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Globalization and Human Rights 3 credits / 9 weeks weeks Professor Mihir Kanade The 21st century is described as the age of globalization, a phenomenon which is increasingly affecting human beings in every aspect of their lives. While globalization has undoubtedly resulted in significant economic and social integration at the global level, the pace at which it is occurring has also brought with it several unintended consequences for the respect and promotion of human rights at other levels. The principal institutions facilitating this phenomenon such as the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the World Trade Organization, have often been accused of keeping human rights issues out of their respective domains. Business Corporations also have been accused of undermining human rights, and at times even being complicit in gross violations. An important feature of globalization is its nexus with development policies in our contemporary world, including the newly adopted Sustainable Development Goals, development aid, regulation of infectious diseases, movement of people etc., often with regressive effects. The breakout of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 has brought the entire world to its knees. The world is in its biggest recession since the Great Depression. Already fragile countries and communities heavily in debt or suffering from armed conflicts are on the verge of unraveling into chaos. Millions of people in various regions of the world have lost their livelihoods. It is clear that the harshest impacts have been on the poorest and most vulnerable; yet the biggest casualty has been international solidarity at a time when it is most needed. This pandemic has exposed the massive fault lines along the already complex and tenuous interface between globalization and human rights.
Mihir Kanade
Dr. Mihir Kanade (India) is the Academic Coordinator of UPEACE, the Head of its Department of International Law, and the Director of the UPEACE Human Rights Centre. He is also the academic co-coordinator of the LLM programme in Transnational Crime and Justice offered jointly by UPEACE and UNICRI in Turin, Italy. He holds an LL.B. from Nagpur University (India) and a Master degree and Doctorate from UPEACE. He is an adjunct/visiting faculty at Universidad Alfonso X El Sabio (Spain), Cheikh Anta Diop University (Senegal), Universidad de Los Andes (Colombia) and Long Island University (United States). His principal area of academic research and study is International Law, Human Rights and Globalization, covering several themes within that interface including armed conflicts, trade and investment, sustainable development, forced migration, indigenous peoples’ rights, public health, amongst others. He currently serves as a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council's Expert Mechanism on the Right to Development in representation of the Asia-Pacific region. He also chairs the group of international experts mandated to elaborate the draft convention on the right to development. He has previously served on the International Advisory Board of the International Bar Association on the topic of Business and Human Rights. He leads an e-learning project of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on promoting the Right to Development. Prior to his pursuit in academia, Mihir practiced as a lawyer at the Bombay High Court and at the Supreme Court of India. |
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