Exploring social justice in the Library

Social justice has been at the heart of the Geneva Graduate Institute’s mission since it was founded in 1927. Its short definition in the Oxford Reference is: “The aim of creating a fair and equal society in which everyone counts, their rights are recognised and protected, and decisions are made fairly and honestly”. In this blog post, our colleague Isabelle Vuillemin-Raval takes you on a tour through our collections on the subject.

The issue of social justice is currently a priority, whether in terms of food insecurity and hunger, inequalities, right to vote, climate justice, access to health, migration, income gaps, and so on. The UN website dedicated to the International Day of Social Justice states that this topic should be at the heart of national and international political agendas. It is the key to maintaining peace and security, and thus guarantees fundamental human rights.

At the beginning of February 2024, the Geneva Graduate Institute joined the Global Coalition for Social Justice. The motivation being that “As a research and postgraduate training institution, the Institute is ready to join forces and contribute to this forum for exchange and dialogue in order to advance social justice and decent work and, in so doing, build the structural conditions for the peace that our world so badly needs. The Global Coalition for Social Justice aims to intensify collective efforts to urgently address social justice deficits and accelerate the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Decent Work Agenda.”

In this context, the Library, through this post, humbly wishes to highlight the relevance of its collections in supporting the search for solutions. Many of our classifications of books and films deal with the subject, so we have tried below to make a selection of the main sections covering the topic of social justice. You can also take a look at a selection of titles in the entrance of the Library for the next two weeks.