University of Oslo

How do shifting global power dynamics affect human rights norms and institutions, and what role can development assistance and key stakeholders play in a changed geopolitical climate?

Intensifying geopolitical rivalry and challenges to multilateralism are putting the international human rights system under severe strain, as funding declines and states increasingly undermine human rights mechanisms and courts.

Norway is one of the world’s largest per capita contributors to the multilateral system, with a foreign policy that emphasizes international law, support for the UN, and the promotion of human rights. Yet the architecture of international law and the human rights system is under growing pressure, as weak domestic implementation and deliberate pushback against international mechanisms and regional courts undermine the credibility of human rights norms.

This seminar brings together leading voices from the UN, academia and civil society to unpack what is happening on the ground and to explore how Norway can continue to shape and defend human rights norms in a geopolitical landscape where they are increasingly under attack.

Co-hosted by the Norwegian Centre for Human Rights (NCHR) at the University of Oslo, and the United Nations Association of Norway, this event responds to the project “Vendepunkt”, which will help shape clearer priorities for Norwegian development policy ahead of a white paper to Parliament in spring 2027.

Clément Voule, Former UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Peaceful Assembly and Association

Moderated by Julie Viker Aanensen. NCHR (Including Q & A with the audience)

The event is free and open to all. Sign up via the link below.