Mihir Kanade Explained

Mihir Kanade
Citizenship:India
Nationality:India
Fields:International law
Human rights and development
Workplaces:University for Peace
United Nations Human Rights Council
Alma Mater:Nagpur University (LL.B.)
University for Peace (MA, PhD)
Thesis Title:The Multilateral Trading System and Human Rights: A Governance Space Theory on Linkages
Thesis Year:2015
Known For:Right to development

Mihir Kanade is an author and professor of international law, human rights and development at the University for Peace (UPEACE),[1] a university founded by the United Nations.[2] He holds the concurrent positions of the Academic Coordinator of UPEACE since 2016, the Head of its Department of International Law since 2014, and the Director of the UPEACE Human Rights Centre since 2009.

Kanade is best known for his contribution to the promotion of the human right to development. He chairs the drafting group appointed by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Chair-Rapporteur of the Intergovernmental Working Group on the Right to Development, for preparing the “zero draft” of a legally binding instrument on the right to development.[3] On 13 March 2020, Kanade was elected by the United Nations Human Rights Council as a member of the Expert Mechanism on the Right to Development in representation of the Asia-Pacific region.[4] [5] The Human Rights Council renewed his mandate for another three years on 4 April 2023.[6]

Career

Academic and policy work

Kanade began his career as a lawyer practicing before the Bombay High Court (Bombay and Nagpur benches) and the Supreme Court of India in 2003, acting as an arguing and assisting counsel in several reported cases.[7] [8] [9] [10] [11] Kanade joined UPEACE in 2009 as a faculty member in the Department of International Law and as the Director of the UPEACE Human Rights Centre. In 2014, he was appointed as the Head of the Department of International Law, and has additionally held the position of the Academic Coordinator of UPEACE since 2017.[12]

He is also an adjunct faculty at Universidad Alfonso X El Sabio (Spain),[13] Long Island University (LIU Global Centre in Costa Rica),[14] and Universidad de Los Andes (Colombia),[15] and has taught courses on Gender Mainstreaming in Peacekeeping Operations at Cheikh Anta Diop University (Senegal).[16] Kanade serves as the academic co-coordinator of the LLM programme in Transnational Crime and Justice offered at the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI), Turin, Italy.[17] He has served on the International Advisory Board of the International Bar Association on the topic of Business and Human Rights.[18]

Kanade has worked, researched and taught extensively in the interface between globalization and its impacts on human rights, including themes such as global governance,[19] international trade,[20] [21] [22] protection of refugees,[23] [24] [25] statelessness,[26] health,[27] indigenous peoples’ rights,[28] [29] sustainable development,[30] [31] [32] business and human rights,[33] [34] among others. He is the author of the book The Multilateral Trading System and Human Rights: A Governance Space Theory on Linkages published in 2018.[35] [36] In this book, Kanade introduced a new theory called as “governance space” to serve as a framework for analyzing diverse linkages between the multilateral trading system and human rights, and proposed the right to development as the normative framework for resolving tensions.[37]

Work on the right to development

Kanade has been a prominent figure in the promotion of the right to development, especially in the context of implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. On 15 June 2016, at the invitation of its President, Kanade addressed the 32nd session of the UN Human Rights Council on the topic of ‘Operationalizing the Right to Development for Implementing the SDGs’, as part of a special panel convened to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the 1986 UN Declaration on the Right to Development.[38] In conjunction with the OHCHR and the UNU-IIGH, Kanade co-leads an e-learning project for training UN staff, diplomats, staff of governmental and non-governmental organizations, on Operationalizing the Right to Development in Implementation of the SDGs.[39] [40] He also leads a joint project between UPEACE and OHCHR to deliver training to various stakeholders on mainstreaming the right to development in Voluntary National Review Reporting for realizing the SDGs.[41] He has also addressed Member States at the UN Human Rights Council as a panelist,[42] [43] and moderator,[44] in side events promoting the right to development in the context of realization of the SDGs.

Kanade has for long been a strong advocate for a legally binding instrument on the right to development and has played an active role in the process of its elaboration.[45] He was invited by the Chair-Rapporteur of the Intergovernmental Working Group on the Right to Development at its 20th session in Geneva to provide expert advice to Member States on the “formulation of the right to development and the nature of obligations of State parties to a legally binding instrument on the right to development”,[46] in pursuance of Resolution 39/9 of the UN Human Rights Council.[47] Following this, Kanade was appointed as the chair of the drafting group of international experts for preparing a legally binding instrument on the right to development.[48] His mandate included drafting extensive commentaries on the zero draft of the treaty.[49] Kanade has thereafter led the legal discussions at the Working Group on the Right to Development at its 21st, 22nd and 23rd sessions, as well as the process of revising the draft convention along with updated commentaries.[50]

On 13 March 2020, Kanade was elected by the UN Human Rights Council as a member of the Expert Mechanism on the Right to Development,[51] a subsidiary body of the UN Human Rights Council on 27 September 2019 through Resolution 42/23.[52] Kanade was elected as a representative of the Asia-Pacific Region on the expert mechanism. During this mandate, Kanade authored a thematic study on "Operationalizing the Right to Development in Implementing the Sustainable Development Goals".[53] This study provides guidance to States and other stakeholders on operationalizing the right to development in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals incorporated in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, focusing on their means of implementation and the duty of States for international cooperation. It also highlights the heightened importance and urgency of bringing the 2030 Agenda back on track during and in the aftermath of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. He was reappointed by the Human Rights Council on this mandate on 4 April 2023.[54]

Education and other professional work

Kanade has an LLB from Nagpur University (India) and a Master’s degree in International Law and the Settlement of Disputes and a Doctorate in Peace and Conflict Studies from UPEACE. Apart from his work on globalization, human rights, and development, Kanade also teaches and publishes on the international law dimensions of peace and conflicts,[55] as well as on the role of international law and adjudication in conflict resolution and transformation.[56]

He is the founder of two professional development online diploma programmes on “Human Rights and Forced Displacement”,[57] and “Sustainable Development and Human Rights”,[58] offered by the UPEACE Human Rights Centre.

Kanade has also led projects for training several national and multinational corporations in Panama, Nicaragua and Costa Rica on mainstreaming human rights into corporate activities.[59] He, however, has been a fierce critique of the legal principles adopted in the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights insofar as they deny legally binding obligations on businesses under international law to respect human rights (that is, do no harm to human rights of others), and also deny obligations on home States to require their corporations to respect human rights when they operate extraterritorially.

Recognition in press

Kanade’s appointment as the Chair-Rapporteur of the drafting group for preparing a legally binding instrument on the Right to Development was covered in the national press in India, as well as in the local press of his hometown, Nagpur.[60] On 4 March 2020, Maharashtra Times published an article in Marathi language, recognizing the contribution of Kanade to world peace through his work at UPEACE and on development.[61]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: University for Peace. 2021-03-19. www.upeace.org.
  2. Web site: United Nations. 2021-03-19. undocs.org.
  3. Draft Convention on the Right to Development, Report of the Chair-Rapporteur of the Working Group on the Right to Development, Ambassador Zamir Akram, to the United Nations Human Rights Council, A/HRC/WG.2/21/2, 17 January 2020, para. 10.
  4. Web site: Where global solutions are shaped for you News & Media HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL ADOPTS UNIVERSAL PERIODIC REVIEW OUTCOME OF BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA, HOLDS DEBATE ON THE INTERNATIONAL DECADE FOR PEOPLE OF AFRICAN DESCENT, AND SUSPENDS ITS FORTY-THIRD SESSI. www.unog.ch. 2020-04-25.
  5. Web site: nzoller. 2020-03 UN HR Special Procedures: 19 Experts appointed during 43rd session by HR Council. 2021-03-19. en-US.
  6. https://www.ohchr.org/en/news/2023/04/human-rights-council-concludes-fifty-second-regular-session-after-adopting-43
  7. Web site: Digamber Yeshwantrao Watane vs Agricultural Produce Market ... on 5 July, 2004. 2021-03-19.
  8. Web site: Sheshrao Wankhede's 56th Birthday Foundation & Another Vs. Pratibha Uttamrao Gadwe & Others on 31 January, 2005 - Legitquest. 2021-03-19. www.legitquest.com.
  9. Web site: Education Society, Yavatmal Vs. Narayan Govindrao Deshpande & Others on 07 June, 2005 - Legitquest. 2021-03-19. www.legitquest.com.
  10. B.S.N. Joshi & Sons Ltd. vs. Naircoal Services Ltd. – (2006) 11 SCC 548, https://www.casemine.com/judgement/in/5609ae3ee4b0149711413496
  11. Web site: State Of Maharashtra Vs. Madhukar Wamanrao Smarth Etc on 24 March, 2008 - Legitquest. 2021-03-19. www.legitquest.com.
  12. University for Peace Human Rights Centre, “Core-Team”, https://hrc.upeace.org/about-us/upeace-hrc-core-team/
  13. Universidad Alfonso X El Sabio, “Master in Dynamics of Cooperation, Conflicts and Negotiation in International Relations and Diplomacy”, https://www.goldenfuture.education/brochures/spain/universidad-alfonso-x-el-sabio.pdf
  14. Web site: Faculty and Staff Long Island University. www.liu.edu. 2020-04-25.
  15. Web site: Public International Law. escueladeveranoderecho.uniandes.edu.co. 2020-04-25.
  16. Web site: A First for Africa: an Advanced Degree in Gender and Peacebuilding. World Bank. en. 2020-04-25.
  17. Web site: Faculty. unicri.it. 2020-04-25.
  18. Web site: IBA - IBA Business and Human Rights. www.ibanet.org. en-gb. 2020-04-25.
  19. University for Peace, “Global Governance”, https://elearning.upeace.org/course.cfm?id_instance=EF563857-9A2D-4C6D-BC2E-424A8A0AF9A9
  20. Book: Kanade, Mihir. The Multilateral Trading System and Human Rights: A Governance Space Theory on Linkages. Routledge. 2018. London and New Delhi.
  21. Kanade. Mihir. 2016. Chronicles of the Doha Wars: The battle of Nairobi – Appraisal of the Tenth WTO Ministerial. Strathmore Law Journal. 2. 1. 155–164. 10.52907/slj.v2i1.19. free.
  22. Kanade. Mihir. 2012. Human Rights and Multilateral Trade: A Pragmatic Approach to Understanding the Linkages. Journal Jurisprudence. 15. 389–418.
  23. University for Peace Human Rights Centre, “Protection of Refugees”, https://hrc.upeace.org/protection-of-refugees-2020/
  24. Kanade. Mihir. 2019. Don't Ask Me Who I Am: The Deaf Ear and the Blind Eye of Maritime Law on Disembarkation of Refugees and Asylum-Seekers Rescued at Sea. ISIL Yearbook of International Humanitarian and Refugee Law. 16. 1–42.
  25. News: Kanade. Mihir. Why a Blanket Legal Entry Policy Will Hurt Poor Immigrants the Most. 29 June 2019. Financial Express. 23 April 2020.
  26. University for Peace Human Rights Centre, “Protection of Stateless Persons”, https://hrc.upeace.org/protection-of-stateless-persons-2020/
  27. United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, “Health and Human Rights”, https://hre.ohchr.org/hret/ProgrammeDetail.aspx?PGMKey=884&Lng=en
  28. University for Peace Human Rights Centre, “Indigenous Peoples’ Rights and Development”, https://hrc.upeace.org/indigenous-peoples-rights-and-development-2020/
  29. United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Indigenous Peoples’ Rights in the Field, https://hre.ohchr.org/hret/ProgrammeDetail.aspx?PGMKey=983&Lng=en
  30. Kanade, Mihir, 2017. “Technology and the Sustainable Development Goals: A Right to Development Approach”, in Mariateresa Garrido (ed.) Human Rights and Technology: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, Ciudad Colon: UPEACE Press, Chapter 1, pp. 7–30.
  31. Kanade, Mihir. 2018. “The Right to Development and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”, in Kanade and Puvimanasinghe (eds.) Operationalizing the Right to Development for Implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals, Geneva: United Nations and UPEACE, Chapter 3.
  32. Kanade, Mihir, 2018. “The Right to Development Framework for Sustaining Peace and Sustainable Development”, in Kanade and Puvimanasinghe (eds.) Operationalizing the Right to Development for Implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals, Geneva: United Nations and UPEACE, Chapter 10.
  33. Kanade, Mihir. 2014. ‘UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights: Presenting the Problem as the Solution’, in Laura Westra and Mirian Villela (eds), The Earth Charter, Ecological Integrity, and Social Movements, New York: Routledge, pp. 39–49.
  34. University for Peace (2015), Good Practices Manual: Building Capacities for the Integration of Human Rights in Social Responsibility, Ciudad Colon, Costa Rica: UPEACE Press.
  35. Kanade, Mihir. 2018. The Multilateral Trading System and Human Rights: A Governance Space Theory on Linkages, London and New Delhi: Routledge
  36. Fauchald. Ole Kristian. 2019. Book Review, Mihir Kanade. The Multilateral Trading System and Human Rights: A Governance Space Theory on Linkages. Oxford: Routledge, 2018. European Journal of International Law. 30. 694–702.
  37. Kanade, Mihir. 2018. The Multilateral Trading System and Human Rights: A Governance Space Theory on Linkages, London and New Delhi: Routledge, Chapters 2 and 8.
  38. Web site: OHCHR Panel discussion Commemoration 30th Anniversary. www.ohchr.org. 2020-04-25.
  39. University for Peace, “E-Course: Right to Development and the SDGs”, https://www.upeace.org/departments/e-course-on-the-right-to-development
  40. Web site: E-Learning Module on the Right to Development and Sustainable Development Goals - International Institute for Global Health. iigh.unu.edu. en-US. 2020-04-25.
  41. https://www.upeace.org/pages/mainstreaming-the-right-to-development-in-voluntary-national-review-reporting
  42. Kanade, Mihir. 2016. ‘Advancing Peace, Rights and Well-being: A Right to Development Approach to SDGs as the Way Forward’. Speech delivered at the event ‘In Search of Dignity and Sustainable Development for All’, Geneva, United Nations, 29 February, https://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Development/Pages/SearchOfDignity.aspx
  43. https://media.un.org/en/asset/k1b/k1b8cp9y84
  44. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, “RTD WG side event: Leaving No One Behind: A Right to Development Perspective”, Geneva, 1 May 2019, https://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Development/Pages/Events.aspx
  45. Web site: Right to Development: Indian scholar Mihir Kanade to chair UN group of experts to draft international treaty. 2019-11-01. The Financial Express. en-US. 2020-04-25.
  46. Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, The twentieth session of the Working Group on the Right to Development, https://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Development/Pages/20thSession.aspx
  47. United Nations Human Rights Council, The Right to Development, Resolution A/HRC/RES/39/9, Adopted on 27 September 2018, paras. 17(e) and (f).
  48. Draft Convention on the Right to Development, Report of the Chair-Rapporteur of the Working Group on the Right to Development, Ambassador Zamir Akram, to the Human Rights Council, A/HRC/WG.2/21/2, para. 10.
  49. Draft Convention on the Right to Development, with commentaries, A/HRC/WG.2/21/2/Add.1, 20 January 2020.
  50. https://www.ohchr.org/en/events/events/2023/24th-session-working-group-right-development
  51. Web site: OHCHR Special Procedures Appointments to be made at the 43rd session of the Human Rights Council (24 February - 20 March 2020). www.ohchr.org. 2020-04-25.
  52. United Nations Human Rights Council, Right to Development, Resolution A/HRC/RES/42/23, 27 September 2019, paras 29 to 34.
  53. https://www.ohchr.org/en/documents/studies/ahrc4863-operationalizing-right-development-achieving-sustainable-development
  54. https://www.ohchr.org/en/news/2023/04/human-rights-council-concludes-fifty-second-regular-session-after-adopting-43
  55. University for Peace, International Law Dimensions of Peace and Conflicts, https://elearning.upeace.org/course.cfm?id_instance=79FD79E1-E88E-472F-AF4B-4B0AB8C81684
  56. Kanade, Mihir (2019), “Role of International Adjudication in Conflict Resolution and Transformation” in Francisco Rojas (ed.) The Difficult Task of Peace: Crisis, Fragility & Conflict in an Uncertain World, Palgrave McMillan, pp.131-170.
  57. Web site: Diploma in Human Rights and Forced Displacement (Rolling Enrollments) Human Rights Centre. en-US. 2020-04-25.
  58. Web site: Diploma in Sustainable Development and Human Rights (Rolling Enrollments) Human Rights Centre. en-US. 2020-04-25.
  59. Kanade, Mihir (2018), Presentation for the Regional Consultations on the Right to Development, Panama, 11–12 October, p. 3, https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Development/SR/ConsultationGrulac/MihirKanade_WrittenTranscript.pdf
  60. Web site: City's Dr Mihir Kanade to head UN panel on right to development. www.thehitavada.com. en. 2020-04-25.
  61. Web site: 'मिहीर' जागतिक शांततेच्या प्रयत्नात माहीर!. Maharashtra Times. mr. 2020-04-25.

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