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A global call for concrete action for the elimination of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance and the comprehensive implementation of and follow-up to the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action (2020), para. 22
- Paragraph text
- Welcoming the call upon all the former colonial Powers for reparations, consistent with paragraphs 157 and 158 of the Durban Programme of Action, to redress the historical injustices of slavery and the slave trade, including the transatlantic slave trade,
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Environment
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
Paragraph
A global call for concrete action for the total elimination of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance and the comprehensive implementation of and follow-up to the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action (2019), para. 21
- Paragraph text
- Welcoming the call upon all the former colonial Powers for reparations, consistent with paragraphs 157 and 158 of the Durban Programme of Action, to redress the historical injustices of slavery and the slave trade, including the transatlantic slave trade,
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Environment
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
Paragraph
A global call for concrete action for the total elimination of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance and the comprehensive implementationand Programme of Action (2017), para. 15
- Paragraph text
- Welcoming, in the above context, the unveiling of the permanent memorial for the victims of slavery and the slave trade, including the transatlantic slave trade, The Ark of Return, on 25 March 2015,
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Environment
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
Paragraph
A m e n d m e n t t o a r t i c l e 1 3 o f t h e s t a t u t e o f t h e U n i t e d N a t i o n s Administrative Tribunal (1998), para. 12
- Original document
- Paragraph text
- "(a) Any staff member of a member organization of the Pension Fund which has accepted the jurisdiction of the Tribunal in Pension Fund cases who is eligible under article 21 of the regulations of the Fund as a participant in the Fund, even if his employment has ceased, and any person who has acceded to such staff member's rights upon his death;
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
Paragraph
A m e n d m e n t t o a r t i c l e 1 3 o f t h e s t a t u t e o f t h e U n i t e d N a t i o n s Administrative Tribunal (1998), para. 13
- Original document
- Paragraph text
- "(b) Any other person who can show that he is entitled to rights under the regulations of the Pension Fund by virtue of the participation in the Fund of a staff member of such member organization.
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
Paragraph
Ability of associations to access financial resources as a vital part of the right to freedom of association & Ability to hold peaceful assemblies as an integral component of the right to freedom of peaceful assembly 2013, para. 11
- Paragraph text
- Due to word limit constraints, this section will primarily deal with the issue of financial resources, including monetary transfers, in-kind donations and other forms of financial assistance (hereinafter "funding"). The report covers financial resources provided by natural and legal persons, whether domestic, foreign or international, including individuals; associations, whether registered or unregistered; foundations; governments; corporations and international organizations (including United Nations funds and programmes).
- 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
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Accelerating efforts to eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls: preventing and responding to violence against women and girls in the world of work (2019), para. 11
- Paragraph text
- Welcoming the International Labour Organization Violence and Harassment Convention, 2019 (No. 190),
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Gender
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
Paragraph
Access to information in international organizations 2017, para. 20
- Paragraph text
- The media coverage of intergovernmental organizations is also radically different from the day-to-day or hour-to-hour reporting in domestic environments. Considering the size of the international bureaucracy, in comparison to the coverage in robust media environments of national or local governance, very few reporters cover the United Nations or other intergovernmental organizations on a dedicated basis. Those who do cover them must often work hard to get their editors, and certainly their readers, to understand the relevance of these institutions to their own lives and public policy preferences. As a result, members of the international civil service do not find themselves under the journalistic microscope in the same way that domestic bureaucrats do (or should) around the world. Such oversight may be pursued by Member States from time to time, particularly in areas of budgeting, but the difficulty of accessing information about the workings of intergovernmental organizations exacerbates the already difficult situation in terms of the pursuit of accountability at the international level. In this kind of atmosphere, every newspaper or magazine article that uncovers a problematic practice on the part of an intergovernmental organization may be taken as an attack on the institution as a whole, largely because the work of these institutions is so removed from the lives of members of the public. Fixing that, and adopting robust access-to-information policies, is one step towards better understanding, accountability, oversight and protection of the missions of intergovernmental organizations.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Access to justice and the right to food: the way forward 2015, para. 55
- Paragraph text
- In relation to IFIs, private dispute mechanisms have been developed, including the establishment of an ombudsperson for international finance corporations, as have complaint mechanisms, such as the World Bank's International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) and the contact point procedure under the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises. Under these mechanisms ICSID States and private actors are on an equal footing. The flip side is that corporations are in a position to sue governments.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Access to justice and the right to food: the way forward 2015, para. 61
- Paragraph text
- Recent years have witnessed various attempts to regulate the impact of business activities on human rights outside of the territorial boundaries of the home State. Notably the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (2011) underlined that States "should set out clearly the expectation that all business enterprises domiciled in their territory and/or jurisdiction respect human rights throughout their operations" and clarified the responsibility of TNCs and other business enterprises to respect human rights. Similarly The United Nations Global Compact (2000) urges TNCs to respect workers' rights and human rights; and the OECD Guidelines call on enterprises to respect human rights. In 2011, a group of experts in international law and human rights adopted the Maastricht Principles on Extraterritorial Obligations of States in the Area of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which provide that States are responsible for violations of economic, social and cultural rights by non-State actors, including corporations in cases where these non-State actors act under the instructions or direct control of the State, or are empowered by the State to exercise elements of governmental authority.
- 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
- 2015
Paragraph
Access to justice and the right to food: the way forward 2015, para. 62
- Paragraph text
- The Guiding Principles are considered the most authoritative statement of the human rights responsibilities of corporations and corresponding State duties adopted at the United Nations level. The Guiding Principles offer a noncommittal voice on extraterritoriality but are rapidly developing and cited in established international standards, such as the revised version of the 2011 OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and the updated International Finance Corporation Performance Standards; the European Union has also cited the Guiding Principles in its latest Corporate Social Responsibility strategy, and many national governments are recognizing the need to regulate in the area of business and human rights. These rules that place obligations on corporations can develop out of the complex interplay between various States and non-State systems and this multidimensional aspects give them legitimacy.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Access to land and the right to food 2010, para. 7
- Paragraph text
- These long-term trends have been exacerbated in recent years by policies that have further increased the pressures on farmland. In many regions, under export-driven agricultural policies, large-scale plantations have developed for the production of food, energy or cash crops. While the tendency towards land concentration has resulted primarily from a dominant model of agricultural development that rewards the most mechanized and capital-intensive farms, it has also been encouraged by the expansion of long supply chains. This has generally favoured large agricultural producers, which are better connected to markets and can more easily produce the volumes and meet the standards required for export. The competition among various uses of farmland has recently been increased by policies favouring the switch to biofuels in transport, which leads to competing resource claims on the part of local resource users, Governments and incoming agrofuel producers, creating the risk that poorer groups will lose access to the land on which they depend. A recent inventory by the World Bank listing 389 large-scale acquisitions or long-term leases of land in 80 countries shows that, while 37 per cent of the so-called investment projects are intended to produce food (crops and livestock), agrofuels represent 35 per cent of such projects. For all these reasons, the Special Rapporteur has insisted that investments implying a shift in land rights should be treated with great caution. At the thirty-sixth session of the Committee on World Food Security, he will detail both the risks of large-scale land investments and possible alternative business models.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Environment
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
Access to land and the right to food 2010, para. 16
- Paragraph text
- It has been argued that improving security of tenure encourages smallholders to invest in the land, and in principle it could lower the cost of credit by increasing the use of land as collateral. It could also encourage more sustainable farming, particularly through the planting of trees and through more responsible use of the soil and water resources. The real question, however, is not whether security of tenure should be improved, but how. The classical approach has consisted of individual titling, combined with the establishment of cadastres, or land registries, to facilitate and secure transactions related to land. That approach is linked to the idea that security of tenure is primarily a means to promote integration into the market: once property has been legally recognized, it can be alienated or mortgaged so that the beneficiaries can leave agriculture or obtain cash to make the necessary investments in the land. In the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s - and more recently, under the influence of the writings of Hernando de Soto, international financial institutions promoted land registration and titling as part of their structural adjustment programmes, in the hope that successful land markets would ensure efficient land allocation and spur economic growth, which in turn was seen as the key to addressing rural poverty and food insecurity.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
Access to land and the right to food 2010, para. 35
- Paragraph text
- It can be argued that part of the reason for this mixed outcome, lies in the strongly ideological overtones of the debate about how to implement land reform. Over the past generation, the major divide has been between centralized, or State-led, agrarian reform, effectuated through State land acquisitions compensated at below-market prices, and decentralized, or market-led, agrarian reform, based on the principle of a willing buyer and a willing seller. Although State-led agrarian reform has become less common, FAO continues to receive requests for assistance regarding such reform, and certain countries are still redistributing land or have committed to doing so. Since the 1990s, however, there has been a trend towards market-led agrarian reform, as illustrated by programmes such as the Cédula da Terra project, launched in Brazil during the period 1996-2001 and since renewed; the Colombian programme developed under Agrarian Law 160 of 1994; the South African Reconstruction and Development Programme, launched in 1994; the Community-Based Rural Land Development Project in Malawi; and the voluntary land transfer scheme in the Philippines.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
Access to land and the right to food 2010, para. 42a
- Paragraph text
- [In order to ensure the enjoyment of the right to food, States should:] Implement the conclusions set out in the Final Declaration of the International Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development and prioritize "improved" State-led land redistribution programmes. States should implement land redistribution programmes where a high degree of land ownership concentration (which could be defined as a level of inequality higher than a Gini coefficient of 0.65) is combined with a significant level of rural poverty attributable to landlessness or to the cultivation of excessively small plots of land by smallholders. Redistributive agrarian reforms should: (a) include comprehensive rural development policies that follow the recommendations resulting from the International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development, including extension systems, access to credit and agricultural research and support beneficiaries, provided with sufficient budgets; (b) make use of land ceiling laws and be based on legal frameworks that clearly define beneficiaries and exempted land; (c) encourage communal ownership systems, rather than focusing solely on individual beneficiaries; (d) be implemented in accordance with the principles of participation, transparency and accountability, in order to prevent their appropriation by local elites; (e) be grounded in constitutional provisions regarding the social functions of land, where such provisions exist. All States should monitor land inequalities before and after the implementation of such programmes;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
Access to land and the right to food 2010, para. 42b (iv)
- Paragraph text
- [In order to ensure the enjoyment of the right to food, States should:] Ensure that market-led land reforms are compatible with human rights. If, despite the reservations expressed in the present report, States choose to seek to improve security of tenure through titling programmes and the creation of land rights markets, they should: Prioritize the titling of land for those who are dependent on land for their livelihoods and are more vulnerable to land-grabbing, rather than for those who claim to be the formal landowners;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
Access to medication in the context of pandemics such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria (2004), para. 10
- Original document
- Paragraph text
- Bearing in mind also the International Labour Organization Code of Practice on HIV/AIDS and the World of Work, adopted by the Governing Body of the International Labour Organization in June 2001, 10
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
Paragraph
Access to medicines in the context of the right-to-health framework 2013, para. 22
- Paragraph text
- States which responded to the Special Rapporteur's survey reported on the use of price control mechanisms to promote affordability of medicines, particularly essential medicines. Accordingly, external reference pricing (ERP), therapeutic reference pricing (TRP), as well as the regulation of manufacturers' selling price and distributor's mark-ups, have been applied as the most common methods for setting a ceiling price for medicines. States also reported the use of competition law as the preferred indirect price control mechanism. Tax incentives to manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers and government subsidies to manufactures were indicated as other methods of indirect control used by States to control prices of medicines.
- 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
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Access to medicines in the context of the right-to-health framework 2013, para. 24
- Paragraph text
- The Special Rapporteur was informed that pharmaceutical companies adopt various methods to reduce price transparency in order to work around any loss incurred from ERP. They introduce their products in high-price markets first, to be used as reference countries, thus maximizing the price. Additionally, transparency is reduced when companies list high prices in a country while granting discounts and rebates on the condition of confidentiality.
- 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
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Access to medicines in the context of the right-to-health framework 2013, para. 27
- Paragraph text
- States also exercise other forms of direct regulation through cost-based pricing, which is based on actual costs of production, a profit margin and a percentage, fixed or regressive, towards distributors' mark-ups. Determining actual costs of production, however, requires reliable and documented evidence of actual local costs of production, which is difficult to obtain given the global dimension of pharmaceutical production. Alternative methods to determine costs of production have included proxies, for example tax paid on manufacturing costs through excise returns and customs duties on landed costs of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs). Transparency in providing costs of production is important to ensuring fair pricing of medicines, while allowing for a profit margin that sustains the industry. However, accounting manipulations, use of transfer pricing by companies, and corruption in government agencies pose additional challenges to ensuring a transparent system of cost-based pricing.
- 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
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Access to medicines in the context of the right-to-health framework 2013, para. 33
- Paragraph text
- At the same time, for 92 per cent of all States, tariffs contribute less than 0.1 per cent of their gross domestic product and hence hold little economic value. However to promote local production States may consider the strategic value of tariffs on particular medicines. For instance, tariffs on imported finished products that are already manufactured locally have a stronger economic and social basis in promoting local production. The Special Rapporteur therefore encourages States to revise tariff policies in light of the lack of evidence of their economic value to State revenues, whilst allowing for tariffs that incentivize local production.
- 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
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Access to medicines in the context of the right-to-health framework 2013, para. 36
- Paragraph text
- As part of their obligation to ensure affordability of medicines, States employ competition laws to take action against companies that abuse a dominant position in the market. This would include measures against such practices as charging excessive prices, restricting other companies from accessing the market, collusive tender practices, and restrictive agreements. For example, in 2002, one country's competition commission found that charging excessively high prices for ARVs was an illegal abuse of market dominance.
- 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
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Access to medicines in the context of the right-to-health framework 2013, para. 71d
- Paragraph text
- [With regard to ensuring affordability of medicines, the Special Rapporteur recommends that States:] Resist trade policies that undermine the ability of States to reimburse the price of essential medicines to local pharmaceutical companies;
- 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
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Acroecology and the right to food 2011, para. 25
- Paragraph text
- Although they can create jobs, agroecological approaches are fully compatible with a gradual mechanization of farming. The need to produce equipment for conservation agricultural techniques such as no-till and direct seeding actually results in more jobs being created in the manufacturing sector. This is true in particular in Africa which still imports most of its equipment, but which increasingly manufactures simple equipment Employment could also result from the expansion of agroforestry. In Southern Africa, farmers produce trees as a business, supported by a financing facility established by the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF). During its first year, the Malawi Agroforestry Food Security Programme distributed tree seeds, setting up 17 nurseries that raised 2,180,000 seedlings and establishing 345 farmer groups.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
Acroecology and the right to food 2011, para. 37
- Paragraph text
- Agroecological practices require the supply of public goods such as extension services, storage facilities, rural infrastructure (roads, electricity, information and communication technologies) and therefore access to regional and local markets, access to credit and insurance against weather-related risks, agricultural research and development, education, and support to farmer's organizations and cooperatives. While this requires funding, the investment can be significantly more sustainable than the provision of private goods, such as fertilizers or pesticides that farmers can only afford so long as they are subsidized. While many efforts have been made since 2008 to reinvest in agriculture, too little attention has been paid to the differences between the various types of investment required and to understanding their impacts on the reduction of rural poverty. This has led World Bank economists to note that "underinvestment in agriculture is […] compounded by extensive misinvestment" with a bias towards the provision of private goods, sometimes motivated by political considerations. Research based on the study of 15 Latin American countries over the period 1985-2001 in which government subsidies for private goods was distinguished from expenditures in public goods indicated that, within a fixed national agriculture budget, a reallocation of 10 per cent of spending to supplying public goods increases agricultural per capita income by 5 per cent, while a 10 per cent increase in public spending on agriculture, keeping the spending composition constant, increases per capita agricultural income by only 2 per cent. In other words, "even without changing overall expenditures, governments can improve the economic performance of their agricultural sectors by devoting a greater share of those expenditures to social services and public goods instead of non-social subsidies." Thus, while the provision or subsidization of private goods may be necessary up to a point, the opportunity costs should be carefully considered.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
Action against corruption (1997), para. 03
- Original document
- Paragraph text
- Also concerned about the links between corruption and other forms of crime, in particular organized crime and economic crime, including money- laundering,
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
Paragraph
Action against corruption (2000), para. 04
- Original document
- Paragraph text
- Drawing attention to the increasing number of regional conventions and other regional instruments recently developed to fight corruption, including the Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development adopted on 21 November 1997, 1 the Inter-American Convention against Corruption adopted by the Organization of American States on 29 March 1996, 2 the Principles to Combat Corruption in African Countries of the Global Coalition for Africa, the Criminal Law Convention on Corruption 3 and the Agreement Establishing the Group of States against Corruption adopted by the Council of Europe on 27 January and 1 May 1999, respectively, the conventions and related protocols on corruption of the European Union and recommendation 32 of the Senior Experts Group on Transnational Organized Crime endorsed by the Political Group of Eight at Lyon, France, on 29 June 1996, 4 as well as to best practices, such as those compiled by the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision and the International Organization of Securities Commissions,
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
Paragraph
Action against corruption (2000), para. 11
- Original document
- Paragraph text
- 3. Invites Member States to examine, at the national level, as appropriate, taking into account the above-mentioned documents, the adequacy of their domestic legal regimes in terms of guarding against corruption and providing for forfeiture of the proceeds of corruption, drawing upon international assistance available for that purpose, with a view, where necessary: (a) To strengthening national laws and regulations in order to criminalize corruption in all its forms, amending provisions against money-laundering so that they cover bribes and the proceeds of corruption, as well as provisions concerning the prevention and detection of acts of corruption and money-laundering;
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
Paragraph
Action against corruption (2000), para. 27
- Original document
- Paragraph text
- (c) To explore ways to convince underregulated financial centres to adopt rules enabling them to trace and take action against the proceeds of organized crime and corruption, to participate actively in international cooperation aimed at preventing and controlling related forms of financial crime and, if necessary, to consider measures to protect the international financial system from the underregulated financial centres and mechanisms for the establishment of such minimum rules;
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
Paragraph
Action against corruption and bribery in international commercial transactions (1999), para. 04
- Original document
- Paragraph text
- Disturbed by the bribery of public officials by individuals and enterprises of other States in relation to international commercial transactions,
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
Paragraph