One Right Doesn’t Fit All: Intersectionality and the Gaps in International Human Rights
Wed, Apr 30
|University of Cambridge - Hughes Hall
📢 The Observatory on Human Rights presents at Cambridge University’s Hughes Hall with Dr. Markus Gehring — sharing insights from our latest reports and advancing the conversation on human rights.
Time & Location
Apr 30, 2025, 12:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. GMT+1
University of Cambridge - Hughes Hall, Cambridge, UK
About the event
This presentation examines the evolving recognition of intersectionality within international human rights law (IHRL), with a particular focus on the recent work of two key United Nations treaty bodies: the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) and the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).
In relation to CERD, the analysis centers on General Recommendation No. 37, wherein the Committee articulates the compounded effects of racial and gender-based discrimination on access to health. Drawing on case studies from Canada, we underscore the relevance of CERD’s intersectional lens and argue that a positive rights approach offers a more robust framework for the meaningful realization of the right to health. Such an approach not only better captures intersecting and indirect forms of discrimination, but also foregrounds the proactive obligations of states to establish conditions conducive to substantive equality in health outcomes.
Turning to CEDAW, the presentation explores the Faith4Rights framework, which engages religious actors in the promotion and protection of women’s rights. Through an analysis of the framework and subsequent Committee practice, we emphasize the significance of innovative, cross-sectoral advocacy in challenging compartmentalized and inadequate understandings of women’s rights.