Mihir Kanade is an author and professor of international law, human rights and development at the University for Peace (UPEACE), a university founded by the United Nations. 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.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. 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. The Human Rights Council renewed his mandate for another three years on 4 April 2023.https://www.ohchr.org/en/news/2023/04/human-rights-council-concludes-fifty-second-regular-session-after-adopting-43
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.B.S.N. Joshi & Sons Ltd. vs. Naircoal Services Ltd. – (2006) 11 SCC 548, https://www.casemine.com/judgement/in/5609ae3ee4b0149711413496 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.University for Peace Human Rights Centre, “Core-Team”, https://hrc.upeace.org/about-us/upeace-hrc-core-team/
He is also an adjunct faculty at Universidad Alfonso X El Sabio (Spain),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 Long Island University (LIU Global Centre in Costa Rica), and Universidad de Los Andes (Colombia), and has taught courses on Gender Mainstreaming in Peacekeeping Operations at Cheikh Anta Diop University (Senegal). 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. He has served on the International Advisory Board of the International Bar Association on the topic of Business and Human Rights.
Kanade has worked, researched and taught extensively in the interface between globalization and its impacts on human rights, including themes such as global governance,University for Peace, “Global Governance”, https://elearning.upeace.org/course.cfm?id_instance=EF563857-9A2D-4C6D-BC2E-424A8A0AF9A9 international trade, protection of refugees,University for Peace Human Rights Centre, “Protection of Refugees”, https://hrc.upeace.org/protection-of-refugees-2020/ statelessness,University for Peace Human Rights Centre, “Protection of Stateless Persons”, https://hrc.upeace.org/protection-of-stateless-persons-2020/ health,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 indigenous peoples’ rights,University for Peace Human Rights Centre, “Indigenous Peoples’ Rights and Development”, https://hrc.upeace.org/indigenous-peoples-rights-and-development-2020/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 sustainable development,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.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.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. business and human rights,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.University for Peace (2015), Good Practices Manual: Building Capacities for the Integration of Human Rights in Social Responsibility, Ciudad Colon, Costa Rica: UPEACE Press. 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.Kanade, Mihir. 2018. The Multilateral Trading System and Human Rights: A Governance Space Theory on Linkages, London and New Delhi: Routledge 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.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.
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. 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.University for Peace, “E-Course: Right to Development and the SDGs”, https://www.upeace.org/departments/e-course-on-the-right-to-development 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.https://www.upeace.org/pages/mainstreaming-the-right-to-development-in-voluntary-national-review-reporting He has also addressed Member States at the UN Human Rights Council as a panelist,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.aspxhttps://media.un.org/en/asset/k1b/k1b8cp9y84 and moderator,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 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. 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”,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 in pursuance of Resolution 39/9 of the UN Human Rights Council.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). 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.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. His mandate included drafting extensive commentaries on the zero draft of the treaty.Draft Convention on the Right to Development, with commentaries, A/HRC/WG.2/21/2/Add.1, 20 January 2020. 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.https://www.ohchr.org/en/events/events/2023/24th-session-working-group-right-development
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, a subsidiary body of the UN Human Rights Council on 27 September 2019 through Resolution 42/23.United Nations Human Rights Council, Right to Development, Resolution A/HRC/RES/42/23, 27 September 2019, paras 29 to 34. 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".https://www.ohchr.org/en/documents/studies/ahrc4863-operationalizing-right-development-achieving-sustainable-development 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.
Education and other professional work