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The right to water (Art. 11 and 12) 2002, para. 14
- Paragraph text
- States parties should take steps to remove de facto discrimination on prohibited grounds, where individuals and groups are deprived of the means or entitlements necessary for achieving the right to water. States parties should ensure that the allocation of water resources, and investments in water, facilitate access to water for all members of society. Inappropriate resource allocation can lead to discrimination that may not be overt. For example, investments should not disproportionately favour expensive water supply services and facilities that are often accessible only to a small, privileged fraction of the population, rather than investing in services and facilities that benefit a far larger part of the population.
- Body
- Committee on Social, Economic and Cultural Rights
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2002
- Date modified
- Feb 13, 2020
Paragraph
Financing education and update on education in emergencies 2011, para. 57
- Paragraph text
- In the 2008 report, emergencies were defined as any crisis situations due to natural disasters, or to armed conflict, which may be international (including military occupation) or internal, as defined in international humanitarian law, or post-conflict situations. It was pointed out in the report that, besides being a widely recognized State obligation, ensuring adequate education was indispensable for preventing emergencies and ensuring success in peacebuilding and recovery efforts. It was underlined, however, that education was frequently found to be interrupted, delayed or even denied during emergencies and in the reconstruction process. In the report a number of recommendations were presented to States and intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations for better protecting education and ensuring its inclusion as an integral part of the humanitarian response to conflicts and natural disasters.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to education
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2011
- Date modified
- Feb 13, 2020
Paragraph
Financing education and update on education in emergencies 2011, para. 68
- Paragraph text
- Given the fragility of some States affected by emergencies, and the central role of international assistance and cooperation in that context, it is important to recall that the obligation to provide international assistance is established in human rights law. It is also reflected in numerous international declarations, including the Dakar Framework of Action on Education for All, adopted by the World Education Forum in 2000. Moreover, as noted above, States requiring assistance are also obliged to seek and manage external assistance in accordance with human rights principles.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to education
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2011
- Date modified
- Feb 13, 2020
Paragraph
Financing education and update on education in emergencies 2011, para. 90
- Paragraph text
- The EFA Global Monitoring Report 2011 pointed to serious limitations in data collection in conflict situations: "assessments of need for communities caught up in conflict are at best haphazard, even taking into account the inevitable constraints associated with conducting surveys in conflict affected areas". It also underlined that donors' assessments tend to underestimate needs in the education sector as their proposals are often tailored to meet low expectations of donor funding. Limited attention is paid to needs assessment for qualitative aspects of education, such as textbook supply, hours of study and in-service teacher training. Human resources and infrastructure requirements for secondary education tend also to be completely ignored.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to education
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2011
- Date modified
- Feb 13, 2020
Paragraph
Normative action for quality education 2012, para. 56
- Paragraph text
- Norms for pupil-teacher ratio and class sizes cannot be implemented unless requisite teaching personnel is available (see below).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to education
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2012
- Date modified
- Feb 13, 2020
Paragraph
Normative action for quality education 2012, para. 63
- Paragraph text
- In Portugal, several legal decrees establish a Master’s degree as the minimum qualification for entering the teaching profession for all levels of basic education, including preschool education. To qualify as a teacher in Albania, a candidate must have a Master’s degree in education, one year of professional training and must have passed the State Examination for Teachers. In France, initial training equivalent to a Master’s degree in a university is necessary for a teaching position. In Nigeria, the minimum teaching qualification is the Nigeria Certificate in Education (NCE). Minimum eligibility qualifications for entry into the teaching profession have also been laid down in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and in Finland, including specific training prior to deployment in the schools.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to education
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2012
- Date modified
- Feb 13, 2020
Paragraph
Justiciability of the right to education 2013, para. 13
- Paragraph text
- The legal protection of the right to education has its foundation in national, regional and international legislation and standards, and the State obligations that these laws lay down. Government policies and provisions of education – both public and private – are subject to review and determination by judicial and quasi-judicial bodies. The role of adjudication is to ensure that the right to education as an internationally recognized right as established by numerous treaties and legislation is respected, protected and fulfilled. Its most basic tenets, free and compulsory primary education for all, the progressive realization of secondary and tertiary education, and the immediate non-discrimination in their application, are universally recognized.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to education
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2013
- Date modified
- Feb 13, 2020
Paragraph
Impact of climate change on the right to food 2015, para. 57
- Paragraph text
- In an open letter to the States parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, a number of special rapporteurs, including the Special Rapporteur on the right to food, called on States to ensure full coherence between human rights obligations and efforts to address climate change and to include clear human rights language in the agreement to be concluded in Paris. Most recently, at the closing plenary meeting of the eighth session of the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action, held in February 2015 in Geneva, 18 countries signed a voluntary agreement on human rights and climate action, the Geneva Pledge for Human Rights in Climate Action, pledging to facilitate the sharing of best practice and knowledge between human rights and climate experts at the national level.
- 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
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
- Date modified
- Feb 13, 2020
Paragraph
Effects of pesticides on the right to food 2017, para. 51
- Paragraph text
- Businesses, whose decisions “can profoundly affect the dignity and rights of individuals and communities”, also have human rights responsibilities. Yet the State-centric nature of the human rights regime largely fails to account for the considerable role that the business sector plays in the violation of human rights. The inability of the regime to address non-State actors is particularly problematic given that the pesticide industry is dominated by a few transnational corporations that wield extraordinary power over global agrochemical research, legislative initiatives and regulatory agendas.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Food & Nutrition
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
- Date modified
- Feb 13, 2020
Paragraph
Human rights based approach to recovery from the global economic and financial crises, with a focus on those living in poverty 2011, para. 58
- Paragraph text
- Through a human rights-based recovery, States have the chance to embrace new and ambitious approaches to reducing inequality, eliminating poverty and creating stable societies and economies that will withstand future shocks. A human rights approach is the best way for States to rectify the persistent inequalities, exacerbated by successive crises, which have diminished social cohesion and increased feelings of insecurity and exclusion. Should these inequalities persevere, the result could be increasing social unrest and conflict, a reality that has been vividly illustrated across North Africa and the Middle East in recent months.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2011
- Date modified
- Feb 13, 2020
Paragraph
Recruitment practices and the human rights of migrants 2015, para. Chapter V. B.
- Paragraph text
- [Recommendations to private sector organizations] Support the implementation of standard contract terms specifying job description, wages and labour conditions
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
- Date modified
- Feb 13, 2020
Paragraph
The issue of trafficking in persons for the removal of organs 2013, para. 49
- Paragraph text
- As has been noted previously, characterizing practices such as organ commercialization or transplant tourism as trafficking in persons for the removal of organs has a substantial effect on the nature of State obligations and on individual rights that arise as a result of those obligations. For example, States parties to the Trafficking in Persons Protocol are, pursuant to article 5, under a clear international legal obligation to criminalize trafficking in persons for the purpose of removal of organs as well as attempting, participating in, organizing and directing other persons in the commission of trafficking in persons for the purpose of removal of organs. They are also required to establish liability in respect of both natural persons and legal persons, thereby extending the reach of criminal and civil law to the medical and other establishments that are so often involved in trafficking in persons for the removal of organs.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2013
- Date modified
- Feb 13, 2020
Paragraph
The MDGs and the human rights to water and sanitation 2010, para. 20
- Paragraph text
- The poor record of achievement for target 7.C reflects inadequate political prioritization by donor and partner countries alike, particularly in the case of sanitation. While aid for water and sanitation is increasing in absolute terms, the share of the water and sanitation sector has been declining relative to other sectors. Moreover, aid is generally not well-targeted: only 42 per cent of aid for these sectors committed between 2006 and 2008 was addressed to least developed and other low-income countries. The share of aid for basic sanitation and water services decreased from 27 per cent in 2003 to 16 per cent in 2008, much greater shares being directed at large systems, which generally do not reach the poorest segments of the population. Strikingly, only about one third of aid to the water and sanitation sectors is directed to sanitation, even though far greater efforts are needed in this area.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2010
- Date modified
- Feb 13, 2020
Paragraph
Financing for the Realization of the Rights to Water and Sanitation 2011, para. 50
- Paragraph text
- The Special Rapporteur does not categorically reject any particular technology or suggest that expanding or improving access to water and sanitation should be done cheaply. Low-cost solutions for sanitation are often only temporary solutions, as reliable services that yield the long-term public health improvements normally come at a higher cost. States should determine which technology is appropriate based on the objective. If the goal is, for instance, to stabilize access to water in an informal settlement in the short term with the expectation that the community will be reached by more permanent services after a few years, low-cost options such as water kiosks served by utilities might be acceptable for a limited period.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2011
- Date modified
- Feb 13, 2020
Paragraph
Financing for the Realization of the Rights to Water and Sanitation 2011, para. 69
- Paragraph text
- Even transparent budgeting can seldom account for the additional off-budget resources spent on water and sanitation by international donors and non governmental organizations, which often wish to manage their projects independent of Governments. The resources expended on these projects are then almost never recorded in national budgets. In cases in which States rely on international contributions for the majority of their work in the water and sanitation sector, this means that Governments and communities have little knowledge of how much funding is actually available. In Malawi in 2006, for example, it is estimated that off-budget spending by non-governmental organizations was as much as three times the reported annual budget for water and sanitation.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2011
- Date modified
- Feb 13, 2020
Paragraph
Planning for the realization of the rights to water and sanitation 2011, para. 62
- Paragraph text
- Finally, international assistance often contributes to financing with external transfers. Donor policies must integrate the human rights to water and to sanitation and support national priorities regarding water and sanitation, as well as targets to reduce disparities in access. For instance, the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation has prioritized water and sanitation, launching a Water and Sanitation Fund of one billion Euros in 2009, with the specific purpose of contributing to the realization of the human right to water and improving policies and planning processes. Generally, international assistance contributes to financing at the national level (which can then be transferred to the local level), but in some countries local governments are also authorized to receive international grants and loans directly. While this may open up new opportunities, it may also reinforce the risk of disparity between municipalities. It also increases the need for capacity-strengthening at the local level in dealing with public and private funding institutions.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2011
- Date modified
- Feb 13, 2020
Paragraph
Planning for the realization of the rights to water and sanitation 2011, para. 80b
- Paragraph text
- [The full realization of human rights can require complex trade-offs that are even more difficult in situations of economic crisis. Having a plan or a vision guided by a human rights framework helps authorities to prioritize the realization of human rights above other considerations. Yet, a human rights framework provides no single answer on how to set priorities in a case where not all can be reached at the same time - for instance the distribution of resources between neglected remote rural areas and deprived urban slum areas. What human rights standards and principles call for is that such allocation decisions are not based solely on a cost-utility analysis, but are the result of a democratic, participatory and non-discriminatory process. In this regard:] States must also develop specific strategies and plans for the water and sanitation sectors to ensure that these issues are accorded sufficient priority and that their specificities are taken into account;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2011
- Date modified
- Feb 13, 2020
Paragraph
Integrating non-discrimination and equality into the post-2015 development agenda for water, sanitation and hygiene 2012, para. 50
- Paragraph text
- The challenge is to set such an overall goal on equality that does justice to its cross-cutting nature, relevance to all fields of development and different grounds and manifestations of inequalities. To address these challenges, the future development agenda could include an overall goal on achieving equality accompanied by targets for different sectors for reducing inequalities. Since it might not be necessary, feasible or advisable to relate all targets to all different grounds of discrimination, the pertaining indicators could focus on the dominant inequalities as relevant for different sectors relating to sex, disability, age, income/wealth, ethnicity, and geographic location, among other stratifiers. The overall framework would have to ensure that all different types of inequalities are captured. Optionally, if indicators with ordinal values were selected, the different sectoral indicators could be combined for a composite score that would yield an overall measure of equality.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2012
- Date modified
- Feb 13, 2020
Paragraph
Stigma and the realization of the human rights to water and sanitation 2012, para. 43
- Paragraph text
- Stigma is a deeply engrained sociocultural phenomenon that not only disadvantages entire population groups, but often results in serious human rights violations. Situating stigma in the human rights framework is essential for identifying the obligations of States and establishing accountability. Stigma has close links to a range of civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights, highlighting the indivisibility and interdependence of all human rights. The human rights standards and principles of human dignity and non-discrimination, the human rights to water and sanitation and other closely related human rights will be explored in more depth, as they show close links to the way stigma is manifested in relation to water and sanitation.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2012
- Date modified
- Feb 13, 2020
Paragraph
Wastewater management in the realization of the rights to water and sanitation 2013, para. 51
- Paragraph text
- One of the biggest incentives for improved wastewater management is the increasing understanding that wastewater is a resource. In the agricultural sector, an estimated area of between 4 million and 20 million ha worldwide (i.e., the surface area of Switzerland and Senegal, respectively) is irrigated with wastewater or fertilized by sludge. While this use is welcome, when the use is unregulated, it exposes producers, residents and consumers to health risks. Therefore, the risks and benefits of irrigation with wastewater need to be balanced. The Guidelines on the Safe Use of Wastewater, Excreta and Greywater in Agriculture and Aquaculture provide useful standards. In Namibia, the Special Rapporteur witnessed efforts to treat wastewater to the standard of drinking water (see A/HRC/21/42/Add.3, para. 15).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Health
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2013
- Date modified
- Feb 13, 2020
Paragraph
Wastewater management in the realization of the rights to water and sanitation 2013, para. 65
- Paragraph text
- Investing in wastewater management is closely tied to technological choices, although financing needs are not limited to infrastructure, but encompass management, monitoring, policy development, capacity-building, awareness-raising and enforcement, among others. Different estimates exist as to the sums required to retrofit the world's population with modern infrastructure and take care of decaying infrastructure in industrialized countries. Figures range from $75 billion to $904 billion per year over the next 25 to 42 years, but the reliability of those numbers is questionable. In any case, the sums needed are astronomical.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2013
- Date modified
- Feb 13, 2020
Paragraph
Sustainability and non-retrogression in the realisation of the rights to water and sanitation 2013, para. 17
- Paragraph text
- There is a clear link between non-retrogression and sustainability. Acts or omissions that result in retrogressions in the progressive realization of the rights to water and sanitation jeopardize sustainability. Unless the criteria outlined above have been satisfied during the States' decision-making processes, it is unlikely that such processes will result in the sustainable provision of water and sanitation. Rather, retrogressive steps will perpetuate unsustainable practices and create a constant threat to the full realization of economic, social and cultural rights in general and the rights to water and sanitation in particular.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2013
- Date modified
- Feb 13, 2020
Paragraph
SRSG on violence against children: Annual report 2013, para. 33c
- Paragraph text
- [The meeting called for a multidimensional strategy and:] Strengthening the crucial role of teachers and school staff who need to be provided with the necessary skills, training, support and resources;
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General on violence against children
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2013
- Date modified
- Feb 13, 2020
Paragraph
Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action 1995, para. Objective E6
- Paragraph text
- Provide assistance to the women of the colonies and non-self-governing territories
- Body
- Fourth World Conference on Women
- Document type
- Declaration / Confererence outcome document
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Women
- Year
- 1995
- Date modified
- Feb 13, 2020
Paragraph
Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action 1995, para. 297
- Paragraph text
- As soon as possible, preferably by the end of 1995, Governments, in consultation with relevant institutions and non-governmental organizations, should begin to develop implementation strategies for the Platform and, preferably by the end of 1996, should have developed their strategies or plans of action. This planning process should draw upon persons at the highest level of authority in government and relevant actors in civil society. These implementation strategies should be comprehensive, have time-bound targets and benchmarks for monitoring, and include proposals for allocating or reallocating resources for implementation. Where necessary, the support of the international community could be enlisted, including resources.
- Body
- Fourth World Conference on Women
- Document type
- Declaration / Confererence outcome document
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 1995
- Date modified
- Feb 13, 2020
Paragraph
Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action 1995, para. Objective I3
- Paragraph text
- Achieve legal literacy
- Body
- Fourth World Conference on Women
- Document type
- Declaration / Confererence outcome document
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Women
- Year
- 1995
- Date modified
- Feb 13, 2020
Paragraph
Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action 1995, para. 258c
- Paragraph text
- Ensure the full compliance with relevant international obligations, including where relevant, the Basel Convention and other conventions relating to the transboundary movements of hazardous wastes (which include toxic wastes) and the Code of Practice of the International Atomic Energy Agency relating to the movement of radioactive waste; enact and enforce regulations for environmentally sound management related to safe storage and movements; consider taking action towards the prohibition of those movements that are unsafe and insecure; ensure the strict control and management of hazardous wastes and radioactive waste, in accordance with relevant international and regional obligations and eliminate the exportation of such wastes to countries that, individually or through international agreements, prohibit their importation;
- Body
- Fourth World Conference on Women
- Document type
- Declaration / Confererence outcome document
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Women
- Year
- 1995
- Date modified
- Feb 13, 2020
Paragraph
Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action 1995, para. Objective K2
- Paragraph text
- Integrate gender concerns and perspectives in policies and programmes for sustainable development
- Body
- Fourth World Conference on Women
- Document type
- Declaration / Confererence outcome document
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Women
- Year
- 1995
- Date modified
- Feb 13, 2020
Paragraph
Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action 1995, para. 258b(iii)
- Paragraph text
- [By Governments, regional and international organizations and non-governmental organizations, as appropriate:] [Develop gender-sensitive databases, information and monitoring systems and participatory action-oriented research, methodologies and policy analyses, with the collaboration of academic institutions and local women researchers, on the following:] Analysis of the structural links between gender relations, environment and development, with special emphasis on particular sectors, such as agriculture, industry, fisheries, forestry, environmental health, biological diversity, climate, water resources and sanitation;
- Body
- Fourth World Conference on Women
- Document type
- Declaration / Confererence outcome document
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Women
- Year
- 1995
- Date modified
- Feb 13, 2020
Paragraph
Rights of the child 2004, para. 8
- Paragraph text
- Welcoming the increase in the membership of the Committee on the Rights of the Child from 10 to 18 and aware of the need to continue to address the working methods of the Committee with the view to enabling it to deal efficiently with its important and increasing workload,
- Body
- United Nations Commission on Human Rights
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2004
- Date modified
- Feb 13, 2020
Paragraph