2026 Social Forum - Palais des Nations
Date
29 - 30 October 2026
LOCATION
ASSEMBLY HALL, PALAIS DES NATIONS, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
The Institute is among the organizations accredited to attend the 2026 Social Forum.
Registration
Registration from 10 August to 23 October 2026, through Indico on https://indico.un.org/event/1025048/
In 2026, the Social Forum will take place on 29 and 30 October in Assembly Hall, Palais des Nations, Geneva. In accordance with resolution 59/21 of the Human Rights Council, it will focus on the contribution of international cooperation and solidarity, including South-South cooperation, to the realization of the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health.
Background
The right to development and the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health are mutually reinforcing and indivisible human rights.
As articulated in the 1986 Declaration on the Right to Development, the right to development is an inalienable human right by virtue of which every human person and all peoples are entitled to participate in, contribute to and enjoy economic, social, cultural and political development in which all human rights and fundamental freedoms can be fully realized (art.1). It is a people-centred right grounded in participation, equity, non-discrimination, self-determination, international cooperation, and the fair distribution of the benefits of development. States bear responsibility, individually and collectively, for creating national and international conditions conducive to its realization (arts. 3 and 4). This is reiterated in ICESCR, Article 2(1), which further stipulates that State Parties undertakes to act “individually and through international assistance and co-operation” to achieve ESCR.
The right to health requires that essential health services, goods and facilities be available, accessible, acceptable, and of good quality, without discrimination. The right to health encompasses not only access to physical and mental health but also its underlying determinants, including safe drinking water, sanitation, food, nutrition, housing, healthy environmental conditions, access to information as well as structural determinants of health, such as gender equality.
The two rights are linked at both conceptual and operational levels. The realization of the right to health enables individuals and communities to participate fully in society, while the right to development, including international cooperation for the realization of its different dimensions, helps ensure equitable and non-discriminatory access to health care, including by facilitating the necessary social, economic, environmental and technological conditions for the enjoyment of the right to physical and mental health.
The 2026 Social Forum will examine the relationship of the realization of the two rights at a time of profound, intersecting global challenges. Sharp declines in Official Development Assistance (ODA) for health, mounting fiscal constraints, rising debt burdens and growing military expenditure amid emerging armed conflicts, are placing unprecedented pressure on health systems. In the meanwhile, digital technologies are transforming health governance, and harmful narratives are hampering progress on advancing the right to health. These challenges call for strengthened international cooperation and solidarity, which is central to both the realization of the right to health and the right to development.
The forum will provide a platform for States, UN entities, international financial institutions, national human rights institutions, civil society, and academia among other stakeholders to examine how a right to development perspective can guide and accelerate the realization of the right to health.
Members of the Institute’s PhD Council who are interested in attending the Forum may express their interest.
Further information regarding participation and attendance arrangements will be provided to interested members.
