Vienna+20. Advancing the Protection of Human Rights

On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the World Conference of Human Rights in 1993 and the adoption of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action (VDPA), an international high-level expert conference took place in Vienna on 27-28 June 2013. The conference gathered some 200 experts from all parts of the world, who on the one hand reaffirmed the key achievements of the VDPA, such as the universality and indivisibility, as well as the legitimacy of the international protection of human rights; on the other hand the experts addressed on the basis of these accomplishments current and future challenges to the international human rights system. The discussions at this meeting focused - in three expert working groups, as well as in various high-level public panels - on the following thematic areas: Strengthening the rule of law, realising the human rights of women universally, and the preparation of a human rights-based approach for the post-2015 development agenda. The conference resulted in action-oriented recommendations to States and other actors, which were presented to the United Nations Human Rights Council as well as the General Assembly in autumn 2013.