René Cassin works to ensure that the UK honours its international human rights commitments. We also aim to protect rights at the national level by raising the international community’s awareness of human rights issues in the UK.
René Cassin’s international advocacy works via:
- United Nations Universal Periodic Review – The UN’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) is a means by which United Nations Member States present their human rights records to each other and the UN. Set up by the Human Rights Council in 2006, the UPR allows Member States to demonstrate the actions they have taken to uphold human rights in their countries, as well as to outline the areas where further progress is needed. The report is supported and supplemented by information provided by UN accredited non-governmental organisations such as René Cassin, civil society actors and national organisations which promote human rights. The UK has ratified all of the major UN human rights treaties and is legally bound by these conventions. The UPR allows the UN’s Human Rights Council to scrutinise the human rights records of member states. René Cassin submits reports to the review process and attends relevant meetings of the UPR Working Group and Human Rights Council.
- United Nations treaty bodies – We report to the bodies monitoring implementation of binding treaties that the UK has signed, such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.
- United Nations Human Rights Council – We brief UN Special Rapporteurs on topics related to our policy areas, and draw attention to human rights violations. For example, in 2007 we addressed the Council on the issue of the Genocide in Darfur.
