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Minimum Age Convention 1973, para. 7. (1) (a)
- Paragraph text
- [National laws or regulations may permit the employment or work of persons 13 to 15 years of age on light work which is:] not likely to be harmful to their health or development; and
- Legal status
- Legally binding
- Body
- International Labour Organization
- Document type
- International treaty
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Health
- Year
- 1973
Paragraph
Minimum Age Convention 1973, para. 2. (4)
- Paragraph text
- Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph 3 of this Article, a Member whose economy and educational facilities are insufficiently developed may, after consultation with the organizations of employers and workers concerned, where such exist, initially specify a minimum age of 14 years.
- Legal status
- Legally binding
- Body
- International Labour Organization
- Document type
- International treaty
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Education
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Year
- 1973
Paragraph
Promotion and protection of the human rights of peasants and other people working in rural areas 2014, para. 1
- Paragraph text
- Decides that the working group with the mandate of negotiating, finalizing and submitting to the Human Rights Council a draft United Nations declaration on the rights of peasants and other people working in rural areas shall hold its second session for five working days before the twenty-ninth session of the Council;
- Legal status
- Negotiated soft law
- Body
- United Nations Human Rights Council
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (the Nelson Mandela Rules) 2015, para. 2
- Paragraph text
- Where prisoners are employed in work not controlled by the prison administration, they shall always be under the supervision of prison staff. Unless the work is for other departments of the government, the full normal wages for such work shall be paid to the prison administration by the persons to whom the labour is supplied, account being taken of the output of the prisoners.
- Legal status
- Negotiated soft law
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Promotion and protection of the human rights of peasants and other people working in rural areas 2015, para. 1
- Paragraph text
- Decides that the working group with the mandate to negotiate, finalize and submit to the Human Rights Council a draft United Nations declaration on the rights of peasants and other people working in rural areas shall hold its next two annual sessions for five working days each before the thirty-sixth session of the Council;
- Legal status
- Negotiated soft law
- Body
- United Nations Human Rights Council
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Rights of the child: Towards better investment in the rights of the child 2015, para. 13
- Paragraph text
- Calls upon States to make budgeting processes open, transparent, accessible and participatory;
- Legal status
- Negotiated soft law
- Body
- United Nations Human Rights Council
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Third International Conference on Financing for Development: Addis Ababa Action Agenda 2015, para. 25
- Paragraph text
- We urge all countries that have not yet done so to ratify and accede to the United Nations Convention against Corruption, and encourage parties to review its implementation. We commit to making the Convention an effective instrument to deter, detect, prevent and counter corruption and bribery, prosecute those involved in corrupt activities and recover and return stolen assets to their country of origin. We encourage the international community to develop good practices on asset return. We support the Stolen Asset Recovery Initiative of the United Nations and the World Bank and other international initiatives that support the recovery of stolen assets. We further urge that regional conventions against corruption be updated and ratified. We will strive to eliminate safe havens that create incentives for transfer abroad of stolen assets and illicit financial flows. We will work to strengthen regulatory frameworks at all levels to further increase transparency and accountability of financial institutions and the corporate sector, as well as public administrations. We will strengthen international cooperation and national institutions to combat money-laundering and financing of terrorism.
- Legal status
- Negotiated soft law
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Declaration / Confererence outcome document
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Third International Conference on Financing for Development: Addis Ababa Action Agenda 2015, para. 25
- Paragraph text
- We urge all countries that have not yet done so to ratify and accede to the United Nations Convention against Corruption, and encourage parties to review its implementation. We commit to making the Convention an effective instrument to deter, detect, prevent and counter corruption and bribery, prosecute those involved in corrupt activities and recover and return stolen assets to their country of origin. We encourage the international community to develop good practices on asset return. We support the Stolen Asset Recovery Initiative of the United Nations and the World Bank and other international initiatives that support the recovery of stolen assets. We further urge that regional conventions against corruption be updated and ratified. We will strive to eliminate safe havens that create incentives for transfer abroad of stolen assets and illicit financial flows. We will work to strengthen regulatory frameworks at all levels to further increase transparency and accountability of financial institutions and the corporate sector, as well as public administrations. We will strengthen international cooperation and national institutions to combat money-laundering and financing of terrorism.
- Legal status
- Negotiated soft law
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Declaration / Confererence outcome document
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Promotion and protection of the human rights of peasants and other people working in rural areas 2012, para. 2
- Paragraph text
- Also decides that the working group shall hold its first session for five working days in 2013, before the twenty-third session of the Human Rights Council;
- Legal status
- Negotiated soft law
- Body
- United Nations Human Rights Council
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory including East Jerusalem, and in the occupied Syrian Golan, para. 28
- Paragraph text
- Noting that the agricultural sector, considered the cornerstone of Palestinian economic development, has not been able to play its strategic role because of the dispossession of land and the denial of access for farmers to agricultural areas, water resources and domestic and external markets owing to the construction, consolidation and expansion of Israeli settlements,
- Legal status
- Negotiated soft law
- Body
- United Nations Human Rights Council
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Economic Rights
- Year
- 2018
Paragraph
Fisheries and the right to food 2012, para. 26
- Paragraph text
- The quality of working conditions in the fish-processing industry also raises concerns, although conditions have improved since developed countries imposed higher sanitation and hygiene standards. In a 2004 study, FAO showed that, for 9 of the 11 countries surveyed, fish workers were paid close to the minimum wage and often received much lower than the average per capita income for the country. In Chile, for example, the area home to most fish processing factories was also the area with the lowest per capita income levels. Moreover, high levels of seasonal and informal work exist in the processing sector, meaning that many workers are not employed on full-time contracts with basic labour benefits, such as sick pay, pension or maternity leave. In part owing to the many fish-processing firms in the sector, workers often fail to unionize and to enter into collective bargaining.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Water & Sanitation
- Year
- 2012
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.
- 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
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Year
- 2014
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.
- 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)
- Economic Rights
- Environment
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
The exercise of the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association in the workplace 2016, para. 79
- Paragraph text
- Attempts to erode the right to strike take place both at the multilateral and national levels. In 2012, the ILO Employers' Group began arguing that the right to strike, protected by Convention 87, did not exist at all. Subsequent court decisions have dismissed employers' claims. The Special Rapporteur notes the positive role played by the Government Group in upholding workers' right to strike by recognizing that "without protecting a right to strike, freedom of association, in particular the right to organize activities for the purpose of promoting and protecting workers' interests, cannot be fully realized."
- 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)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Responsibilities of local and other subnational governments in relation to the right to adequate housing 2015, para. 23
- Paragraph text
- The situation of residents of informal settlements in many cities around the world illustrates how allocation of responsibilities among different levels of government plays out in peoples' lives. For example, a recent study considers the situation of residents of the Mukuru settlement in Nairobi. They live in windowless shacks on privately held land without sewage or water infrastructure. They have been unable to determine title through local governments and therefore lack security of tenure, rendering them ineligible to apply for basic water, sewers or electricity. With the Kenyan Constitution now recognizing "the right to accessible and adequate housing and to reasonable standards of sanitation", the challenge for local residents is to claim their rights within a complex web of regulatory schemes and decisions applied by an array of governmental actors.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft 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)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Water & Sanitation
- Year
- 2015
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.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft 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)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Year
- 2017
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.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- 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
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.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Environment
- 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.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Year
- 2000
Paragraph
The exercise of the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association in the context of multilateral institutions 2014, para. 54
- Paragraph text
- The United Nations Resident Coordinator Office in Kenya (UN-Kenya), for example, recently joined the Kenya Private Sector Alliance in a joint statement discouraging opposition-led rallies planned for 7 July 2014. This example also raises the issue of "sectoral equity", with UN-Kenya supporting the business community's call for "stability" at the expense of ordinary peoples' fundamental rights.
- 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)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Fundamentalism and its impact on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association 2016, para. 35
- Paragraph text
- Similarly, the Australian State of Tasmania has enacted the Workplaces (Protection from Protestors) Act 2014, which makes it a criminal offence to participate in a protest that may obstruct or prevent a business activity or access to business premises (see also A/HRC/28/85, case AUS 3/2014). At the time of writing, the State of Western Australia was considering similar legislation. The Special Rapporteur has urged the State Parliament to vote against the law.
- 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)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to education (Art. 13) 1999, para. 16a
- Paragraph text
- [An introduction to technology and to the world of work should not be confined to specific TVE programmes but should be understood as a component of general education. According to the UNESCO Convention on Technical and Vocational Education (1989), TVE consists of "all forms and levels of the educational process involving, in addition to general knowledge, the study of technologies and related sciences and the acquisition of practical skills, know-how, attitudes and understanding relating to occupations in the various sectors of economic and social life" (art. 1 (a)). This view is also reflected in certain ILO Conventions. Understood in this way, the right to TVE includes the following aspects:] It enables students to acquire knowledge and skills which contribute to their personal development, self-reliance and employability and enhances the productivity of their families and communities, including the State party's economic and social development;
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Committee on Social, Economic and Cultural Rights
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Education
- Year
- 1999
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.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Working Group of experts on people of African descent
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
The exercise of the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association in the workplace 2016, para. 59
- Paragraph text
- Some States have outright bans on all legitimate unions, including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Other States, such as Qatar, impose impermissibly broad restrictions, such as prohibiting public-sector employees from joining trade unions or participating in collective bargaining or strikes. Some laws restrict bargaining subjects, including wages, which hampers assembly and association rights, as workers are more reluctant to risk organizing when potential gains are so few. States, such as China, that own or operate enterprises and do not permit the formation of independent unions violate association and assembly rights both as a government and employer (see E/C.12/CHN/CO/2, para. 23).
- 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)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Year
- 2016
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.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft 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)
- Economic Rights
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Year
- 2013
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.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- 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
Occupational health 2012, para. 28
- Paragraph text
- For example, processes surrounding the negotiation of free trade agreements have lacked transparency and have not involved the participation of affected communities. As discussed earlier, the proliferation of free trade agreements is an element of globalization, which directly impacts the occupational health of workers. The right to occupational health requires States to incorporate workers' views and experiential knowledge into processes surrounding the negotiations of free trade agreements. Additionally, transparency requires States to make publicly available and accessible all draft agreements, negotiation proposals, minutes from negotiation meetings, and all other relevant information.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- 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
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Year
- 2012
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.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft 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)
- 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.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft 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)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Poverty
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
The human rights situation of Roma worldwide, with a particular focus on the phenomenon of anti-Gypsyism 2015, para. 71
- Paragraph text
- The marginalization experienced by Roma is often interconnected with disadvantage in the area of economic and social rights, often stemming from, or leading to, further impediments in civil and political rights and vice versa. However, the Special Rapporteur has observed a tendency of Roma programmes to focus on short-term, issue-specific projects that fail to adopt an integrated approach that addresses multisectoral disadvantage. Many measures and instruments focus exclusively on one policy area and are delivered through uncoordinated projects with insufficient connection to other, interconnected policies and funds. For example, housing programmes that tackle issues of adequacy, including ghettoization and segregation, that are not linked to employment opportunities will have little prospect for long-term sustainability. Comprehensive solutions should take account of intersecting discrimination that Roma face and ensure that programmes are developed in genuine consultation with affected communities.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on minority issues
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph