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African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance 2007, para. undefined
- Paragraph text
- State Parties shall implement policies and strategies to protect the environment to achieve sustainable development for the benefit of the present and future generations. In this regard, State Parties are encouraged to accede to the relevant treaties and other international legal instruments.
- Legal status
- Legally binding
- Body
- African Union
- Document type
- Regional treaty
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2007
Paragraph
African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights (Banjul Charter) 1981, para. 2
- Paragraph text
- Colonized or oppressed peoples shall have the right to free themselves from the bonds of domination by resorting to any means recognized by the international community.
- Legal status
- Legally binding
- Body
- Organization of African Unity
- Document type
- Regional treaty
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 1981
Paragraph
African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights (Banjul Charter) 1981, para. 1
- Paragraph text
- All peoples shall freely dispose of their wealth and natural resources. This right shall be exercised in the exclusive interest of the people. In no case shall a people be deprived of it
- Legal status
- Legally binding
- Body
- Organization of African Unity
- Document type
- Regional treaty
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Environment
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 1981
Paragraph
African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights (Banjul Charter) 1981, para. 4
- Paragraph text
- State Parties to the present Charter shall individually and collectively exercise the right to free disposal of their wealth and natural resources with a view to strengthening African Unity and solidarity.
- Legal status
- Legally binding
- Body
- Organization of African Unity
- Document type
- Regional treaty
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 1981
Paragraph
African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights (Banjul Charter) 1981, para. undefined
- Paragraph text
- All peoples shall have the right to a general satisfactory environment favourable to their development.
- Legal status
- Legally binding
- Body
- Organization of African Unity
- Document type
- Regional treaty
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 1981
Paragraph
African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance 2007, para. 6
- Paragraph text
- State Parties shall institutionalize good economic and corporate governance through, inter alia: Equitable allocation of the nation’s wealth and natural resources;
- Legal status
- Legally binding
- Body
- African Union
- Document type
- Regional treaty
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Environment
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2007
Paragraph
African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights (Banjul Charter) 1981, para. 3
- Paragraph text
- The free disposal of wealth and natural resources shall be exercised without prejudice to the obligation of promoting international economic cooperation based on mutual respect, equitable exchange and the principles of international law.
- Legal status
- Legally binding
- Body
- Organization of African Unity
- Document type
- Regional treaty
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Environment
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 1981
Paragraph
African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights (Banjul Charter) 1981, para. 5
- Paragraph text
- State Parties to the present Charter shall undertake to eliminate all forms of foreign exploitation particularly that practised by international monopolies so as to enable their peoples to fully benefit from the advantages derived from their national resources.
- Legal status
- Legally binding
- Body
- Organization of African Unity
- Document type
- Regional treaty
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 1981
Paragraph
Additional Protocol to the American Convention on Human Rights in the Area of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights “Protocol of San Salvador” 1988, para. 1
- Paragraph text
- 1. Everyone shall have the right to live in a healthy environment and to have access to basic public services.
- Legal status
- Legally binding
- Body
- Organization of American States
- Document type
- Regional treaty
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 1988
Paragraph
Additional Protocol to the American Convention on Human Rights in the Area of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights “Protocol of San Salvador” 1988, para. 2
- Paragraph text
- 2. The States Parties shall promote the protection, preservation, and improvement of the environment.
- Legal status
- Legally binding
- Body
- Organization of American States
- Document type
- Regional treaty
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 1988
Paragraph
Fertility, reproductive health and development 2011, para. 14
- Paragraph text
- Recognizing that the ultimate goal is the improvement of the quality of life of present and future generations, that the objective is to facilitate the demographic transition, as soon as possible, in countries where there is an imbalance between demographic rates and social, economic and environmental goals, while fully respecting human rights, and that this process will contribute to the stabilization of the world population and, together with changes in unsustainable patterns of production and consumption, to sustainable development and economic growth,
- Legal status
- Negotiated soft law
- Body
- Commission on Population and Development
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
The contribution of the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development to the internationally agreed development goals, including the Millennium Development Goals 2009, para. 5
- Paragraph text
- Also calls upon Governments, in cooperation with the international community, to reaffirm their commitment to promote an enabling environment to achieve sustained economic growth in the context of sustainable development and to eradicate poverty, with a special emphasis on gender, reducing the debt burden and ensuring that structural adjustment programmes are responsive to social, economic and environmental concerns in order to achieve the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development, the Beijing Platform for Action and the Millennium Development Goals;
- Legal status
- Negotiated soft law
- Body
- Commission on Population and Development
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2009
Paragraph
Environmental management and the mitigation of natural disasters 2002, para. 2
- Paragraph text
- Deeply convinced that economic development, social development and environmental protection are interdependent and mutually reinforcing components of sustainable development, which is the framework for our efforts to achieve a higher quality of life for all people.
- Legal status
- Negotiated soft law
- Body
- Commission on the Status of Women
- Document type
- CSW Agreed Conclusions / Declaration
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2002
Paragraph
Health, morbidity, mortality and development 2010, para. 20
- Paragraph text
- Also urges Governments to give increased attention to the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases, further taking into account the social and environmental determinants of non-communicable diseases by, inter alia, taking action to implement the World Health Organization Global Strategy for the Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Diseases and its related Action Plan;
- Legal status
- Negotiated soft law
- Body
- Commission on Population and Development
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
The right to water (Art. 11 and 12) 2002, para. 23
- Paragraph text
- The obligation to protect requires State parties to prevent third parties from interfering in any way with the enjoyment of the right to water. Third parties include individuals, groups, corporations and other entities as well as agents acting under their authority. The obligation includes, inter alia, adopting the necessary and effective legislative and other measures to restrain, for example, third parties from denying equal access to adequate water; and polluting and inequitably extracting from water resources, including natural sources, wells and other water distribution systems.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Committee on Social, Economic and Cultural Rights
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2002
Paragraph
The right to water (Art. 11 and 12) 2002, para. 55
- Paragraph text
- Any persons or groups who have been denied their right to water should have access to effective judicial or other appropriate remedies at both national and international levels (see General Comment No. 9 (1998), para. 4, and Principle 10 of the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development). The Committee notes that the right has been constitutionally entrenched by a number of States and has been subject to litigation before national courts. All victims of violations of the right to water should be entitled to adequate reparation, including restitution, compensation, satisfaction or guarantees of non-repetition. National ombudsmen, human rights commissions, and similar institutions should be permitted to address violations of the right.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Committee on Social, Economic and Cultural Rights
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2002
Paragraph
Access to land and the right to food 2010, para. 40d
- Paragraph text
- [In order to respect the right to food, States should:] Prioritize development models that do not lead to evictions, disruptive shifts in land rights and increased land concentration. States should carefully consider the development models that they follow, as the mainstream agro-export-led model has major detrimental impacts on the access to land of vulnerable groups, disproportionately favouring the largest producers and landowners. Land investments implying an important shift in land rights should represent the last and least desirable option, acceptable only if no other investment model can achieve a similar contribution to local development and improve the livelihoods within the local communities concerned.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
Acroecology and the right to food 2011, para. 22
- Paragraph text
- Agroforestry or comparable techniques such as the use of leguminous-cover crops to fix nitrogen also have a huge potential. This matters particularly to the poorest farmers, who are least likely to be able to afford to buy inorganic fertilizers, and whom fertilizer distribution systems often do not reach, particularly since the private sector is unlikely to invest into the most remote areas where communication routes are poor and few economies of scale can be achieved. But it is also of great importance to low-income countries, which import to meet their inorganic fertilizer needs. In sub-Saharan Africa, part of the reason why the use of fertilizers is very low (average 13 kilograms (kg) of fertilizer nutrients per hectare) is because of the considerable fiscal costs involved in the import and distribution of fertilizers.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
Acroecology and the right to food 2011, para. 12
- Paragraph text
- Agroecology is both a science and a set of practices. It was created by the convergence of two scientific disciplines: agronomy and ecology. As a science, agroecology is the "application of ecological science to the study, design and management of sustainable agroecosystems." As a set of agricultural practices, agroecology seeks ways to enhance agricultural systems by mimicking natural processes, thus creating beneficial biological interactions and synergies among the components of the agroecosystem. It provides the most favourable soil conditions for plant growth, particularly by managing organic matter and by raising soil biotic activity. The core principles of agroecology include recycling nutrients and energy on the farm, rather than introducing external inputs; integrating crops and livestock; diversifying species and genetic resources in agroecosystems over time and space; and focusing on interactions and productivity across the agricultural system, rather than focusing on individual species. Agroecology is highly knowledge-intensive, based on techniques that are not delivered top-down but developed on the basis of farmers' knowledge and experimentation.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
Vision of the mandate 2014, para. 43
- Paragraph text
- Climate change is already having a significant impact on approximately 1 billion of the world's poor. In achieving the target set out in Millennium Development Goal 1, poverty rates have been halved, with 700 million fewer people living in extreme poverty in 2010 than in 1990. In the Human Development Report 2013, however, the United Nations Development Programme warns that if environmental degradation continues at the current rate, the gains in poverty reduction will be reversed, plunging over 3 billion people into extreme poverty and hunger. Without the implementation of serious measures to combat climate change, the number of people at risk of hunger is projected to increase by 10-20 per cent by 2050.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Impact of climate change on the right to food 2015, para. 34
- Paragraph text
- Subsistence farmers often inhabit the most exposed and marginal landscapes, such as hillsides, deserts and flood plains, and may already suffer from chronic food insecurity. Other factors contributing to their food insecurity may include insecure land tenure and lack of crop insurance and irrigation options. They may also lack access to formal social safety nets and have unpredictable and uneven exposure to markets and finance. They often have no access to information and technology to explain how the local climate is changing and how to adjust their farming strategies accordingly. Despite being skilful and resilient in dealing with nature, the current speed and intensity of climate change is outpacing their capacity to adapt.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
The transformative potential of the right to food 2014, para. 29
- Paragraph text
- Firstly, certain types of agricultural development can combine increased production, a concern for sustainability, the adoption of robust measures to tackle unsustainable consumption patterns, and strong poverty-reducing impacts. Governments could achieve this by providing strong support to small-scale food producers, based on the provision of public goods for training, storage and connection to markets, and on the dissemination of agroecological modes of production. In addition, measures should be taken to develop local markets and local food processing facilities, combined with trade policies that support such efforts and at the same time reduce the competition between the luxury tastes of some and the basic needs of the others.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Impact of climate change on the right to food 2015, para. 81
- Paragraph text
- Food security involves much more than just food production. However, agribusiness investment is increasingly being seen as the only way to address hunger and poverty in a time of climate change. Within this context, "climate-smart agriculture" was introduced as a series of adaptation policies that sustainably increase productivity and resilience, while reducing greenhouse gas emissions and enhancing the achievement of national food security and development goals. These claims are questioned by several non-governmental and peasant organizations on basis of the absence of criteria to assess sustainability; the absence of a right to food concept; a limited conception of resilience; the misplaced focus on climate change mitigation; and the failure to recognize the historical responsibility of the developed countries for producing greenhouse gas emissions. More importantly, there is a lack of clarity around the concept of climate-smart agriculture that could be misleading, offering leeway for socially and environmentally detrimental practices to be pursued under the guise of climate-smart agriculture.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Impact of climate change on the right to food 2015, para. 82
- Paragraph text
- Climate change poses unique and distinct threats to all aspects of food security, including availability, accessibility, adequacy and sustainability. Moreover, these threats are poised to affect a huge number of people, with 600 million additional people potentially vulnerable to malnutrition by 2080. Manifestations of climate change, such as an increase in the frequency and intensity of extreme weather, global warming, a rise in sea levels and a decrease in the availability of water, have significant impacts on food security. As a result, crop failures and adverse impacts on livestock, fisheries and aquaculture will have an overall negative effect on people's livelihoods, with climate-induced food price volatility, nutritional deficiencies and diminishing quality of land and soil suitable for agricultural production a daunting reality. The consequences of failing to enact appropriate policies will pose a threat to global peace and security. As we are all living ever more interconnected lives, climate change should not be considered as affecting only those living in remote places.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Impact of climate change on the right to food 2015, para. 31
- Paragraph text
- Ensuring sustainable livelihoods is a crucial aspect of food security and one that is also threatened by climate change. FAO notes the dual role played by agricultural production in relation to food security: it not only produces the food that people eat, but also provides the primary source of employment for 36 per cent of the world's workforce. In some regions, including Asia and the Pacific, 40-50 per cent of the workforce is engaged in agriculture; in sub-Saharan Africa; two thirds of the working population is employed in agricultural labour. Thus, if agricultural production is adversely affected by climate change, so too are the livelihoods of significant numbers of rural workers.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Right to food and nutrition 2016, para. 22
- Paragraph text
- Food systems include production, processing, transport and consumption of food and are shaped by political, environmental, cultural, and socioeconomic factors. The industrial food system currently dominates the world. It focuses on increasing food production and maximizing efficiency at the lowest possible economic cost and relies on industrialized agriculture, including monocropping and factory farming, industrial food processing and mass distribution and marketing. Reflecting their affordability, availability and aggressive marketing strategies, industrialized food products constitute a very significant portion of the world's food sales.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Right to food and nutrition 2016, para. 23
- Paragraph text
- The impact of industrial food systems on nutrition and public health is alarming. Monocropping depends heavily on chemical inputs such as synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, while animals grown on factory farms are given growth hormones and antibiotics. The food processing industry uses preservatives, artificial colourants, additives and other chemicals in order to enhance the appearance, flavour and shelf life of food products. Ultraprocessed foods may also contain high levels of sodium, sugar, trans-fats and saturated fats, so that they are energy dense yet lacking in nutritional value.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Effects of pesticides on the right to food 2017, para. 99
- Paragraph text
- Measuring the success of agroecology in comparison with industrial agricultural systems requires further research. Studies using short time frames and focusing on individual crop yields underestimate the potential long-term productivity of agroecological systems. Comparative studies are increasingly showing that diversified systems are advantageous and even more profitable when looking at total outputs, rather than specific crop yields. Aiming to build balanced and sustainable agroecosystems, agroecology is more likely to produce constant yields in the longer term owing to their greater ability to withstand climate variations and naturally resist pests.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
The protection of sources and whistle-blowers 2015, para. 10
- Paragraph text
- Second, under the well-accepted proportionality element of the necessity test, disclosure must be shown to impose a specific risk of harm to a legitimate State interest that outweighs the public's interest in the information to be disclosed. If a disclosure does not harm a legitimate State interest, there is no basis for its suppression or withholding (see general comment No. 34 of the Human Rights Committee, para. 30). Some matters should be considered presumptively in the public interest, such as criminal offences and human rights or international humanitarian law violations, corruption, public safety and environmental harm and abuse of public office. The importance of the public's interest has been emphasized repeatedly in other regional mechanisms. National laws relating to the right to information also commonly provide for a public interest analysis.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- 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
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
The rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association in the context of natural resource exploitation projects 2015, para. 14
- Paragraph text
- States are obligated to protect and facilitate the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association in the context of natural resource exploitation, including by ensuring that business interests do not violate these rights. To discharge their duties in that respect, States should, among other things, enact robust national laws that stipulate the rights and responsibilities of all, create independent and effective enforcement, oversight and adjudicatory mechanisms, ensure effective remedies for violations of rights and promote awareness of, and access to information about, relevant policies and practices related to natural resource exploitation.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Environment
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph