) is a United Nations agency dealing specifically with labour issues, standards, social protection, and work justice for all. In 2014, the International Labour Conference adopted a new protocol that confirmed the obligations under Convention No. 29, a convention adopted in 1930 to prohibit the use of forced labour. The ILO […]

Fifty years ago, the United Nations General Assembly adopted two international treaties that would forever shape international human rights: The International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). Created in the aftermath of WWII, the two Covenants along with the Universal Declaration of Human […]

That old saying ‘ignorance is bliss’ is undoubtedly applicable when it comes to human rights and agriculture. It would be fairly safe to say personally, I don’t think I’ve ever picked up a tomato at a supermarket, or any other vegetable for that matter, and thought about the workers at the bottom of the supply […]

 “On the short time that children get to be children, statelessness can set in stone grave problems that will haunt them throughout their childhoods and sentence them to a life of discrimination, frustration and despair. If our hopes for the future generation are to be realised, that generation must be a meaningful part of the […]

On 26th October, Caritas Internationalis hosted a meeting for all Faith-Based Organisations (FBOs) and agencies that work with the issue of HIV/AIDS to address how we can play a part in the ending of AIDS as a public health threat. Monsignor Robert Vitillo hosted the event detailing the impact a number of FBOs have had […]

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, began his opening address at the 30th session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva by poetically referring to the pivotal image that shocked the world. It was an image that evoked sadness, disgrace and anger. It was the image of Alan Kurdi, lying […]

The USA presented for Universal Periodic Review on 11 May. State parties in their comments and Recommendations targeted heavily the ‘big ticket’ issues of equality particularly all forms of racial discrimination, abolition of the death penalty, closure of Guantanamo Bay detention facility, use of torture and drones, surveillance policies and ratification of core international human […]

In his opening address to the 28th session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, called upon representatives to display ‘profound and inspiring leadership’ to combat the challenges of discrimination and deprivation, and the address the conflicts and crises currently generating needless human suffering. […]

In the first week of December 2014, the United Nations in Geneva hosted the third Annual Forum on Business and Human Rights. This is designed to showcase and review how fast the UN Guiding Principles (on Business and Human Rights) are being taken up by States, businesses and civil society, and notably by those who […]