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Effects of pesticides on the right to food 2017, para. 52
- Paragraph text
- The responsibility of corporations is specified in the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. In addition to setting out States’ existing obligations to protect against business-related human rights abuse and ensure access to remedy for victims, the Guiding Principles specify the independent responsibility of businesses to respect human rights, that is to avoid and address adverse human rights impacts linked to their operations. While businesses are not directly bound by international human rights treaties, the Guiding Principles provide a broadly agreed normative basis to assess corporate activity.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Financialization of housing and the right to adequate housing 2017, para. 17
- Paragraph text
- The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has suggested that the obligation to fulfil incorporates both an obligation to facilitate and an obligation to provide. In the context of the critical relationship between housing and financial markets, the articulation of a State's fulfilment obligation to not only provide housing when needed but also to facilitate the implementation of the right to housing is helpful in capturing the wide range of States' obligations to ensure that financial markets and the actions of private investors work towards the realization of the right to adequate housing.
- 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
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Financialization of housing and the right to adequate housing 2017, para. 64
- Paragraph text
- Despite the growing attention to the importance of business and human rights and despite the fact that housing represents the largest global business sector, very little attention has been paid to the obligations of business enterprises and financial corporations operating in the real estate and housing sector with respect to the right to adequate housing. The "Practical guide to ESG integration for equity investing", for example, makes no reference to human rights in relation to investments in housing and other real estate. The International Organization of Securities Commissions, whose members regulate more than 95 per cent of the world's capital markets, has not addressed the central role that human rights in general and the right to housing in particular should play in the regulation of capital markets.
- 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)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
The role of digital access providers 2017, para. 82
- Paragraph text
- For years now, individuals and companies within the digital access sector have understood that they play an essential role in the vast expansion of access to information and communications services. They are in a business in which the model for success should involve expanding access, efficiencies, diversity and transparency. They should take the principles identified in the present report as tools to strengthen their own roles in advancing users’ rights to freedom of expression. In this spirit, in addition to high-level policy commitments to human rights, the industry should allocate appropriate resources towards the fulfilment of these commitments, including due diligence, rights-oriented design and engineering choices, stakeholder engagement, strategies to prevent or mitigate human rights risks, transparency and effective remedies. In doing so, the design and implementation of corporate human rights accountability measures should draw on both internal and external expertise, and ensure meaningful input from customers and other affected rights holders, civil society and the human rights community.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Service regulation and human rights to water and sanitation 2017, para. 15
- Paragraph text
- The human rights to water and sanitation are binding on the State as a whole. All public or governmental authorities, or separate State bodies exercising regulatory functions at national, regional or local levels, have the responsibility to realize the State’s human rights obligations. To that end, regulatory actors must ensure that their policies, procedures and activities are compliant with the State’s international human rights obligations in relation to the rights to water and sanitation. Their obligations also include ensuring human rights compliance by the municipalities and other entities that they regulate (see A/HRC/36/45/Add.1, para. 31).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Service regulation and human rights to water and sanitation 2017, para. 69
- Paragraph text
- The situation becomes far more complex when monitoring informal small-scale providers. Piped systems are often not available to rural households or to those living in informal settlements in urban areas (see A/70/203, para. 64). This represents a significant problem of inequality in access, as people living in these areas, who are often poorer, have to rely on alternatives that are often of lower quality and that tend to cost far more. In these situations, some types of services, such as informal shared or communal facilities and unregulated individual on-site solutions, are seen as necessary short- to medium-term solutions. However, without suitable regulation and monitoring, none of these services can be guaranteed to comply with human rights standards.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Service regulation and human rights to water and sanitation 2017, para. 70
- Paragraph text
- Non-governmental organizations and community-based organizations are taking on an important role in informal service provision, stepping in where the State is not involved in such activities. Many of the same challenges in relation to regulation and accountability apply to the activities of such organizations, for instance ensuring consistent standards as regards quality of services and ensuring that organizations are accountable to the people they serve. Population groups in many countries are served by community and informal service providers, which rarely report internal monitoring results to authorities.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Embrace diversity and energize humanity 2017, para. 53
- Paragraph text
- Responses to the Independent Expert’s invitation to stakeholders to send in information in 2017 have provided the following examples:
- Body
- Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
The Special Rapporteur's vision of the mandate 2017, para. 28
- Paragraph text
- While the inclusion of the concept that development promotes human rights into the international human rights system is crucial, the Special Rapporteur stresses that a major shift in the global human rights conversation requires the recognition that the interaction between development and human rights is twofold. Development contributes to human rights, and the enjoyment of those rights promotes development. In that context, the use of public space, participation in public debate and the possibility of organizing and associating all contribute to expanding civil space within the framework of the Sustainable Development Goals, in particular Goal 16, which provides for peaceful, inclusive and just societies with effective, accountable and inclusive institutions. Inequalities, on the other hand, have a negative impact on the exercise of the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
The Special Rapporteur's vision of the mandate 2017, para. 30
- Paragraph text
- The Special Rapporteur is committed both to ensuring accountability for business actors in line with the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights: Implementing the United Nations “Protect, Respect and Remedy” Framework and to working together with existing networks with a view to identifying ways that businesses and society can benefit from increased support from the private sector, in partnership with Governments, to create positive and enabling operating environments characterized by good governance, respect for the rule of law and human rights, equality and diversity.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
The Special Rapporteur's vision of the mandate 2017, para. 38
- Paragraph text
- In his third report to the General Assembly (A/70/266), he provided a comparative study on the treatment of businesses and associations by States worldwide, comparing the enabling environments created by States, multilateral organizations and other actors for businesses and associations and highlighting instances in which they were treated inequitably. He found that States and other actors often imposed more burdensome regulation on associations, both in law and in practice, with businesses receiving more favourable treatment. The net result was that, for businesses, the enabling environment, defined broadly as action or inaction by States and other actors to promote a particular non-State sector, was typically much better than it was for associations. In the report, he advocated “sectoral equity”: a fair, transparent and impartial approach in which the regulation of each sector would be grounded in domestic and international law, standards and norms and where regulations would be clearly set forth in law, with minimum discretion given to State officials.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Corruption and the right to health 2017, para. 49
- Paragraph text
- There are particular challenges to transparency in the health sector. Asymmetric information between providers, payers and users leads to provider or user moral hazard. Information is divided between a multitude of different actors, including regulators, payers, providers, users and suppliers, which reduces transparency. There are many varying ways to improve transparency depending on the context. For example, transparency in procurement is enhanced through public access to procurement bidding results, monitoring of the prices paid and analysis of bids. Transparency in recruitment can be supported through the publication of criteria. Transparency through the promotion of information that sets out the services and treatments to which individuals are entitled and how these services are reimbursed can help minimize inequalities in access to care through corrupt practices. The publication of transparent waiting lists can negate the practice of bribery to access more rapid treatment.
- 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
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Development cooperation and the human rights to water and sanitation 2017, para. 38
- Paragraph text
- The Water Resources Sector Strategy, published in 2004, contains some relevant provisions and guidelines related to the human rights to water and sanitation. For instance, it establishes that communities should be vested “with ownership rights and authority to select service providers”, contributing to the enjoyment of the right to participation. Projects and programmes should strengthen “regulatory oversight capacities, institutions and processes to provide greater transparency and predictability”. Moreover, financially disadvantaged people are to be ensured “access to safe, affordable water supply and sanitation services by reducing costs and increasing accountability”. However, the World Bank’s pro-poor focus is not equivalent to a human rights-based approach, since it does not embody the full spectrum of the human rights framework.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Development cooperation and the human rights to water and sanitation 2017, para. 28
- Paragraph text
- The general development cooperation policy of Japan is found in its development cooperation charter, revised in 2015. The charter reaffirms the country’s obligations to promote human rights through its international development activities. According to the charter, activities in the water supply and sanitation sector fall under the country’s policy umbrella of promoting development for human security. In the charter, “quality growth” and poverty eradication through such growth is designated as a priority policy issue, encompassing water supply and sanitation. Indeed, Japan adopts a cross-sectoral approach, that is, the approach to strengthening health systems also includes the strengthening of water services and other infrastructure (CRC/C/JPN/3, para. 68).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Development cooperation and the human rights to water and sanitation 2017, para. 33
- Paragraph text
- The European Union has in place a regulation establishing a financing instrument for democracy and human rights worldwide. The most recent specific policy document on the water and sanitation sector was endorsed in 2002 by the Council of the European Union. It emphasizes the importance of relevant principles and standards related to participation, gender equality, transparency and access to information, financial and environmental sustainability in service provision, affordability, and improving service levels for the poorest populations and rural, urban and peri-urban areas.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
The Special Rapporteur's vision of the mandate 2017, para. 49
- Paragraph text
- The rights to freedom of assembly and of association in the digital sphere are increasingly the subject of restrictive laws and policies. There is a need, therefore, to discuss them in view of the challenges of the digital age and to explore the connection between those rights, specifically, and new technologies.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
The role of digital access providers 2017, para. 75
- Paragraph text
- Pre-existing policies and mechanisms could also be reformed or strengthened to address violations of freedom of expression. For example, a provider could make improvements to its content restriction policy and the training of its content moderation teams to reduce the likelihood of unfair website takedowns or overbroad content restrictions such as filtering. Customer complaint mechanisms could also be updated to allow users to flag network traffic management practices, commercial filtering classifications and other content restrictions they deem to be unduly restrictive or unfair.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Service regulation and human rights to water and sanitation 2017, para. 62
- Paragraph text
- Monitoring is essential for understanding current levels of access to water and sanitation services — by focusing on issues such as affordability and water quality, identifying barriers to access for unserved or underserved populations, and ensuring that participatory processes are inclusive. National and local monitoring processes gather information that helps identify drivers and bottlenecks, highlight gaps, and assess strengths and challenges, and as such are essential for the realization of the human rights to water and sanitation.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Report of the Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent on its nineteenth and twentieth sessions 2017, para. 63
- Paragraph text
- The Working Group welcomes the work of the Pan American Health Organization in the field of health of people of African descent. The work is based on an intercultural approach to health and equal treatment for the different groups from the standpoint of mutual respect, recognizing the value of culture and the elements that comprise it, including, among other things, lifestyles, value systems and traditions. PAHO/WHO is working on the development of specific plans on the health of people of African descent in the Latin American and Caribbean region.
- Body
- Working Group of experts on people of African descent
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Witchcraft and the human rights of persons with albinism 2017, para. 19
- Paragraph text
- The phenomena have many connotations and are subject to many interpretations, such that objective definitions are unsatisfactory; "[the] real meaning derives from relationships, shared experiences and individual feelings". Consequently the "meanings … are so varied because the concept is so versatile".
- Body
- Independent Expert on the enjoyment of human rights by persons with albinism
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Effects of pesticides on the right to food 2017, para. 107d
- Paragraph text
- [States should:] Consider non-chemical alternatives first, and only allow chemicals to be registered where need can be demonstrated;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Diversity in humanity, humanity in diversity 2017, para. 64
- Paragraph text
- The report allows the approach and methodology of the Independent Expert to be gauged. There are key reflections responding to the mandate, particularly regarding (a) the panorama of the situation, including the implementation of international instruments, with identification of good practices and gaps; (b) awareness of the violence and discrimination issue, and linkage with root causes; (c) dialogue, consultation and cooperation with States and other stakeholders; (d) the identification of multiple, intersecting and aggravated forms of violence and discrimination; and (e) support for international cooperation and related services to assist national efforts.
- Body
- Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
The right to mental health 2017, para. 14
- Paragraph text
- With the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and recent efforts by influential global actors such as WHO, the Movement for Global Mental Health and the World Bank, mental health is emerging at the international level as a human development imperative. The 2030 Agenda and most of its sustainable development goals implicate mental health: Goal 3 seeks to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being at all ages and target 3.4 includes the promotion of mental health and well-being in reducing mortality from non-communicable diseases. How national efforts harness the momentum of the 2030 Agenda to address mental health has important implications for the effective realization of the right to health.
- 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
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 45
- Paragraph text
- At the same time, representatives from the auditing community raised concerns about their limited role in addressing audit findings and the implementation of their recommendations. Moreover, many of the issues that constitute the root causes of common labour abuses identified at the supply chain level, such as those related to unethical recruitment practices and compulsory overtime, are strongly connected to the behaviour and business decisions of client companies. Some representatives of the auditing community also noted the difficulties faced in bringing such concerns to the attention of client companies, given the race-to-the-bottom practice encouraged by some in the audit industry who agree to perform audits under unrealistic conditions.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Service regulation and human rights to water and sanitation 2017, para. 20
- Paragraph text
- All service providers, whether public, State-owned or private, must comply with the State’s legal and regulatory framework. In cases where the State is the service provider, at central level or often through its municipalities, it must act in compliance with the laws and regulations of the State and in line with its international human rights obligations. Where service provision is formally delegated by the State to non-State actors, the State cannot exempt itself from its human rights obligations and retains the obligation to regulate and monitor their activities. Non-State service providers (formal and informal), on the other hand, have human rights responsibilities, which include complying with the national regulatory framework and respecting the human rights to water and sanitation.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Access to information in international organizations 2017, para. 57
- Paragraph text
- Intergovernmental organizations should make efforts now to create openness and to establish policies and infrastructure that not only provide information of all kinds but also promote such requests. Intergovernmental organizations should welcome the opportunities to provide transparency because, although transparency can cause embarrassment and, occasionally, give rise to scandal, it also sends a broader message of understanding that public knowledge is critical, especially so since these institutions serve critical public functions. Opacity, by contrast, sends the opposite message: we are distant; our work does not concern you; your support is unnecessary.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Corruption and the right to health 2017, para. 13
- Paragraph text
- Alongside general corruption, health sector corruption is widespread and has serious consequences for the enjoyment of the right to health on the basis of equality and non-discrimination. The most common forms of corruption in the health sector are selling government posts, absenteeism, bribes, procurement corruption, theft or misuse of property, fraud, and embezzlement of user fee revenue, as well as informal payments to health-care providers. A range of stakeholders may be implicated in these and other corrupt practices in the health sector affecting the enjoyment of the right to health. These include but are not limited to health ministers, parliaments, accrediting and licensing bodies, public and private insurers, hospitals, health professionals and health professional associations, community health workers, pharmacists, pharmaceutical companies and biotechnology companies, medical researchers and medical research groups and patients and patient support groups. As will be argued below, they all bear responsibilities with regard to the right to health.
- 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
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Development cooperation and the human rights to water and sanitation 2017, para. 20
- Paragraph text
- Within the framework of international human rights treaties, all levels of government, including development cooperation agencies, have obligations to adopt specific policies aimed at the realization of the human rights to water and sanitation in legislative form or in other measures (Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, general comment No. 3 (1990) on the nature of States parties’ obligations, paras. 6-7). Outside of the human rights treaty framework, myriad funders have expressed their commitment to realizing human rights through various international instruments. For instance, in the 2008 Accra Agenda for Action, most funders committed themselves to establishing and implementing development cooperation policies and programmes that respect human rights.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Development cooperation and the human rights to water and sanitation 2017, para. 39
- Paragraph text
- However, the scant existence of specific, universal policy guarantees for water and sanitation projects reflecting human rights standards effectively grants officials from the World Bank and from partner States the liberty of determining a project’s goals and methods on a case-by-case basis. Moreover, one senior official of the Bank understands that “any project that improves access to improved [water supply and sanitation] is a step towards universal access” and that this is enough not to be negligent of the human rights framework. In the light of this discretionary approach, while some projects funded by the Bank could possibly be aligned with the human rights framework, others risk neglecting human rights.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Development cooperation and the human rights to water and sanitation 2017, para. 72
- Paragraph text
- One project, in which the funder provided budget support to the partner State, consists of maintaining dialogue among government authorities with the aim of supporting sector reform. However, the process seemed to apply a non-participatory approach as relevant stakeholders, including local governments and civil society organizations, were apparently excluded from the discussion of key decisions. That may be a source of future conflict and could jeopardize the legitimacy of the agreements that will be made. The human rights to water and sanitation require funders to take measures to ensure meaningful participation by all stakeholders and to support partner States in developing methods to promote participation (for example, multi-stakeholder dialogues involving the authorities concerned, civil society organizations, private sector entities and marginalized groups). Such dialogues can contribute to building political will, to planning a more appropriate restructuring in the sector recognizing the diverse needs of various groups and their rights, and to creating opportunities to hold public authorities accountable.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph