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Use of legislation to regulate activities of human rights defenders 2012, para. 72
- Paragraph text
- A system of derogations is enshrined in various human rights treaties, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. This permits States to temporarily modify their obligations in exceptional circumstances, such as in times of emergency, including armed conflicts, civil and violent unrest, environmental and natural disasters.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Humanitarian
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
The UN responsibility for the cholera outbreak in Haiti 2016, para. 40
- Paragraph text
- The global media has been systematically critical of the United Nations. For example, the Economist has accused the United Nations of dodging its responsibility, the New York Times argues that it has "failed to face up to its role in [Haiti's] continuing tragedy", Business Insider has referred to the cholera outbreak as "the UN's Watergate", the Washington Post has commented that "by refusing to acknowledge responsibility, the United Nations jeopardizes its standing and moral authority".
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The UN responsibility for the cholera outbreak in Haiti 2016, para. 23
- Paragraph text
- Because the position taken by United Nations officials relies heavily on the claim that there remains doubt as to the source of the cholera outbreak and invokes the panel's report in support, it is appropriate both to assess the validity of the panel's consistently cited assessment and to consider more recent scientific assessments. Before doing so, it should be noted that there is a fundamental inconsistency in the panel's conclusions. After stating clearly that "the source of the Haiti cholera outbreak was due to contamination", the report goes on to say that "[t]he introduction of this cholera strain as a result of environmental contamination with feces could not have been the source of such an outbreak without simultaneous water and sanitation and health care system deficiencies". Presumably, the panel intended to say that the contamination could not alone have been the sole cause, had there not been deficiencies in the environment into which the faeces were released. But that is not in fact what the report states.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Water & Sanitation
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The UN responsibility for the cholera outbreak in Haiti 2016, para. 16
- Paragraph text
- In order to resolve the controversy, the Secretary-General, to his credit, established the panel of independent experts in January 2011. In its report, issued in May 2011, the panel expressly rejected the environmental theory. Instead, it found that "the evidence overwhelmingly supports the conclusion that the source of the Haiti cholera outbreak was due to contamination of the Mèyé Tributary of the Artibonite River with a pathogenic strain of current South Asian type Vibrio cholerae as a result of human activity". If the experts had left it at that, the conclusion would have been that MINUSTAH peacekeepers were responsible for the outbreak. But they went on to claim that the dumping of faeces alone "could not have been the source of such an outbreak without simultaneous water and sanitation and health care system deficiencies … coupled with conducive environmental and epidemiological conditions". By adding this observation, the experts suggested that nature, as well as the country's underdevelopment, were also to blame. This enabled them to reach their ultimate conclusion, that the "outbreak was caused by the confluence of circumstances … and was not the fault of, or deliberate action of, a group or individual".
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Water & Sanitation
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The UN responsibility for the cholera outbreak in Haiti 2016, para. 15
- Paragraph text
- As the magnitude of the disaster became known, key international officials carefully avoided acknowledging that the outbreak had resulted from discharges from the MINUSTAH camp. The implication that cholera had come from elsewhere also drew support from an environmental theory suggested by some scientific observers according to which the cholera microbe is naturally present in many backwater settings and can be activated by environmental shocks such as the earthquake that hit Haiti in January 2010 or by unusually heavy rains. Nevertheless, most scientific and media sources rejected this theory and placed the blame clearly upon the peacekeepers.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Health
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The transformative potential of the right to food 2014, para. 30
- Paragraph text
- Secondly, just as multiple food systems must be combined to improve resilience through enhanced diversity, different forms of farming can coexist, each fulfilling a different function. The example of Brazil suggests that family farms can be supported even in the vicinity of highly competitive, large-scale agricultural producers and that such coexistence can be viable, provided the government is aware of the different functions that different agricultural models serve to fulfil, and adopts a balanced approach towards them (A/HRC/13/33/Add.6, paras. 43 and 44). In many countries, however, this coexistence has failed, and the balance has shifted almost entirely in favour of the large-scale export-led agricultural sector. The lesson that emerges is that the transition to agrifood policies that support the realization of the right to food requires major political efforts to restructure support around agroecological, labour-intensive, poverty-reducing forms of agriculture.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
The rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association in the context of natural resource exploitation projects 2015, para. 42
- Paragraph text
- In countries experiencing social conflict over natural resource exploitation, individuals who exercise their right to freedom of peaceful assembly are frequently framed as "inciting" communities to resist and disrupt "development projects". Peaceful assembly and association rights are not seen as a legitimate vehicle to express concerns, but as deliberate attempts to undermine the State's efforts to promote economic growth and development. Those who oppose natural resource exploitation activities are labelled as "anti-development" or "enemies of the State". Attacks are also used as an intimidation tactic to force communities to accept exploitation projects.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Environment
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
The rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association in the context of natural resource exploitation projects 2015, para. 15
- Paragraph text
- States also have an obligation to prevent conflict before it starts, including by creating a legal environment that promotes transparency and fairness. The area of land rights, for example, is often key. The absence of legal frameworks that clearly spell out land rights creates opportunities for arbitrary expropriation or land grabbing, which in turn can lead to conflict. Opaque procedures for granting exploitation licences and concessions aggravate the situation and often fuel social protests.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
The right to adequate housing in disaster relief efforts 2011, para. 64.5
- Paragraph text
- [The Special Rapporteur makes the following recommendations:] Communities and settlements, not just houses, should be rebuilt or resettled: Community structures and networks, to the extent that they respect international human rights standards including on gender equality, should be deliberately preserved and supported.
- 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)
- Environment
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
The right to adequate housing in disaster relief efforts 2011, para. 41
- Paragraph text
- The destruction of much of the housing stock in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina was also seen as an opportunity to fundamentally change the housing and urban characteristics of the city. Notably, the four largest public housing complexes in New Orleans (the "big 4"), mostly inhabited by African Americans, were demolished to give way to planned redevelopment of mixed-income communities and other uses. Although in some cases there may have been no feasible alternatives because of the severity of the damages, the demolitions were mainly justified as essential to the city's recovery and necessary for health and safety reasons. Problematically, the planned developments were to include a small number of public housing units compared to the total available before Hurricane Katrina. Their demolition was another obstacle preventing lower income residents from returning to New Orleans (see sect. III above).
- 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)
- Environment
- Health
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
The right to adequate housing in disaster relief efforts 2011, para. 39
- Paragraph text
- The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami was seen by many as providing major opportunities for redevelopment, sometimes under the guise of public safety and disaster risk mitigation. In the tsunami's aftermath, zones prohibiting housing reconstruction along the coast (buffer zones) were in fact introduced in a number of countries affected by the tsunami; they ranged from 100 to 500 metres and, in some cases, if implemented fully, would have required the relocation of over 100,000 houses. The zones were purportedly declared to protect residents from future disasters. They also had major impacts on the livelihoods of residents, especially those who relied on the sea for a living.
- 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)
- Environment
- Humanitarian
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
The right to adequate housing in disaster relief efforts 2011, para. 18
- Paragraph text
- Sixteen months after the earthquake, there were still 634,000 people in over 1,000 camps. Observers noted that the camp populations were declining more slowly than in 2010, suggesting that people had nowhere else to go or had decided that however precarious their situation in the camps, it was still better than their situation of origin. The earthquake thus highlighted long-entrenched patterns of discrimination and neglect. Disasters elsewhere have had similar effects.
- 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)
- Environment
- Equality & Inclusion
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
The right to adequate housing in disaster relief efforts 2011, para. 14
- Paragraph text
- When Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans in 2005, African Americans and poor people (with the two categories to a large extent blurred) bore the brunt of the devastation because, for the most part, they lived most often in the lower-lying, more flood-prone sections of the city. In addition large numbers of the metropolitan area's population (being generally poor) lacked the means to escape the flood. The particular impacts and costs of the hurricane were therefore intimately linked to pre existing social, economic and land use patterns, directly related to housing and urban planning policies.
- 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)
- Environment
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
The right to access information 2013, para. 107
- Paragraph text
- Government officials who release confidential information concerning violations of the law, wrongdoing by public bodies, grave cases of corruption, a serious threat to health, safety or the environment, or a violation of human rights or humanitarian law (i.e. whistle-blowers) should, if they act in good faith, be protected against legal, administrative or employment-related sanctions. Other individuals, including journalists, other media personnel and civil society representatives, who receive, possess or disseminate classified information because they believe that it is in the public interest, should not be subject to liability unless they place persons in an imminent situation of serious harm.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Humanitarian
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
The exercise of the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association in the workplace 2016, para. 87
- Paragraph text
- For example, despite well-documented, systematic and decades-long violations of freedom of association in Colombia, the United States signed a free trade agreement with the country in 2012. Four years later, unions, frustrated by lax enforcement and lack of political will, filed a trade complaint charging widespread and ongoing violations of freedom of association in the petroleum and sugar cane sectors. Canadian unions have filed a similar complaint under their country's bilateral trade agreement with Colombia.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Racial discrimination against people of African descent 2011, para. 4a
- Paragraph text
- [Formulates the following recommendations addressed to States parties:] [People of African descent live in many countries of the world, either dispersed among the local population or in communities, where they are entitled to exercise, without discrimination, individually or in community with other members of their group, as appropriate, the following specific rights:] The right to property and to the use, conservation and protection of lands traditionally occupied by them and to natural resources in cases where their ways of life and culture are linked to their utilization of lands and resources;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
Preliminary survey on the root causes of attacks and discrimination against persons with albinism 2016, para. 14
- Paragraph text
- This is the case, for example, in the myths that persons with albinism cannot see during the day but have excellent vision at night, that desirable minerals such as mercury and gold flow through their veins or that they float on water and cannot drown. Other myths seeking to dehumanize persons with albinism include those portraying them as cannibals or monstrous creatures in certain folktales, literature and films, or claiming that they can communicate with non-earthly or extraterrestrial beings.
- Body
- Independent Expert on the enjoyment of human rights by persons with albinism
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Post conflict and post disaster reconstruction and the right to adequate housing 2011, para. 31
- Paragraph text
- Similar lessons can be learnt from post-disaster situations. Disasters occur in a social context framed by complex issues of power, politics and longstanding vulnerability and poverty, including widespread tenure insecurity. Understanding this complexity is fundamental to developing and implementing successful responses. This is illustrated in the case of Hurricane Mitch in Honduras in October 1998. According to official estimates Hurricane Mitch left 21 cities severely damaged, 82,735 houses damaged, 66,188 houses destroyed and 44,150 people homeless. In addition 123 health centres and 531 roads were damaged and eight health centres and 189 bridges were destroyed. As a result, an estimated 1.5 million people were negatively affected.
- 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)
- Environment
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Poverty
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
Modalities for the establishment of femicides/gender-related killings watch 2016, para. 82d
- Paragraph text
- [States should undertake to do the following:] Cooperate to establish and implement a common methodology for the collection of comparable data and the establishment of a femicide watch;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Minorities in situations of humanitarian crises 2016, para. 27
- Paragraph text
- The Special Rapporteur also includes disasters in her report, whether natural or man-made (see section H below). Defined as calamitous events that seriously disrupt the functioning of a community or society, disasters cause human, material and economic or environmental losses that exceed the community's or society's ability to cope using its own resources. These can be a result of spontaneous natural hazards, such as hurricanes, tsunamis, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and wildfires, or be a result of more frequent slow-onset and mega disasters such as recurring droughts or floods. Disasters can result in the devastation of communities, loss of lives, leading to displacement, or migration, and can also lead to more complex emergencies such as loss of livelihoods, famine, housing crises and medical pandemics, which can also lead to mass displacement.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on minority issues
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Mapping and framing security of tenure 2013, para. 94
- Paragraph text
- In addition, disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation legislation, and measures such as planned relocation, natural hazard risk mapping and land zoning for residential housing, have been used to bypass eviction protections or may be phrased in a manner that could be misused to forcibly evict people.
- 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)
- Environment
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Large-scale development project and human rights defenders 2013, para. 65
- Paragraph text
- In the context of large-scale development projects, timely disclosure of information about project conceptualization and preparation, including contracts and subcontracts, documents with information about parties involved, financing frameworks, terms and conditions, impact assessments and mitigation strategies should be made available to the extent possible. The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, a multi-stakeholder voluntary mechanism that aims to increase the transparency of natural resource revenues by developing standardized reporting requirements for companies and Governments, has made a significant, positive contribution to increasing transparency in this sector. The initiative also offers relevant lessons learned regarding the difficulties and, at times, the unwillingness of Governments and private companies to disclose such information.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Environment
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Large-scale development project and human rights defenders 2013, para. 14
- Paragraph text
- For the purposes of the present report, the term "large-scale development projects" refers to the acquisition, lease or transfer of land or natural resources for commercial investment purposes. The Special Rapporteur does not identify a specific threshold for what should constitute "large-scale" but considers the impact of a project on its surroundings, specifically with regard to the human rights of affected communities and those defending the rights of those communities, to be a key factor.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Impact of climate change on the right to food 2015, para. 75
- Paragraph text
- Locally developed crops have been shown to be extremely adaptable and robust because they have been bred over generations specifically to cope with difficult ecological and social conditions. For example, "farmer rice varieties" are often more productive than imported varieties of rice and can grow with less input than modern varieties and require less maintenance. Furthermore, research has shown that farms run on agroecological principles can be more resilient in response to natural disasters such as hurricanes. Farms in Nicaragua, Honduras and Guatemala that relied on sustainable agricultural methods suffered considerably less damage than conventional farms following Hurricane Mitch in 1998, with sustainable farms retaining up to 40 per cent more topsoil and suffering less economic loss than neighbouring conventional farms. Similar studies conducted in Mexico following Hurricane Stan and in Cuba following Hurricane Ike had similar findings. Agroecological farms were also able to recover faster after the hurricane.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Impact of climate change on the right to food 2015, para. 28
- Paragraph text
- The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change further notes that in Central America, north-east Brazil and parts of the Andean region, increases in temperature and decreases in rainfall could lower productivity by 2030, aggravating food security among the poorest members of society.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Homelessness as a global human rights crisis that demands an urgent global response 2016, para. 24
- Paragraph text
- Such laws are often framed under the guise of public health and safety but, in reality, the aim is to "beautify" an area for the promotion of tourism and business or to increase property values. Examples are countless: in Zimbabwe, an operation to "sweep out the rubbish" through demolitions of shanty towns in 2005 left up to 1.5 million people homeless in the middle of the winter. In June 2014, the Mayor of Honolulu introduced new measures to crack down on homelessness because tourists want to see "their paradise, not homeless people sleeping". In Medellín, Colombia, during the World Urban Forum, the homeless population was transported outside of the city. In Australia, "move on" laws permit authorities to "disperse" homeless people "where a person's mere presence could cause anxiety to another person or interfere with another's 'reasonable enjoyment' of the space".
- 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)
- Environment
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Guiding Principles on security of tenure for the urban poor 2014, para. 70
- Paragraph text
- Business enterprises should publicly commit to taking all relevant steps to prevent and remedy adverse impacts on security of tenure. For example, in 2013, the Coca-Cola Company responded to a global campaign, "Sugar Rush", launched by Oxfam urging food and beverage companies to respect land rights by committing to a "plan of action to prevent and address land grabs and other land controversies in [its] supply chain". The company committed to conducting human rights impact assessments; public disclosure of suppliers; adherence to the principle of free, prior and informed consent for all communities; resolution of land disputes through appropriate grievance mechanisms; and working with suppliers on corrective action and terminating the relationship if such action is not taken.
- 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)
- Environment
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Guiding Principles on security of tenure for the urban poor 2014, para. 36
- Paragraph text
- There are legitimate circumstances in which resettlement in a manner consistent with international human rights law may be appropriate to protect the health and safety of inhabitants exposed to natural disasters or environmental hazards, or to preserve critical environmental resources. However, the misuse of regulations aimed at protecting public health and safety or the environment to justify eviction of poor households in the absence of genuine risk, or when other options are available, is contrary to international human rights law.
- 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)
- Environment
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Forced evictions 1997, para. 18
- Paragraph text
- Some institutions, such as the World Bank and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) have adopted guidelines on relocation and/or resettlement with a view to limiting the scale of and human suffering associated with forced evictions. Such practices often accompany large scale development projects, such as dam building and other major energy projects. Full respect for such guidelines, insofar as they reflect the obligations contained in the Covenant, is essential on the part of both the agencies themselves and States parties to the Covenant. The Committee recalls in this respect the statement in the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action to the effect that "while development facilitates the enjoyment of all human rights, the lack of development may not be invoked to justify the abridgement of internationally recognized human rights" (Part I, para. 10).
- Body
- Committee on Social, Economic and Cultural Rights
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Year
- 1997
Paragraph
Fisheries and the right to food 2012, para. 60
- Paragraph text
- States should discharge their duties to respect, protect and fulfil the right to food in the fisheries sector by moving towards sustainable resource use while ensuring that the rights and livelihoods of small-scale fishers and coastal communities are respected and that the food security of all groups depending on fish is improved. This is a difficult balance to strike, but, without swift and bold action by States, the contribution made by fisheries to securing the right to food will diminish, with considerable consequences, in particular for poorer rural communities that depend on fisheries for both their nutritional needs and their income. Both coastal and flag States should accept their duties in this regard and should actively involve the fishing communities themselves, both in fisheries management and in the design and implementation of policies in adjacent sectors that could affect fishing.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph