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Effective Implementation of the OPSC 2010, para. 78
- Paragraph text
- Because they are still growing and are dependent on adults, children are vulnerable by nature. They must be trained, brought up, educated, supervised, guided and moulded by their families, guardians and all others who exercise authority over them. However, certain children are more vulnerable than others.
- 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
- Families
- Year
- 2010
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Key trends and challenges to the right of all individuals to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds through the Internet 2011, para. 71
- Paragraph text
- Keeping the above in mind, the Special Rapporteur strongly emphasizes the importance of promoting and providing support to projects which seek to ensure the access to information and communication. In this regard, the global project "One Laptop per Child" is a good initiative. As stated in the most recent report of the Special Rapporteur to the Human Rights Council, this kind of initiative helps to spread the availability of ICT in developing countries. The project, supported by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and several partners, has benefited not just children, but their families as well, since one of the essential aspects of the permanently connected laptop is its free use at home, which allows the child and the family to increase their access to information and to the outside world. Two important elements of these laptops are that they can be charged by solar or mechanical power; and they have been designed to provide an engaging wireless network, which allows the laptops to be connected automatically to others nearby.
- 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
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2011
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
SRSG on violence against children: Annual report 2015, para. 89
- Paragraph text
- The Guidelines for Parents, Guardians and Educators on Child Online Protection, prepared by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), offer useful guidance on ways to ensure the safety and security of computers in the home and to establish rules on ICT use through discussions with children. The guidelines recommend, for example, never disclosing private information or arranging to meet someone children may have encountered online, and highlighting the risks of posting photographs on the Internet.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General on violence against children
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2015
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. 14
- Paragraph text
- In Malawi, situations of debt bondage are reported to be prevalent within the tobacco industry. This sector is a major source of employment in Malawi and generates a significant amount of income for the country. Tobacco is traditionally grown by farmers who use waged workers, temporary workers and also tenants (workers to whom farmers provide land, food and housing and to whom they loan agricultural tools, the costs of which are deducted from future profits). The relationship between tenants and estate or farm owners has been reported to be largely exploitative, leading to a situation of debt bondage. The costs charged to tenants by the estate or farm owners exceed the amount received from tobacco sales due to manipulation of the debts. This leads to tenants, who are reportedly predominantly male, and their families, becoming trapped in situations of debt bondage. In 2013, the Special Rapporteur on the right to food estimated that 300,000 tobacco tenant families were living in extremely precarious situations in Malawi (see A/HRC/25/57/Add.1, para. 47). Since 1995, the Government has made several attempts to enact a specific law on tenancy labour but has yet not successfully developed such legislation. A tenancy labour bill was first drafted in 1995, and the latest version, from 2012, is still under debate.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Year
- 2016
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Protection of children from sale and sexual exploitation following humanitarian crisis due to natural disasters 2012, para. 126
- Paragraph text
- Early identification and intervention is essential to increasing the chances for reunification. Priority should be given to locating the families of unaccompanied and very young 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
- Families
- Year
- 2012
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Unpaid care work and women's human rights 2013, para. 92
- Paragraph text
- States must act to ensure more equal distribution of care work. This requires redistribution in three forms: redistribution between women and men; redistribution from households to the State; and redistribution of time and resources towards poorer families and households.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2013
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
The right of the child to be heard 2009, para. 55
- Paragraph text
- When a child is to be placed for adoption or kafalah of Islamic law and finally will be adopted or placed in kafalah, it is vitally important that the child is heard. Such a process is also necessary when step-parents or foster families adopt a child, although the child and the adopting parents may have already been living together for some time.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of the Child
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2009
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Treatment of Unaccompanied and Separated Children Outside Their Country of Origin 2005, para. 7
- Paragraph text
- Unaccompanied children (also called unaccompanied minors) are children, as defined in article 1 of the Convention, who have been separated from both parents and other relatives and are not being cared for by an adult who, by law or custom, is responsible for doing so.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of the Child
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2005
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Affordability of water and sanitation services 2015, para. 38
- Paragraph text
- In many instances, however, public financing is unequally distributed. Middle-class households often benefit from subsidies, both direct subsidies and "hidden" subsidies. Direct subsidies include tax breaks or financial incentives for constructing a toilet, which, when poorly targeted tend to benefit middle-income families. Subsidies are "hidden" when public financing is used to construct infrastructure and services that are intended to be used by all, but in fact are only available to middle- and high-income households.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Year
- 2015
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Child slavery in the artisanal mining and quarrying sector 2011, para. 102
- Paragraph text
- Economic alternatives, which provide the same income, need to be offered to working mining and quarrying families. Alongside the provision of economic alternatives, Governments should work with international organizations and CSOs to monitor this sector in order to transform it and ensure better pay and working conditions. This could then provide an income for families based on the labour of adults in a relatively safe working environment.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Year
- 2011
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
The importance of social protection measures in achieving Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 2010, para. 26
- Paragraph text
- Several studies indicate a strong positive correlation between a family's vulnerability to economic shocks and a child's early entry into the labour market and reduced school attendance. A family that experiences a severe shock, for example, may have to remove a child from school in order to send him or her to work. Evidence from Latin America suggests that greater family access to risk management instruments, such as unemployment benefits or disability benefits, directly reduces the prevalence of child labour.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2010
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Women human rights defenders and those working on women’s rights or gender issues 2011, para. 56
- Paragraph text
- Threats and death threats - which may be delivered in person, by telephone, in printed pamphlets or mock obituaries and electronically via text message or e-mail -- can be seen as representative of risks, but also as violations in themselves which may significantly harm the psychological integrity of the defender, as well as possibly predating an attack. These threats are directed not only at the defenders themselves but also their family members, as well as female family members of male human rights defenders.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Person(s) affected
- Activists
- Families
- Year
- 2011
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Homelessness as a global human rights crisis that demands an urgent global response 2016, para. 41
- Paragraph text
- The global economic crisis has had a distinct impact on women's homelessness. In Spain, for example, many single mothers were overindebted from home purchases. In many cases, former partners or husbands who shared mortgages refused to negotiate with banks for debt restructuring, relief or cancellation. When their homes were repossessed, they were left with significant debt, often living in insecure housing - at severe risk of homelessness.
- 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
- Families
- Women
- Year
- 2016
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Extreme poverty and human rights on universal basic income 2017, para. 38
- Paragraph text
- However, many social insurance and social assistance programmes that are integral parts of the welfare state differ in crucial respects from basic income. A study of 108 countries where child benefit or family benefit schemes were anchored in national legislation found that only 49 of them had non-contributory schemes. And contributory schemes generally only cover those in formal employment. They are therefore not universal, and often impose conditions, such as actively searching for work or undergoing medical tests. Moreover, they often go well beyond a floor, by compensating in part or in full for lost earnings.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2017
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2012, para. 32
- Paragraph text
- [Reparations for children and the restoration of children’s rights]: Any reparations process should consist of a combination of reparative measures, including individual, collective and community-based initiatives. The range of reparations spans from material (such as cash payments, access to education and health care, and skills training) to symbolic (such as public acknowledgements and memorials). For various reasons, lump-sum payments may not be the ideal form of reparations. Violations of children’s rights most often lead to lost opportunities, such as loss of schooling, family and livelihood. Accordingly, other reparation benefits, such as education programmes, physical rehabilitation, skills training and the provision of psychosocial support may be more restorative alternatives. In addition, community-based reparations, with a focus on reconciliation, may help to reduce tensions within and across communities. In this context, a project-based approach, involving communities in livelihood and infrastructure initiatives, may be a useful option, but should avoid overlap with regular development programmes.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2012
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Solitary confinement 2011, para. 38
- Paragraph text
- The Court has additionally recognized that solitary confinement results in psychological and physical suffering that may contribute to treatment that constitutes torture. In at least one case, the Court has identified the physical conditions of solitary confinement, including "a small cell with no ventilation or natural light", and a prison regime where a detained individual "is held for 23 and a half hours a day ..., [and] permitted to see his relatives only once a month, but could have no physical contact with them", when coupled with other forms of physical and psychological aggression, in sum may constitute physical and psychological torture.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Year
- 2011
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Women human rights defenders and those working on women’s rights or gender issues 2011, para. 54
- Paragraph text
- Family members of women defenders, along with female relatives and associates of male defenders, are also commonly targeted as a way of curtailing the activities of the defenders. In some circumstances, attacks against family members and children of women defenders are reflective of traditional gender stereotypes of women as mothers and caregivers. The mandate has on many occasions expressed concern regarding the physical and psychological integrity of family members of women defenders and female relatives and associates of male defenders. From 2004 to 2009, some 86 communications sent by the mandate dealt with violations against family members or associates of women defenders, or female family members and/or associates of male human rights defenders.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Person(s) affected
- Activists
- Families
- Women
- Year
- 2011
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Women human rights defenders and those working on women’s rights or gender issues 2011, para. 51
- Paragraph text
- Women working in trade unions, and other labour rights activists also appear to be exposed to regular violations and severe risks as a result of their work, although it appears that this is so in certain regions more than in others. This group was the subject of 40 communications sent by the mandate, including six communications regarding alleged violations against female relatives and partners of male trade unionists and labour rights activists. The largest proportion of these (13 communications) was sent to Colombia, with others being sent to countries including Gambia, Guatemala, Honduras, Myanmar and Zimbabwe.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Person(s) affected
- Activists
- Families
- Women
- Year
- 2011
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Migrant domestic workers 2011, para. 19
- Paragraph text
- Labour law. In many countries, domestic workers are not legally recognized as "workers" entitled to labour protection. A number of premises and special definitions are used to exclude domestic workers from the protection of labour laws, including the consideration that they work for private persons, who are not considered to be "employers". Equally, traditional perceptions of domestic work as tasks associated with unpaid work in the home performed by women and girls as well as traditional perceptions of domestic workers as either being "family helpers" often militate against the extension of national labour law to effectively cover domestic work. Because of their de facto and/or de jure, "unrecognized" status as "workers", domestic workers are unable to exercise the rights and freedoms granted by labour law to other workers.
- Body
- Committee on Migrant Workers
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2011
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
The right to just and favourable conditions of work (Art. 7) 2016, para. 46
- Paragraph text
- In the light of contemporary developments in labour law and practice, the development of a national policy on flexibility in the workplace might be appropriate. Such a policy could include flexible arrangements in the scheduling of working hours, for example through flextime, compressed working weeks and job-sharing, as well as flexibility regarding the place of work to include work at home, telework or work from a satellite work centre. Those measures can also contribute towards a better balance between work and family responsibilities, provided they respond to the different requirements and challenges faced by male and female workers. Flexible working arrangements must meet the needs of both workers and employers, and in no case should they be used to undermine the right to just and favourable conditions of work.
- Body
- Committee on Social, Economic and Cultural Rights
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Year
- 2016
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Equality in marriage and family relations 1994, para. 31
- Paragraph text
- Even when these legal rights are vested in women, and the courts enforce them, property owned by a woman during marriage or on divorce may be managed by a man. In many States, including those where there is a community-property regime, there is no legal requirement that a woman be consulted when property owned by the parties during marriage or de facto relationship is sold or otherwise disposed of. This limits the woman's ability to control disposition of the property or the income derived from it.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Women
- Year
- 1994
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Effective Implementation of the OPSC 2010, para. 100
- Paragraph text
- Poverty and lack of a family environment are often the cause of institutionalization.
- 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
- Topic(s)
- Poverty
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Year
- 2010
- Date modified
- Mar 10, 2020
Paragraph
Joint general comment No. 4 (2017) of the Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families and No. 23 (2017) of the Committee on the Rights of the Child on State obligations regarding the human rights of c ... 2017, para. 21
- Paragraph text
- The Committees urge States parties to take all necessary measures to ensure that all children are immediately registered at birth and issued birth certificates, irrespective of their migration status or that of their parents. Legal and practical obstacles to birth registration should be removed, including by prohibiting data sharing between health providers or civil servants responsible for registration with immigration enforcement authorities; and not requiring parents to produce documentation regarding their migration status. Measures should also be taken to facilitate late registration of birth and to avoid financial penalties for late registration. Children who have not been registered should be ensured equal access to health care, protection, education and other social services.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of the Child
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Infants
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2017
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Corruption and the right to health 2017, para. 23
- Paragraph text
- The right to health is recognized in the Constitution of the World Health Organization (WHO) and protected by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and international human rights treaties which are binding on States parties, including the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families. Additionally, regional human rights treaties and many domestic constitutions protect the right to health. These international treaties and domestic laws obligate States to take action to respect, protect and fulfil the right to health and to address corruption where it interferes with their right-to-health obligations. They should inform responses to corruption alongside other legal instruments, such as the United Nations Convention against Corruption.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2017
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Children in street situations 2017, para. 4
- Paragraph text
- In the past, the terms used to describe children in street situations have included “street children”, “children on the street”, “children of the street”, “runaway children”, “throwaway children”, “children living and/or working on the street”, “homeless children” and “street-connected children”. In the present general comment, the term “children in street situations” is used to comprise: (a) children who depend on the streets to live and/or work, whether alone, with peers or with family; and (b) a wider population of children who have formed strong connections with public spaces and for whom the street plays a vital role in their everyday lives and identities. This wider population includes children who periodically, but not always, live and/or work on the streets and children who do not live or work on the streets but who regularly accompany their peers, siblings or family in the streets. Concerning children in street situations, “being in public spaces” is understood to include spending a significant amount of time on streets or in street markets, public parks, public community spaces, squares and bus and train stations. It does not include public buildings such as schools, hospitals or other comparable institutions.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of the Child
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2017
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
SRSG on violence against children: Annual report 2014, para. 35
- Paragraph text
- In many countries, children with albinism are perceived as a curse, a cause of shame to the family, and a misfortune to the community. Social and structural discrimination condemns these children to a position of extreme vulnerability.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General on violence against children
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2014
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Environmental human rights defenders 2016, para. 39
- Paragraph text
- The increased scale of acts of reprisal against environmental human rights defenders protesting against environmental harms caused by projects funded by international financial institutions is disquieting. The submissions received revealed large gaps between professed commitments to participation and accountability and the situation on the ground, pointing to an overwhelming failure by those institutions to assess risks and respond to reprisals effectively. One report documented case studies in Cambodia, Ethiopia, India, Uganda and Uzbekistan of reprisals taking a variety of forms. The critics of projects funded by the World Bank Group were reportedly the target of threats, intimidation tactics and baseless criminal charges. Some women faced sexual harassment or gender-based threats, attacks, or insults when they spoke out. Security forces responded violently to peaceful protests, physically assaulting community members and arbitrarily arresting them. In other cases, critics or their family members were threatened with the loss of their jobs or livelihoods. In many countries, such reprisals often occurred within a broader effort to demonize critics as unpatriotic or "anti-development".
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Activists
- Families
- Women
- Year
- 2016
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Report of the SR on the right to health and Agenda 2030 2016, para. 52
- Paragraph text
- Community empowerment initiatives working with poor and marginalized communities have achieved extraordinary health outcomes, for example in the global fight to end HIV/AIDS (target 3.3) (E/HLPF/2016/2, para. 107). Economic and social empowerment, such as the decriminalization of sex work and sex worker mobilization, have improved health and identified critical health gaps (Goals 3 and 5). Community mobilization to attain adequate and stable housing for homeless people living with HIV can have life-saving implications for their health (targets 3.3 and 11.1). Efforts to empower parents in vulnerable situations through participatory parental education initiatives reduce the risk of negative health outcomes for their children (Goal 3 and targets 4.2, 5.2 and 16.2). When young girls have access to education, child mortality rates and girls' long-term health improve (Goals 3, 4 and 5) (A/70/213, para. 9). Investments in such initiatives place the human rights principles of autonomy and participation at the centre of public health policy and are critical components of an open, inclusive and peaceful society.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Girls
- Youth
- Year
- 2016
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
HIV/AIDS and the rights of the children 2003, para. 28
- Paragraph text
- The obligations of States parties under the Convention extend to ensuring that children have sustained and equal access to comprehensive treatment and care, including necessary HIV related drugs, goods and services on a basis of non-discrimination. It is now widely recognized that comprehensive treatment and care includes anti-retroviral and other drugs, diagnostics and related technologies for the care of HIV/AIDS, related opportunistic infections and other conditions, good nutrition, and social, spiritual and psychological support, as well as family, community and home-based care. In this regard, States parties should negotiate with the pharmaceutical industry in order to make the necessary medicines locally available at the lowest costs possible. Furthermore, States parties are requested to affirm, support and facilitate the involvement of communities in the provision of comprehensive HIV/AIDS treatment, care and support, while at the same time complying with their own obligations under the Convention. States parties are called upon to pay special attention to addressing those factors within their societies that hinder equal access to treatment, care and support for all children.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of the Child
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2003
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Rights of migrant workers in an irregular situation and members of their families 2013, para. 50
- Paragraph text
- The principle of non-refoulement, as contained in international and regional human rights and refugee law, is the prohibition on forcibly removing anyone, in any manner whatsoever, to a country or territory where they would be at real risk of persecution or serious human rights violations or abuses. In the view of the Committee, this principle covers the risk of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, including inhumane and degrading conditions of detention for migrants or lack of necessary medical treatment in the country of return, as well as the risk to the right to life (arts. 9 and 10 of the Convention). It also applies to situations where individuals would not be protected from onward refoulement. The Committee is of the view that migrants and members of their families should be protected in cases where expulsions would constitute arbitrary interference with the right to family and private life. Migrants and members of their families in an irregular situation with international protection needs should also be protected against expulsion.
- Body
- Committee on Migrant Workers
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2013
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph