A Chronicle Conversation with Gaynel Curry

Gaynel Curry pledged to bring visibility to the challenges faced by vulnerable and marginalized groups, particularly women and girls of African descent. April 2024. © Crystalized moments
The Permanent Forum on People of African Descent held its fifth session under the theme of expanding the human rights for People of African Descent during the Second International Decade. April 2026.  © Daniel Fadelle
: When youth of African descent are excluded from decision-making, policies are made without the people most affected by them. No decisions about us without us. April 2024. © Crystalized moments

In additon to addressing longstanding issues, the Second International Decade for People of African Descent (2025-2034) should examine new and emerging concerns of people of African descent, including climate and digital justice, and artificial intelligence, among other matters.

Dignity Requires Truth

Flag bearing images of the faces of the Disappeared during a demonstration commemorating the thirty-fifth anniversary of the 1976 coup d'état in Argentina, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 24 March 2011. Banfield via Wikimedia Commons
Bernard Duhaime, then Chair of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, speaks to the press at United Nations Headquarters, New York, 18 October 2018. Photo Credit: UN Photo/Loey Felipe

Predating its formal legal codification by decades, the right to truth has consistently been recognized across international lawmaking, court decisions and the lived experience of survivors.

Progress Towards Dismantling Racial Discrimination Globally: How International Human Rights Law Supports Justice at All Levels

Gay McDougall with members of the Batwa community in Rwanda, 2011. Photo provided courtesy of the author.
Secretary-General Kofi Annan (right at podium) speaking at the opening of the World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance in Durban, South Africa in 2001. UN Photo/Evan Schneider

The painful legacy of racism and discrimination has scarred societies globally. Millions have lost their lives or had their dreams diminished or denied because of the false ideology that one life is superior to another.

Access to Information: A Cornerstone of Sustainable Development, Human Rights and Environmental Resilience

© Adobe Stock
Tawfik Jelassi

Access to information is the bridge that allows citizens to demand justice, journalists to expose corruption, and communities to secure basic services.

COSP18: Spotlight on disability rights ahead of Second World Summit for Social Development

Photo credit: UNDP Cambodia

10 June 2025 - Persons with disabilities continue to face persistent barriers in daily life - limited access to education and employment, discrimination, and exclusion from decision-making. While progress has been made since the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), the pace of change remains far too slow.

Reflections on the Tenth Anniversary of the Ark of Return

The Ark of Return memorial (foreground) on the United Nations Visitors Plaza, United Nations Headquarters, New York. Credit: Rodney Leon
Inside the Ark of Return memorial. Credit: Rodney Leon
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon inaugurates Permanent Memorial to Honour the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade--the Ark of Return--on the Visitors Plaza, United Nations Headquarters, New York, 25 March 2015. Credit: Rodney Leon

Visitors are meant to pass through the Ark of Return—the Permanent Memorial in Honour of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade—to intimately experience three primary elements addressing the past, present and future.

The Beijing Platform for Action at 30: Marking Progress and Addressing Challenges in Pursuit of Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment

Town Hall Meeting with Civil Society during the sixty-ninth Session of the Commission on Status of Women (CSW), United Nations General Assembly Hall, New York, 11 March 2025. UN Photo/Evan Schneider

The status of women has improved significantly since the first Beijing conference in 1995, yet there is still much work to be done to achieve true equality.

Holocaust Remembrance for Dignity and Human Rights

Professor Jocelyn Getgen Kestenbaum (left) in conversation with Holocaust survivor Evelyn Konrad during the event “Remembering Vienna: An Evening with Evelyn Konrad”, held at Cardozo School of Law in New York City, 10 October 2024. Photo: Sari Goodfriend
Jewish people on a railway platform after disembarking from a train at the Auschwitz-Birkenau German Nazi concentration and extermination camp, 12 May 1944. Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-N0827-318 / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 DE

Today, genocidal and other atrocity violence occurs in all corners of the globe, largely unabated and with near-total impunity. Even in places that do not make headlines, individuals and communities are targeted for identity-based discrimination and violence. 

International Solidarity Map for Peace and Human Rights

All States, international organizations, non-State actors and individuals have the duty to respect, protect and fulfill the right to international solidarity. Photo by Min An
Cecilia M. Bailliet, United Nations Independent Expert on human rights and international solidarity
Illustration: United Nations Department of Global Communications

International solidarity is a principle that recalls the responsibility of States, international organizations, corporations and civil society to strengthen the enjoyment of human rights and peace by everyone through transnational networks of communication.

Safeguarding Human Rights and Information Integrity in the Age of Generative AI

herbinisaac from Pixabay
Innova Labs from Pixabay

Together, we can ensure that generative AI is used appropriately, and that its benefits are achieved without endangering information integrity and human rights.