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Access to justice and the right to food: the way forward 2015, para. 57
- Paragraph text
- Other examples include a lawsuit brought by the Oceana Gold mining company against El Salvador through ICSID for US$301 million for failure to grant a mining permit. It was alleged that the project posed a risk to the country's livelihood. Having failed to change the domestic law to relax regulation, the company initiated arbitration measures to pressure El Salvador into paying for lost exploration costs and future profits. These cases demonstrate how intervention is necessary to prevent democratic rights from being undermined by global norms.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Environment
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Access to medicines in the context of the right-to-health framework 2013, para. 35
- Paragraph text
- Pricing policies of pharmaceutical industries greatly impact the affordability of medicines. Under the right to health, pharmaceutical companies have a shared responsibility to ensure that the prices of their medicines do not put them out of the reach of a majority of the population. Earlier tiered pricing of essential medicines was the norm, whereby essential medicines were sold systematically at a lower price in developing countries as compared to developed countries. Later many multinationals however opted for universal tiered prices. Tiered pricing policies have now re-emerged. Some multinational companies now engage in tiered pricing between and within countries, based on income levels (equity based pricing), which can be profitable for companies due to increases in volume and attractive to developing countries due to reductions in prices. In practice, however, tiered pricing has been limited to certain medicines such as ARVs, vaccines and contraceptives. Moreover, given the lack of guarantee of low prices and the diminished role for government decision-making in such pricing policies, alternatives such as promoting robust market competition have been recommended as good practices with a view to lowering the prices of medicines.
- 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)
- Economic Rights
- Health
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Activities of the Working Group 2014, para. 51
- Paragraph text
- The Working Group regrets that, despite having gained independence, formerly colonized peoples are still living with the legacies of slavery and colonialism. The forced separation of Africans from their homeland has resulted in cultural and social alienation from their roots and identities. The cultural rupture caused by the transatlantic trade in Africans as well as by European colonization still has an impact on the discrimination faced by people of African descent in their search for justice.
- Body
- Working Group of experts on people of African descent
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Analysis of two alternative housing policies: rental and collective housing 2013, para. 4
- Paragraph text
- A nearly unanimous belief in individual homeownership marginalized public rental housing; in many countries most of such housing was sold off. Similarly, the process led to radical changes in tenure structure; in many formerly planned economies owner-occupied housing now forms the bulk of the housing stock (for example, 96 per cent in Estonia and 77 per cent in Slovenia and more than 80 per cent in China). Even in countries where massive privatization did not occur, the ideological transfer of responsibility for the provision of housing to the market has been accompanied by the view that individual homeownership is the best tenure option and the centre of all housing policies. Some countries with a long tradition of broad-based social rental housing redefined their systems to promote ownership and "free market" principles. With subsidized accommodation less available, some households that might have otherwise rented were pushed towards homeownership.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Analysis of two alternative housing policies: rental and collective housing 2013, para. 5
- Paragraph text
- In her previous report (A/67/286, paras. 10-13), the Special Rapporteur highlighted how the deregulation, liberalization and globalization of housing finance have had major implications for housing and urban development, eventually leading to the global affordability and housing crisis we are witnessing today. Housing costs are disproportionately affecting the poor and in Europe represent an average of 41 per cent of the income of people at risk of poverty. The affordability crisis is compounded by the erosion, neglect and liberalization of non-market mechanisms for allocating housing resources, such as rental housing (public and private) and different forms of cooperative and collective ownership, among others.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Poverty
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Analysis of two alternative housing policies: rental and collective housing 2013, para. 17
- Paragraph text
- Until the 1980s, slum dwellers and the urban poor had not been a target for financial services. However, in the 1980s private financial investors came to regard the poor as "bankable", and in the past 10 years, a growing number of housing microfinance programmes emerged offering loans to low-income households. Housing microfinance loans are much smaller than mortgages, are typically granted for shorter terms and are used mainly to finance progressive improvements to housing (for example, building sanitary amenities) and expansions to an existing dwelling.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Poverty
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Analysis of two alternative housing policies: rental and collective housing 2013, para. 22
- Paragraph text
- The sections below provide a review of alternative housing policies for the urban poor that have been largely ignored by States in recent years - rental arrangements and collective and tenure - while analysing their compatibility with the promotion of the right to adequate housing of those living in poverty.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Poverty
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Analysis of two alternative housing policies: rental and collective housing 2013, para. 37
- Paragraph text
- Such examples demonstrate that it is possible to design rent regulation and tenancy protection mechanisms that do not distort or discourage the private rental market but actually encourage it. A well-regulated rental market can promote the goals of protecting tenants, particularly low income, and encouraging rental housing simultaneously. On the other hand, the elimination of rent controls and the easing of eviction procedures, has rarely led to more investment in the rental market but has actually skewed the market in the direction of homeownership.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Analysis of two alternative housing policies: rental and collective housing 2013, para. 41
- Paragraph text
- Most informal landlords let property that lacks a building license, do not issue written contracts, do not abide by rental and tax legislations and requirements, and in most cases are unaware(as are their tenants) of the existing relevant legislation.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Analysis of two alternative housing policies: rental and collective housing 2013, para. 42
- Paragraph text
- The informal rental sector is a crucial component of the housing sector in developing countries and is also increasing today in many European cities, filling a gap created by the current housing policies that do not adequately address the housing needs of low-income households. Unfortunately, slum upgrading programmes have largely ignored the impact on tenants and have sometimes even failed to notice that most target settlements even contain tenants. In some cases, the upgrading programmes even prohibit owners from letting upgraded properties. Such situations are incompatible with the obligation of States to promote the right to adequate housing, inter alia, by facilitating the "self-help" efforts of disadvantaged groups. However, there are a few reliable programmes that include direct subsidies and cheap loans to owners who need to repair their properties and to owners who wish to extend their property to accommodate additional tenants.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Analysis of two alternative housing policies: rental and collective housing 2013, para. 43
- Paragraph text
- While increasing access to homeownership for low-income households through credit has proved to lead to overindebtedness and housing crises, rental housing has the potential to promote a range of more affordable options, while reducing financial risk and enabling better mobility.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Analysis of two alternative housing policies: rental and collective housing 2013, para. 64
- Paragraph text
- Although not all types of collective organizations are accessible to the poorest segments of society, there are numerous advantages to such a form of tenure, including: (a) the use of community leverage to compete with existing housing market forces; (b) cooperative and collective forms of tenure are inextricably linked to enhanced democratic participation, better access to information, and community-led governance; (c) both cooperatives and community funds provide their members with financial strength (through community loans or savings that enable low-income households better access to housing finance); (d) as opposed to the individual finance schemes detailed above, community organizations also have the ability to control land and housing affordability by controlling land prices (community land trusts), providing increased economic resilience (through financial support to households that temporary encounter financial difficulties (Federation of Mutual Aid Housing Cooperatives), protecting low-income households from the housing market volatility and by limiting economic displacement and gentrification.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Best practices that promote and protect the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association 2012, para. 72
- Paragraph text
- The Special Rapporteur indicates the necessity for States not resort to tax pressure to discourage associations from receiving funds, notably from abroad. On a positive note, several States provide tax and other exemptions and privileges for associations (e.g. Bulgaria and Lithuania).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 56
- Paragraph text
- Some countries have also taken action to punish perpetrators of contemporary forms of slavery and compensate their victims. In Argentina, in one notable court case, a judge ordered the owners of a garment factory that was employing Bolivian workers under conditions of forced labour to turn the factory over to the workers. In the Plurinational State of Bolivia, the Government has confiscated land on which individuals were subject to forced labour and turned it over to those who were forced to work on it. In 2013, the state of São Paulo in Brazil passed a law that makes companies liable for contemporary forms of slavery in their production chains (including in the operations of their subcontractors). The law allows the state government to cancel complicit companies' tax registration for 10 years, thereby making it impossible for them to continue operating legally. In May 2013, the Governor of São Paulo signed a decree enacting the above-mentioned Law 14.946, and the Senate of Brazil was considering passing the Proposed Constitutional Amendment (PEC) 57A/1999, which allows for the expropriation of the property of companies that have subjected workers to contemporary forms of slavery.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 57
- Paragraph text
- At the regional level, courts have also enforced slavery laws. For example, in 2008, Niger - which had criminalized slavery in 2003 - was brought before the Economic Community of West African States Community Court of Justice, which ruled that Niger was responsible for failing to protect 24-year-old Hadijatou Mani from slavery.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 61
- Paragraph text
- Consumer-based initiatives and public awareness campaigns have also begun to focus on contemporary forms of slavery. The International Organization for Migration "Buy Responsibly" campaign looks at consumer products like cocoa, coffee, sugar and shrimp, and identifies how each of these can be linked to forced labour in global supply chains. The Slavery Footprint campaign personalizes modern-day slavery by asking consumers "how many slaves work for you?" It raises awareness about the effects of each person's consumption, including products such as electronics, food, apparel and other household items. Finally, the Free2Work application for mobile phones provides consumers with information about specific products and how they relate to modern-day slavery. It rates companies based on their anti-slavery commitments, assigning them a letter grade from "A" to "F" to inform consumers and promote ethical consumerism.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Movement
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges faced by groups most at risk when exercising or seeking to exercise the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and/or of association 2014, para. 20
- Paragraph text
- [International human rights instruments that protect the rights of particular groups specifically recognize directly or indirectly the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association for those groups:] In relation to non-nationals, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination recognizes that States may require non-citizens to have work permits in order to be eligible for job offers. However, all individuals are entitled to the enjoyment of labour and employment rights, including the freedom of assembly and association, once an employment relationship has been initiated until it is terminated.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Common violations of the human rights to water and sanitation 2014, para. 72
- Paragraph text
- Treaty bodies have increasingly addressed violations of extraterritorial obligations. The Human Rights Committee has called for the regulation and monitoring of corporate activities abroad that may violate human rights and for measures to ensure access to remedies in the event of such violations. Both the Human Rights Committee and the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights have expressed concern about the denial by Israel of access to water and sanitation and about the destruction of infrastructure in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. The Special Rapporteur recommends that increased attention be paid to violations of extraterritorial obligations.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Water & Sanitation
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Comparative study of enabling environments for associations and businesses 2015, para. 72
- Paragraph text
- Egypt has also severely limited associations' ability to accept foreign funding, banning its receipt without government permission. The failure to secure prior approval may lead to dissolution and criminal penalties, including imprisonment. In 2012 alone, the Government brought charges against more than 40 Egyptian and foreign NGO employees for the use of foreign funds in NGOs without prior approval. By contrast, Egypt recently instituted a wave of reforms aimed at increasing commercial foreign investment, for example by signing bilateral conventions with more than one hundred countries to provide protection and privileges for foreign investors.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Comparative study of enabling environments for associations and businesses 2015, para. 103
- Paragraph text
- Similarly many States afford more protection to corporations engaged in natural resource exploitation than to groups peacefully protesting their activities. The shooting to death of over 30 miners in South Africa by police during a workers' strike is an egregious example of such preferential treatment. Individuals and communities opposed to natural resource exploitation activities are labelled as "anti-development" and "enemies of the State" and portrayed as undermining States' efforts to promote economic growth and development. Their activities are criminalized and their claims disregarded, while corporations continue exploitation activities.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Environment
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. B.
- Paragraph text
- [Recommendations to Member States:] Establish and/or update comprehensive national action plans for the eradication of contemporary forms of slavery including debt bondage. The national action plans should outline measures to prevent and eradicate debt bondage, and ensure the protection of persons released from debt bondage.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Discrimination against Roma 2000, para. 27
- Paragraph text
- [Recommends that the States parties to the Convention, taking into account their specific situations, adopt for the benefit of members of the Roma communities, inter alia, all or part of the following measures, as appropriate.] To adopt or make more effective legislation prohibiting discrimination in employment and all discriminatory practices in the labour market affecting members of Roma communities, and to protect them against such practices.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Year
- 2000
Paragraph
Due diligence and trafficking in persons 2015, para. 27
- Paragraph text
- Victim identification under the rubric of prevention - as well as in the context of investigation, prosecution, protection and assistance - also requires greater training and understanding of the "continuum of exploitation" that exists between decent work and forced labour, such that workers experience different forms of exploitation that require different types of interventions when workers find themselves in any situation other than decent work. In addition, training should address the relationship between different forms of transborder movement. For example, trafficking and smuggling are often treated distinctly when in practice they are often very linked, such that what was once an act of smuggling can be turned into an act of trafficking if the circumstances become more exploitative and involuntary.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Violence
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Ensuring the inclusion of minority issues in post- 2015 development agendas 2014, para. 76
- Paragraph text
- A 2012 regional Roma survey, revealed that between 70 and 90 per cent of Roma surveyed reported living in conditions of severe material deprivation. Roma settlements frequently lack energy provision, sometimes because they are classified as illegal settlements and do not fall within energy and infrastructure plans. Communities in Bulgaria, visited by the mandate holder in 2011, described paying more for energy from private providers and being unable to afford energy bills owing to lack of employment and low incomes. Key questions must be asked at the national level, which include: who are those most affected by lack of access to affordable energy?
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on minority issues
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Environment
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Environmental human rights defenders 2016, para. 48
- Paragraph text
- Recent reports have pointed to a growing opposition between what could be considered a commodity-based approach, prioritizing economic growth and midterm profits, and rights-based approaches, favouring populations' interests and sustainability. Communities protesting against projects that threaten their very livelihood and existence have often faced stigmatization and attacks from States and corporations, which label them "anti-development". Yet, these defenders often seek to preserve natural resources and to ensure a holistic and long-term approach to development where land, water, air and forests are not reduced to mere marketable goods. The commodification and financialization of nature often lead to simplifying the real "value" of the environment, ignoring the social or cultural dimensions and the complex interactions of elements within and between ecosystems.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Environment
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Extreme poverty and human rights on universal basic income 2017, para. 10
- Paragraph text
- The income is “basic” in the sense that it is designed to guarantee a “floor” on which every recipient can stand. Because people’s needs are highly individualized and context-dependent, the amount that any specific individual requires will depend on factors such as local housing and living costs, the person’s health status, and whether there is any form of support network in place. But in its pure form, basic income would generally be assumed to be a uniform amount, which does not reflect those differentials. There are, however, different versions of the concept that envisage adjusting the amount over time, providing less money for children and more for the elderly, or adjusting for geography. The basis on which the floor is calculated and the amount to be paid will, of course, vary greatly from one country to another. Thus, while a national referendum on basic income in Switzerland proposed a payment of SwF 2,500 per month per adult, a South African initiative envisages a grant of US$15 per person per month, indexed to inflation.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Extreme poverty and human rights on universal basic income 2017, para. 57
- Paragraph text
- Finally, a simulation for the region of Catalonia, in Spain, suggests that a basic annual income of €7,968 for those aged over 18 and of €1,594 for minors would require a 49.57 per cent flat tax rate and extra financing of €7 billion.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Financialization of housing and the right to adequate housing 2017, para. 7
- Paragraph text
- While much has been written about the financialization of housing, it has not often been considered from the standpoint of human rights. Decision-making and assessment of policies relating to housing and finance are devoid of reference to housing as a human right. Issues related to business and human rights have received some attention in recent years. However, the housing and real estate sector - the largest business sector with many of the most serious impacts on human rights - appears to have been mostly ignored.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Financialization of housing and the right to adequate housing 2017, para. 33
- Paragraph text
- Many residential rental properties are now owned by bondholders or holders of public stock with no direct connection to properties. It is difficult to know who is accountable for human rights when the owner of housing is a multibillion dollar fund, bondholders, public stockholders or a nameless corporate shell. Tenants living in housing owned by absentee corporate landlords have complained of sharp increases in rent, inadequate maintenance and conditions as a result of substandard renovations that have been undertaken quickly to flip the home into rentals, and an inability to hold anyone accountable for those conditions.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Financialization of housing and the right to adequate housing 2017, para. 45
- Paragraph text
- Informal settlements in Southern cities are regularly demolished for luxury housing and commercial development such as shopping malls and other high-end services intended for those with expendable incomes. In Lagos, Nigeria, for example, 30,000 residents of the Otodo Gbame community were forcibly removed after their waterfront homes were set alight, allegedly related to luxury developments. Many were left homeless. Elsewhere, when informal settlements are upgraded with infrastructure development and the granting of formal title and credit, they become subject to speculation and rising costs that force existing residents, particularly informal renters, out of the community. The real estate market in Mumbai, India, is now actively engaged in promoting speculative investment in informal settlements, where upgraded housing is attracting real estate speculation and price increases.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph