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Preliminary survey on the root causes of attacks and discrimination against persons with albinism 2016, para. 24
- Paragraph text
- In an environment where having albinism is regarded as a curse and where the myth that albinism can be contracted like a contagious disease is prevalent, crossing the road to avoid walking near or refusing to shake hands with persons with albinism is commonplace.
- Body
- Independent Expert on the enjoyment of human rights by persons with albinism
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Fundamentalism and its impact on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association 2016, para. 6
- Paragraph text
- Since the turn of the millennium, there has been a perceived rise in expressions of fundamentalism in many contexts across the world. Despite the frequent use of the term, "fundamentalism" remains a word that is rarely defined with any specificity. The origin of the term, and most dictionary definitions, centre on strict adherence to a specific set of religious principles. This definition - conjuring up images of religiously motivated terrorists and sectarian warfare, among others - is perhaps the one that comes to mind first for most people.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Financialization of housing and the right to adequate housing 2017, para. 34
- Paragraph text
- Increased prices of housing and real estate assets have become key drivers in the creation of greater wealth inequality. Those who own property in prime urban locations have become richer, while lower-income households confronting the escalating costs of housing become poorer. Surveys of ultra-high-net-worth individuals show that more than half have increased the proportion of their investments allocated to residential properties, with the most common reasons being in order to sell at a later date and to provide a safe haven for wealth. The "economics of inequality", in fact, may be explained in large part by the inequalities of wealth generated by housing and real estate investments. Buying a home with a mortgage becomes a speculative investment depending on volatile financial markets, which may generate considerable wealth on leveraged equity or, alternatively, deprive households of a lifetime of savings.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Minorities and discrimination based on caste and analogous systems of inherited status 2016, para. 76
- Paragraph text
- In Nepal, in the agricultural sector, Haliyas ("ones who plough") are labourers effectively caught in a debt bondage system. They plough the land, a task considered dirty. They are often forced to take out loans from landowners to cover personal expenses and are charged exorbitant rates of interest, making their debts extremely difficult to pay back and effectively trapping them in a never-ending cycle of submission. According to civil society reports, despite criminalization by the Government in 2010, the practice still persists and there is currently no legislation in place for the rehabilitation of Haliyas.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on minority issues
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The World Bank and human rights 2015, para. 53
- Paragraph text
- There are many reasons why a new approach is needed. The following six seem especially compelling.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Child participation 2012, para. 83
- Paragraph text
- Most child parliaments are led by adults and often involve young people on an ad hoc or token basis. In some cases, they are composed only of children from privileged backgrounds.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Youth
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Child participation 2012, para. 87
- Paragraph text
- Most research continues to be initiated and led by adults, involving children as providers of information but only rarely as researchers owing to a range of practical and ethical issues.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Effective Implementation of the OPSC 2010, para. 123
- Paragraph text
- [This approach will make it possible to:] better understand and grasp the multidimensional nature of these phenomena and the vulnerabilities of certain groups of children;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
Manifestations and causes of domestic servitude 2010, para. 22
- Paragraph text
- The Special Rapporteur is particularly concerned about the high number of children in domestic work (see section 2c). Children are often sought for domestic work as they are seen as cheaper, less demanding and easier to control than adults. There are large numbers of child domestic workers in all continents, with the highest number probably residing in Asia. For example, ILO reports that 175,000 children under 18 are employed in domestic service in Central America, more than 688,000 in Indonesia, 53,942 children under 15 in South Africa and 38,000 children between 5 and 7 in Guatemala. Girls constitute the vast majority of child domestic workers (90 per cent according to some estimates). According to ILO, more girls under 16 years are in domestic service than in any other category of child labour.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
Child slavery in the artisanal mining and quarrying sector 2011, para. 25
- Paragraph text
- In 1999, the ILO member States, conscious of the magnitude of the problem of children being trapped in the worst forms of child labour, adopted Convention No. 182 (1999) concerning the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour. This convention is the reflection of a global consensus that immediate and effective measures should be taken to secure the prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child labour as a matter or urgency. ILO recommendation No. 190 advises ILO members on the implementation of Convention No. 182 and allows for exceptions for children from the age of 16 working in hazardous environments, provided that the health, safety and morals of the children concerned are fully protected and that "the children have received adequate specific instruction or vocational training in the relevant branch of activity".
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 16
- Paragraph text
- In Nepal, a debt bondage system, the labourers of which are known as Haliyas, can be found in the agricultural sector. Haliya means "one who ploughs". Ploughing land is considered to be dirty and unskilled work that only lower-class citizens should perform, making it the work of "untouchables" or Dalits. Haliyas are either paid very little for their work or paid only in small amounts of food. Debt quickly accrues as workers take out loans for personal expenses, while landowners take advantage of them by charging exorbitant interest rates. According to a Centre for Human Rights and Global Justice report, "such discrimination is intentionally designed to keep alive a system of debt bondage".
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Integration of a human rights-based approach in measures to discourage the demand that fosters all forms of exploitation of persons, especially women and children, and which leads to human trafficking 2013, para. 67
- Paragraph text
- Even businesses which invest significant amounts in checking their supply chains suffer from the fact that there is no internationally recognized standard for the process of checking whether minimum labour standards and human rights standards are respected in the workplace. It is challenging for other businesses and individual consumers to assess whether the cheap cost of a product was due to good business management or due to abuse in the production process. It is the responsibility of the State (in addition to being the responsibility of employers, business owners and investors) to ensure that keeping production costs and wage bills to a minimum is not achieved by illegal or abusive means.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Integrating non-discrimination and equality into the post-2015 development agenda for water, sanitation and hygiene 2012, para. 59
- Paragraph text
- Identifying and defining slums can pose a challenge for monitoring, but significant advances have been made in recent years, including by groups working with slum dweller organizations and through spatial analysis. Assessing slums by their spatial dimension - their location - could both yield more accurate data and serve as an effective link to planning. Indicators should be designed specifically for capturing the difference between slum and non-slum households. In addition, the definition of slums needs improvement; the best approach may be to use country definitions themselves. Those responsible for implementing major household surveys are encouraged to undertake special slum surveys, commit to oversampling in slum areas, and explore the use of data gathered by slum dweller organizations.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 66o
- Paragraph text
- [Criteria and indicators should be strengthened in accordance with the benchmarks and indicators for ensuring trafficking-free supply chains proposed by the Special Rapporteur (A/HRC/23/48/Add.4, appendix I) and should include at a minimum the following indicators:] Withholding or confiscating passports, other identity documents or work permits is prohibited; in cases where such documents are withheld by employers or labour recruiters as per legal requirement, simple procedures are in place to allow the workers direct and immediate access to the documents at any time;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Preventing and addressing violence and atrocities against minorities 2014, para. 69
- Paragraph text
- The creation of community or neighbourhood watch and early warning mechanisms that enable at-risk communities to identify threats and quickly contact law enforcement authorities is another measure that has been put in place, including in Nigeria where violence and intercommunal tensions have been present. Having local "eyes and ears" to report potential incidents offers valuable, community-based, early warning potential, although it remains reliant on a rapid response by law enforcement bodies to alerts if it is to be effective.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on minority issues
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Comprehensive prevention strategies against sale and sexual exploitation of children 2013, para. 101a
- Paragraph text
- [Corporate social responsibility has received increased attention in recognition of the business sector's role in upholding and promoting human rights. In that context, the Children's Rights and Business Principles (2012) developed by UNICEF, the United Nations Global Compact and Save the Children, highlight the double nature of the role of the business sector with regards to children's rights:] The corporate responsibility to respect the human rights of others, including children, by avoiding infringements and addressing the human rights impact of business activities;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Manifestations and causes of domestic servitude 2010, para. 75
- Paragraph text
- Many States do not afford domestic workers the equal protection of labour law, which invites exploitation, leading, in extreme cases, to domestic servitude. In a number of States, domestic work is excluded from the scope of application of relevant labour laws. At best, parallel regimes are set up that provide lesser standards of protection. It is very common to exclude domestic workers from essential social benefits such as health care, compensation in case of invalidity, pensions or maternity leave and labour rights such as paid vacations, rest days or maximum work hours.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
Affordability of water and sanitation services 2015, para. 59
- Paragraph text
- In some cases, household income or expenditure data is not available. In such cases, other indicators such as the type of access (for example, whether a small-scale facility is used), property value, size of the residence or geographical location can be used to evaluate the economic capacity of users.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Different levels and types of services and the human rights to water and sanitation 2015, para. 47
- Paragraph text
- There are, however, concerns from a human rights perspective. The construction of such systems may be technically difficult to install in and around existing buildings and infrastructure where urban settlements have not been adequately planned, such as in most informal settlements. In many developing countries, the sewerage network is only available in middle and high income areas. Leaving residents of low income areas and informal settlements without access to this service often entrenches inequalities.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Extreme poverty and human rights on universal basic income 2017, para. 8d
- Paragraph text
- [The present report is premised on the view that the human rights movement needs to address and respond to the fundamental changes that are taking place in economic and social structures at the national and global levels. These include, among others:] The rapid and seemingly unstoppable growth in inequality across the globe, captured by Oxfam’s statistic that the richest 1 per cent of humanity already controls as much wealth as the remaining 99 per cent, and by the detailed national-level economic analyses of Thomas Piketty and others;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Extreme poverty and human rights on universal basic income 2017, para. 66a
- Paragraph text
- [One of the biggest challenges in relation to basic income is to move beyond its chameleon-like character. There are many versions of it, and each is supported by a diverse array of actors, precisely because they see different attractions in the concept. To assess the utility and acceptability of basic income from a human rights perspective, it is helpful to identify the main categories of motivation.] Discouraging laziness and incentivizing work;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Human rights criteria for making contract farming and other business models inclusive of small-scale farmers 2011, para. 22
- Paragraph text
- While the ability of buyers to purchase inputs at wholesale prices might allow them to pass savings on to farmers through lower prices, it may also be that when a farmer has access to inputs only through a buyer, the buyer will charge farmers higher than market prices for those inputs. In the course of consultations, the Special Rapporteur received a communication indicating that in the absence of public services, contract farming can create potentially devastating dependence by small farmers on the technology, credit, inputs and services provided by their contracting companies. This not only points to the danger of the Government relinquishing its duty to support farming communities by providing adequate public goods in the hope that private investors will fill in the gap, it also highlights one of the main negative effects of contract farming for farmers, which is its potential to trap them in cycles of debt. One common occurrence is that farmers must borrow money to invest in agricultural production as required under the contract and then do not earn enough money to cover their debts, for instance, because of falling market prices or poor harvests. This risk is particularly important where the investment on the land is related specifically to one type of production for which the contracting firm is the only buyer, a constraint that may be exploited by the firm as a way to exercise monopolistic power and thus gradually impose lower prices on farmers. Crops that rely on complex production and processing technologies and substantial specialized inputs that are unfamiliar to most growers and require large capital outlays significantly increase the level of risk confronted by growers, as illustrated by the Smallholder Sugar Authority and Smallholder Tea Authority contract-farming schemes in Malawi. The resulting cycle of debt can trap farmers into contractual arrangements that are neither optimal nor easily abandoned, either because of the debt itself or for other reasons, for example, because the soil was degraded by heavy pesticide use or because farmers have lost their relationships with former transaction partners, are unable to re-establish traditional cultivation methods or products or have become too dependent on the firm for other services.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
Eradicating contemporary forms of slavery from supply chains 2015, para. 13
- Paragraph text
- Following egregious violations of health and building safety standards that resulted in fatal accidents, such as the 2013 Rana Plaza factory collapse in Bangladesh leading to death of over 1,100 garment workers, additional attention has been given to increasing State and corporate accountability for violations of human rights, including labour rights, in global value or supply chains. In this context, the recent commitment by leaders of major global economies at the recent Group of Seven (G7) Summit to take action to address human rights in global supply chains is welcome and needs to be followed up by concrete actions.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Hate speech and incitement to hatred 2012, para. 28
- Paragraph text
- Asia and the Middle East have seen killings of presidents of the Ahmadiyya community in Pakistan following a television broadcast during which two maulanas stated that the Ahmadiyya community was deserving of death; incitement by a Government-appointed imam in Saudi Arabia to eliminate all Shia believers in the world; incitement to and acts of violence against the Sufi community in Sri Lanka; increased radicalization and serious instances of incitement to racism in Israel against the Arab population, in addition to acts of violence by Jewish settlers against Muslims; and incitement to religious hatred against Jews in the occupied Palestinian territory.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
The right to access information 2013, para. 76f
- Paragraph text
- [The core principles include:] Costs. Individuals should not be deterred by excessive cost from making requests for information;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
The implications of States’ surveillance of communications on the exercise of the human rights to privacy and to freedom of opinion and expression 2013, para. 41
- Paragraph text
- In addition to intercepting and tracking the content of individuals' communications, States may also seek access to communications data held by third party service providers and Internet companies. As the private sector collects progressively larger amounts of varied data that reveal sensitive information about peoples' daily lives, and individuals and businesses choose to store the content of their communications, such as voicemails, e-mails and documents, with third party service providers, access to communications data is an increasingly valuable surveillance technique employed by States.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Homelessness as a global human rights crisis that demands an urgent global response 2016, para. 72
- Paragraph text
- For this reason, the Special Rapporteur underlines the critical importance of qualitative evidence, including, for example, oral testimony, photographs or videos. A human rights-based measurement of homelessness should focus on prevention and on addressing underlying causes, and qualitative information capturing actual experiences often reveals more about how to prevent or solve it than numbers alone. It is also vital to understand the trajectories into and out of homelessness, with longitudinal analysis of how people become homeless, how long they are homeless and how they escape from it to supplement point-in-time counts.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Extreme inequality and human rights 2015, para. 8
- Paragraph text
- Current income-inequality figures are quite dramatic. According to a 2008 study by the International Labour Organization (ILO), over the past two decades the income gap between the top and bottom 10 per cent of wage earners increased in 70 per cent of the countries for which data was available. According to a recent Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) study, the gap between rich and poor in OECD countries is at its highest level in 30 years. In 2007, the average executive manager in the 15 largest firms in the United States of America earned more than 500 times what the average employee in the United States earned, compared with over 300 times in 2003, and similar patterns can be observed in many other countries.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
The right to freedom of opinion and expression exercised through the Internet 2011, para. 80
- Paragraph text
- The Special Rapporteur is deeply concerned that websites of human rights organizations, critical bloggers, and other individuals or organizations that disseminate information that is embarrassing to the State or the powerful have increasingly become targets of cyber-attacks.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Person(s) affected
- Activists
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
Extreme inequality and human rights 2015, para. 16
- Paragraph text
- The differences in intergenerational economic mobility between countries are not random. Studies have shown a clear negative relationship between economic inequalities in a country and intergenerational earnings mobility. Alan Krueger has called this the "Great Gatsby curve". Joseph Stiglitz has written that the ideal of equal opportunity is increasingly a myth in many countries and that the decline in opportunity has gone hand in hand with growing inequality.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph