Search Tips
sorted by
30 shown of 117 entities
Access to justice for people living in poverty 2012, para. 30
- Paragraph text
- Women living in poverty suffer compounded obstacles to accessing justice generated by inadequate legal frameworks and normative protection, because the deprivations and abuse that women suffer as women are often not recognized in law. Many States lack legal and constitutional frameworks that guarantee women the enjoyment of their rights, such as anti-discrimination laws. Issues such as domestic violence, sexual violence, reproductive rights, and equal pay and inheritance rights are not adequately addressed in many legal regimes, thus curtailing any possibility of seeking remedies. This has a particularly devastating impact on poor women, who are often left without any formal or informal recourse.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Access to justice for people living in poverty 2012, para. 42
- Paragraph text
- When judicial systems receive inadequate financial and human resource allocations from State budgets, police stations, prosecution corps and courthouses are understaffed and poorly equipped, and benches are deprived of adequate numbers of judges. The result is serious neglect and even mistreatment of those seeking justice, which is more pronounced for the most disadvantaged, whose cases are usually underprioritized. Again, this frequently has an especially harsh impact on women, as often the criminal justice and legal system lacks capacity to ensure a swift, fair and gender-sensitive approach.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Access to justice for people living in poverty 2012, para. 43
- Paragraph text
- Non-registration of complaints by the police is a practice common in overburdened and underresourced criminal justice systems. In such cases, it is usually the complaints of persons living in poverty that go unregistered, owing to bias and discrimination, and their disempowerment and lack of knowledge and information about their rights. Cases involving gender-based violence, notably rape allegations, often go unregistered, particularly when the victim is a woman living in poverty and lacks awareness or the means to pressure the police to investigate.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Poverty
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Access to justice for people living in poverty 2012, para. 44
- Paragraph text
- The rights and interests of women are thus especially compromised by badly resourced and trained judicial systems and police forces, State organs that traditionally reflect and prioritize the interests of men and are dominated by men. Not only do women living in poverty come up against stark power imbalances and discriminatory cultural norms and other social structures when instituting legal proceedings, they are also disadvantaged by the lack of training afforded to officials on the application of laws relating to gender-based violence and the proper treatment of victims and handling of complaints. Women living in poverty have even less power and capacity to challenge this state of affairs.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Poverty
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Access to justice for people living in poverty 2012, para. 54
- Paragraph text
- The existence of administrative and other fees disproportionately disadvantages women, who often have less financial independence or access to financial resources. Women's access to the judicial system to determine civil claims with respect to divorce, child custody and land inheritance is impeded when excessive fees are imposed. Women living in poverty may also be prevented from filing criminal charges for domestic violence, rape or other forms of gender-based violence because they are unable to afford the fees incurred.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Gender
- Poverty
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Access to justice for people living in poverty 2012, para. 63
- Paragraph text
- Women face compounded difficulties in accessing legal aid in criminal and civil matters. This has a particular impact on poor female victims of criminal offences such as domestic violence, or those pursuing divorce, child custody or land inheritance.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Gender
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Access to justice for people living in poverty 2012, para. 88
- Paragraph text
- Customary and traditional justice systems can also threaten women's access to fair and equal justice. Informal justice systems based on custom, tradition or ethnic or religious identity often contain unequal provisions for women and men, do not have sanctions against gender-based violence or other abuses which take place in the domestic sphere, and are sometimes procedurally biased against women. This is especially problematic as it is family laws and property laws that are most often subject to the jurisdiction of such legal systems.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Access to justice for people living in poverty 2012, para. 96
- Paragraph text
- [States should:] Ensure that serious crimes, including gender-based crimes or sexual violence, are dealt with within the formal justice system
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Access to justice for people living in poverty 2012, para. 96
- Paragraph text
- [States should:] Ensure that all forms of gender-based violence, including domestic violence, are criminalized and are subject to appropriate and enforceable criminal sanctions; develop specific strategies and systems to tackle gender-based violence perpetrated against persons living in poverty, including by providing shelter for victims of domestic violence
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Access to justice for people living in poverty 2012, para. 96
- Paragraph text
- [States should:] Create integrated and specialized services to address women's access to justice and ensure more efficient handling of gender-related crimes, including, for example, domestic violence courts and one-stop shops for sexual violence survivors; such services must be accessible and affordable for women living in poverty
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Extreme inequality and human rights 2015, para. 11
- Paragraph text
- The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has developed several indicators that measure social and horizontal inequalities. An inequality-adjusted human development index, calculated for 145 countries, indicates how achievements in the areas of health, education and income are distributed among a population. UNDP also publishes the coefficient of human inequality, which is a calculation of average inequality across the three dimensions mentioned above. UNDP further measures gender inequality in its gender inequality index. Looking at these different indices, which are not always as intuitive as the income indices described above, it becomes clear that many countries do not even come close to the levels of equality in terms of health, education and gender that exist in the more egalitarian countries. Where Norway had an inequality-adjusted human development index value of 0.891 in 2013, indicating a high level of equality in comparison with other countries, the figures in countries such as the United States (0.755), the Russian Federation (0.685), Chile (0.661), India (0.418) and the Central African Republic (0.203) are much lower. The gender-related development index (female to male ratio of the human development index) ranges from very high levels of equality between men and women in Norway (0.997) to a very high level of gender inequality in Afghanistan (0.602).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Extreme inequality and human rights 2015, para. 18
- Paragraph text
- Democracy and civil and political rights are closely linked to the equal division of economic and other factors that are crucial for well-being. Amartya Sen famously argued that democracy and the upholding of related civil and political rights, such as freedom of the press and the right to vote, are connected to the non-occurrence of famines. He suggested that "India's success in eradicating famine is not matched by a similar success in … relieving inequalities in gender relations". According to Mr. Sen, deprivations such as gender inequality "call for deeper analysis, and for a greater and more effective use of mass communication and political participation - in sum, for a fuller practice of democracy". The existence of a democracy and the right to participate in the political process do not guarantee equal opportunity and more equal outcomes. As other authors have argued, the correlative human rights obligations necessary to "constitute democracy and ensure that it functions properly" include more than just the right to vote: the State "may need to take positive steps to protect individuals against other individuals' interference with the right."
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Extreme inequality and human rights 2015, para. 21
- Paragraph text
- Economic inequalities seem to encourage political capture and the unequal realization of civil and political rights. High levels of economic inequalities "may create institutions that maintain the political, economic and social privileges of the elite and lock the poor into poverty traps from which it is difficult to escape". This vicious cycle may be broken when civil and political rights are enjoyed more equally, as illustrated by the case of Chile. Under the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet during the 1970s and 1980s, income inequality worsened, then improved after democracy was reinstated (although it is still higher than it was in the 1960s or early 1970s). Another example is Rwanda, where gender equality is enshrined in the Constitution and a quota system has contributed to more than half of the members of Parliament being women, making it the only country in the world with more female than male members of parliament. After the introduction of the quota system, the Rwandan Parliament passed legislation to enhance gender equality, "including several laws aimed at preventing and punishing gender-based violence, laws granting more extensive property rights to women and key legislation on women in the workforce."
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Extreme inequality and human rights 2015, para. 25
- Paragraph text
- Although many forms of discrimination are inherently unjust, the correlation between gender-based discrimination and economic inequalities deserves special mention since it potentially affects half of the world's population. While both men and women may experience myriad inequalities, based on factors such as their race, ethnicity, sexual orientation or disability, gender-based discrimination is too often seen to be almost exclusively a women's problem. In its World Development Report 2012, the World Bank describes the forms of discrimination that still exist in many countries and that directly affect economic inequality between men and women. According to the World Bank, men and women still have different ownership rights in at least nine countries, and in many countries, women and girls still have fewer inheritance rights than men and boys. In addition, women continue to fare badly in the labour market generally. A stocktaking by the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women) shows that almost 80 countries maintain restrictions on the types of work that women are permitted to undertake. Also according to UN-Women, at the global level, women's labour force participation rates have stagnated since the 1990s. Currently, only half of women are in the labour force compared to more than three quarters of men. Despite considerable regional variations, nowhere has this gender gap been eliminated: globally, women earn on average 24 per cent less than men. In one study of four countries, lifetime income gaps between women and men were estimated to be between 31 and 75 per cent.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Girls
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Extreme poverty and human rights on universal basic income 2017, para. 72
- Paragraph text
- Fourth, the implications for gender equality from growing economic insecurity are almost unremittingly negative. It remains true that “the average woman’s career remains shorter, more disrupted and less remunerative than the average man’s”, and the consequences flow through into social security and related arrangements. Proponents of women’s human rights need to become more involved in debates over social protection and basic income.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Gender
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Human rights based approach to recovery from the global economic and financial crises, with a focus on those living in poverty 2011, para. 23
- Paragraph text
- Given the clearly disproportionate and devastating effect of the global economic and financial crises on vulnerable and disadvantaged groups, including children, persons with disabilities, older persons, indigenous peoples, ethnic minorities and migrants, States must be particularly careful to ensure that recovery measures do not exclude them or exacerbate their situation. Considering that gender inequality is a cause of and a factor that perpetuates poverty, effective recovery policies must take into account State obligations regarding gender equality and the protection of women's full range of rights.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Humanitarian
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Ethnic minorities
- Persons on the move
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
Human rights based approach to recovery from the global economic and financial crises, with a focus on those living in poverty 2011, para. 60
- Paragraph text
- While the impact of the crises has differed markedly in each country, all States must take into account their international human rights obligations when designing policy responses. Before implementing any policy measure, States must assess its social impact, including from a gender perspective, and should only adopt policies that are compatible with their international human rights obligations. Cuts in funding to social services that have the greatest impact on the lives of those living in poverty should be a measure of last resort, and should be taken only after serious consideration of all alternative policy options, including how funding to other areas not directly linked with the enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights might be otherwise reduced.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Humanitarian
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
Human rights based approach to recovery from the global economic and financial crises, with a focus on those living in poverty 2011, para. 75
- Paragraph text
- The obligations of non-discrimination and equality oblige States to ensure that employment creation policies benefit all sectors of society equally. Policies that increase the employability (for example, through demand-driven skills development and vocational training) of groups that face specific barriers in their access to employment, such as women, persons with disabilities, young people and indigenous populations, will assist States in fulfilling their human rights obligations. To remove obstacles to employment for women, States should ensure the availability of care services (from the State, the community and the market), the redistribution of paid and unpaid work from a gender perspective and the elimination of all forms of gender discrimination. States are not only obliged to undertake effective legislation to this end, but also to take measures to modify social and cultural patterns of conduct of men and women.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Ethnic minorities
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Youth
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
Human rights based approach to recovery from the global economic and financial crises, with a focus on those living in poverty 2011, para. 78
- Paragraph text
- There are several measures that States should take to ensure a gender approach in the design and implementation of recovery measures. For example, States should conduct a comprehensive and disaggregated gender analysis that assesses the vulnerabilities of both genders as potential beneficiaries of social policies, and design responses accordingly. In designing measures, policymakers should consider the impact of the crises on women's domestic (unpaid) and care work.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
Human rights based approach to recovery from the global economic and financial crises, with a focus on those living in poverty 2011, para. 79
- Paragraph text
- Recovery measures should prioritize investments in education and skill development for women and girls, provide investment in sectors where women make up a considerable proportion of the labour force (such as in export manufacturing) and undertake gender budgeting to ensure that women benefit equally from public investments. Policymakers must design, implement, monitor and evaluate initiatives through a gender lens, so that policies are able to address asymmetries of power and structural inequalities, and enhance the realization of women's rights.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
Marginality of economic and social rights 2016, para. 56
- Paragraph text
- One of the most encouraging developments in recent years in relation to economic and social rights has been the growth of specialist NGOs at the international, national and, especially, local levels working to promote either economic and social rights in general or specific rights such as those relating to health, housing, education, water, gender equality, disability and ageing.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Health
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Older persons
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Penalization of people living in poverty 2011, para. 53
- Paragraph text
- Onerous conditions are often attached to the receipt of social benefits in order to gain political support and assure the public that only the "deserving" poor are receiving support. For example, some conditional cash transfer programmes in low- and middle-income countries pay cash to heads of households (generally women) in exchange for their commitment to do something in return, such as enrolling children in school and ensuring their attendance, or participating in health programmes. Although these conditions do encourage investment in human capital, they also impose additional burdens on women, whose needs are often ignored in designing the programme. The lack of a serious gender approach may perpetuate gender stereotypes about traditional household roles and responsibilities, and trigger domestic violence.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Women
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
Social protection and old age poverty 2010, para. 11
- Paragraph text
- The international community has committed itself to addressing the challenges associated with ageing in three documents: the Vienna International Plan of Action on Ageing (1982), the United Nations Principles for Older Persons (1991) and the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing (2002). These documents complement the existing human rights and labour standards which establish legally binding obligations upon States.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Older persons
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
Social protection and old age poverty 2010, para. 12
- Paragraph text
- The overarching goals of the Madrid Plan of Action on Ageing include ensuring the full enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights, and civil and political rights by older persons and the elimination of all forms of violence and discrimination against older persons; achieving gender equality for older persons through inter alia eliminating gender discrimination; and providing quality health care, support and social protection for older persons. The Plan of Action combines a statement of political will with practical recommended actions for States. Given their specificity and level of detail, these are vital tools to guide a State in implementing its political and legal commitments.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Older persons
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
Social protection and old age poverty 2010, para. 40
- Paragraph text
- In 2009, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women established a working group to elaborate a general recommendation on the rights of older women. In its preliminary work, the working group explains that the impact of gender inequalities throughout a woman's lifespan is intensified in old age and often results in unfair resource allocation, maltreatment, abuse, gender-based violence and prevention of access to basic services. The general recommendation will be an important tool for addressing the human rights of older women and the elimination of discrimination they face throughout their lives.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Older persons
- Women
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
Social protection and old age poverty 2010, para. 68
- Paragraph text
- Qualifying conditions for benefits of targeted schemes must be gender-sensitive, reasonable, objective and transparent. Particular care should be taken to ensure that it is the wealth of the older person him/herself that is assessed and not that of their household. Using household targeting methods for an individual benefit can place older persons in a disadvantageous position because of a lack of studies about household distribution of wealth. While community targeting is a method that can be implemented at reduced costs in many countries, it should also be examined carefully. Indeed, by leaving the decision of who gets the benefit to the discretion of community leaders, community targeting can reinforce power structures and patron-client relations. This can result in creating tensions between beneficiaries and others, further stigmatizing some groups.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Older persons
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
Social protection and old age poverty 2010, para. 71
- Paragraph text
- Eligibility requirements for social pensions must be provided for in national law and mechanisms must be available to ensure the timely inclusion in the programmes. When adopting a universal scheme, States must put in place rolling registration systems to allow individuals to register as soon as they reach the age requirement. If the scheme is poverty-targeted, the qualifying conditions for benefits must be gender-sensitive, reasonable, objective and transparent.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Older persons
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
Social protection and old age poverty 2010, para. 97
- Paragraph text
- In such contexts, the income security and empowerment that a social pension provides is vital. However, the importance of social pension for women must not absolve States of their duty to take other measures to ensure gender equality and protect women against gender-based violence. In most countries, women's vulnerability to poverty will not change with a social pension alone. Measures such as access to land and economic resources for women, fair inheritance rights and full legal capacity are essential to improve their standard of living.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Poverty
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
Taxation and human rightss 2014, para. 79c
- Paragraph text
- [States must realize the full potential of tax collection as a tool to generate revenue for the fulfilment of human rights obligations and to redress discrimination and inequality. Human rights principles regarding participation, transparency, accountability and non-discrimination should be followed throughout the whole revenue-raising cycle. For this purpose, States should:] Increase reliance on personal and direct taxes, and design all taxes in ways that reduce regressive impact and gender bias;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Taxation and human rightss 2014, para. 79f
- Paragraph text
- [States must realize the full potential of tax collection as a tool to generate revenue for the fulfilment of human rights obligations and to redress discrimination and inequality. Human rights principles regarding participation, transparency, accountability and non-discrimination should be followed throughout the whole revenue-raising cycle. For this purpose, States should:] Review tax structures, codes and instruments for explicit and implicit gender bias and ensure they do not reinforce existing gender inequalities, including through their impact on unpaid care work;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph