GC Human Rights Preparedness

European solidarity towards people fleeing the war in Ukraine exposes discriminatory treatment of other asylum seekers. The decision to activate the Temporary Protection Mechanism to provide immediate protection to Ukrainian refugees shows that when there is political will, another approach is possible.

On February 24, 2022, I woke up in a new reality. My morning began before dawn with phone calls, messages and emails from family, colleagues and friends telling me that Russia had attacked Ukraine, with tanks entering from the territory of Belarus.

As this Curated series draws to a close, we reflect on what it emphasises as regards human rights preparedness for digitalisation.

What are the true requirements for ending world hunger? Drawing lessons from community-driven food growing initiatives in South Africa, we advocate for a human rights-based approach to build communities with localised and participatory food systems.

In framing education as a ‘right’, we often displace ways of learning that are inherent and indigenous to our everyday lives. Through counterculture pedagogy that thinks of kindness and imagination as forms of intelligence, education can be a collective endeavour where each of us are interconnected and knowledgeable in abundant ways.

Latin America and the Caribbean is the most insecure region for land and environmental defenders. States must be prepared to protect human rights defenders and implement public policies tackling the root causes of violence, including rethinking the extractive matrix.

The extraordinary growth of cyberspace has created new possibilities and threats in warfare. It has become crucial to identify a common understanding of cyber warfare if we are to effectively protect civilians from the direct and intentional effects of cyber operations.