Dr Kasey McCall-Smith addressed the EU Council Working Party on Human Rights

As part of this year's ongoing reflections on the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), Dr Kasey McCall-Smith addressed the EU Council Working Party on Human Rights (COHOM) in External Action. The event, which was hosted by the Leuven Centre for Global Governance Studies at KU Leuven in Belgium, was organised as an open and interactive debate aimed at nurturing a joint reflection on how the EU and its Member States can join forces with the UN and civil society to uphold the UDHR. She was one of three speakers, including Jan Wouters of KU Leuven and Felipe Gomez Isa of University of Deusto, who each addressed different aspects of the UDHR and its contemporary role in underpinning the international human rights system.

The focus of Dr McCall-Smith's intervention was the connection between the UDHR and international human rights treaties, such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. She further elaborated how working with local actors to demystify human rights law for rights-holders and duty-bearers was one of many ways in which the aims of the UDHR can continually be reinforced in local spaces.