Search Tips
ordenados por
30 listados de 8185 Entidades
Effects of pesticides on the right to food 2017, para. 50
- Paragraph text
- Certain voluntary guidelines and recommendations are also relevant in the context of human rights and pesticides. The Voluntary Guidelines to Support the Progressive Realization of the Right to Adequate Food in the Context of National Food Security, which provide non-binding guidance for States on operationalizing the right to adequate food, promote State action in the realm of food safety and consumer protection. For example, guideline 9 calls for States to develop food safety standards on pesticide residues. Guideline 4 advocates that States should ensure adequate protection for consumers against unsafe food and encourages the development of corporate social responsibility policies for businesses.
- Organismo
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Tipo de documento
- Special Procedures' report
- Temas
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Personas afectadas
- All
- N.A.
- Año
- 2017
Párrafo
Effects of pesticides on the right to food 2017, para. 68
- Paragraph text
- Meanwhile, the activities of certain non-governmental organizations have made a significant impact on recent policies. Pesticide Action Network International, for example, has developed a list of highly hazardous pesticides based on its own definition, which has been useful in advocacy efforts. A recent civil society initiative, the International Monsanto Tribunal, held in The Hague in October 2016, dealt with human rights violations stemming from widely used hazardous pesticides. Eminent judges heard testimonies from victims and will deliver an opinion, following procedures similar to those at the International Court of Justice. While these efforts are helpful to publicize the problem and help to develop laws in the future, they cannot provide remedy to victims.
- Organismo
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Tipo de documento
- Special Procedures' report
- Temas
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Personas afectadas
- N.A.
- Año
- 2017
Párrafo
Effects of pesticides on the right to food 2017, para. 73
- Paragraph text
- Lack of harmonized standards also results in more toxic, and even banned, pesticides being used extensively in developing countries because they are cheaper alternatives. In many cases, highly hazardous pesticides that are not or no longer permitted for use in industrialized countries are exported to developing countries. Some pesticide companies fail to register or reregister products intended for export to developing countries, or increase exports of products that have been banned or restricted to use up existing stocks, fully aware that they would not be authorized for sale in the country where the company is based. To subject individuals of other nations to toxins known to cause major health damage or fatality is a clear human rights violation.
- Organismo
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Tipo de documento
- Special Procedures' report
- Temas
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Personas afectadas
- N.A.
- Año
- 2017
Párrafo
Effects of pesticides on the right to food 2017, para. 97
- Paragraph text
- Such resistance is particularly likely and rapid in monoculture of genetically engineered crops. As a result, genetically engineered crops may create a cycle of entrapment for farmers, with herbicide-tolerant crops eventually requiring more herbicides to fight pest resistance. Farmers using genetically engineered seed are obliged to buy the pesticides that go along with it, benefiting the pesticide industry without considering the economic burden on famers or the cost to the environment. Farmers’ right to assess technologies such as genetically engineered crops and weigh these in the light of other possible alternatives has also been ignored under the assumptions of conventional economics. Indeed some argue that the development of alternatives has been undermined by the emphasis on investment in genetically engineered technologies.
- Organismo
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Tipo de documento
- Special Procedures' report
- Temas
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Personas afectadas
- N.A.
- Año
- 2017
Párrafo
Effects of pesticides on the right to food 2017, para. 103
- Paragraph text
- Implementing the right to adequate food and health requires proactive measures to eliminate harmful pesticides. Corporations have the responsibility to ensure that the chemicals they produce and sell do not pose threats to these rights. There continues to be a general lack of awareness of the dangers posed by certain pesticides, a condition exacerbated by industry efforts to downplay the harm being done as well as complacent Governments that often make misleading assertions that existing legislation and regulatory frameworks provide sufficient protection.
- Organismo
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Tipo de documento
- Special Procedures' report
- Temas
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Personas afectadas
- N.A.
- Año
- 2017
Párrafo
Effects of pesticides on the right to food 2017, para. 101
- Paragraph text
- While the present report has illustrated that there is no shortage of international and national legislation, as well as non-binding guidelines, such instruments are failing to protect humans and the environment from hazardous pesticides. These instruments suffer from implementation, enforcement and coverage gaps, and generally fail to effectively apply the precautionary principle or meaningfully alter many business practices. Existing instruments are particularly ineffective in addressing the cross-border nature of the global pesticide market, as proven by the widespread and often legally permitted practices of exporting banned highly hazardous pesticides to third countries. These gaps and inadequacies should be confronted on the basis of human rights mechanisms.
- Organismo
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Tipo de documento
- Special Procedures' report
- Temas
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Personas afectadas
- N.A.
- Año
- 2017
Párrafo
Financialization of housing and the right to adequate housing 2017, para. 39
- Paragraph text
- The financialization of housing has dramatically altered the relationship of States to the housing sector and to those to whom they have human rights obligations. Rather than being held accountable to residents and their need for housing, States' housing policies have often become accountable to financial institutions and seem to pander to the confidence of global credit markets and the preferences of wealthy private investors. Given the predominance of housing-related credit in many economies, domestic housing policy becomes intertwined with the priorities and strategies of central banks and international financial institutions, which are themselves rarely held accountable to States' human rights obligations to ensure access to adequate housing and do not meaningfully engage with rights-holders.
- Organismo
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Tipo de documento
- Special Procedures' report
- Temas
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Personas afectadas
- N.A.
- Año
- 2017
Párrafo
Financialization of housing and the right to adequate housing 2017, para. 77f
- Paragraph text
- [The Special Rapporteur suggests that the way forward requires a shift to take hold so that States ensure that all investment in housing recognizes its social function and States' human rights obligations in that regard. That requires a transformation of the relationship between the State and the financial sector, whereby human rights implementation becomes the overriding goal, not a subsidiary or neglected obligation. The Special Rapporteur believes that can be achieved with more constructive engagement and dialogue between States, human rights actors, international and domestic financial regulatory bodies, private equity firms and major investors. In order to create those new conversations and achieve that shift, the Special Rapporteur recommends the following:] States must ensure that courts, tribunals and human rights institutions recognize and apply the paramountcy of human rights and interpret and apply domestic laws and policies related to housing and housing finance consistently with the right to adequate housing;
- Organismo
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Tipo de documento
- Special Procedures' report
- Temas
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Personas afectadas
- N.A.
- Año
- 2017
Párrafo
Work in progress, challenges and the way forward 2017, para. 4
- Paragraph text
- The Special Rapporteur also believes that efforts and resources must be directed at ensuring that States respect the commitments that they have made. In recent decades, many standards of human rights protection have been adopted at the international level. The Special Rapporteur has observed that these standards, for the most part, are not implemented on the ground and that, when they are, they are too often applied haphazardly. In time, if these standards remain ineffective, we risk seeing entire populations lose hope and turn away from the struggle for human rights. As a matter of urgency, these standards must therefore become a reality on the ground.
- Organismo
- Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders
- Tipo de documento
- Special Procedures' report
- Temas
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Personas afectadas
- N.A.
- Año
- 2017
Párrafo
Effects of pesticides on the right to food 2017, para. 19
- Paragraph text
- Those living close to industrial agricultural lands and plantations may also be at grave risk of pesticide exposure. Aerial pesticide spraying is particularly dangerous, as chemicals can drift to nearby locations. Communities may be forced to reside closer to pesticide use areas owing to financial or other constraints, and the malnutrition that may accompany extreme poverty can exacerbate the adverse health effects of toxic pesticides. For example, low levels of protein, resulting in low enzyme levels, enhance vulnerability to organophosphate insecticides.
- Organismo
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Tipo de documento
- Special Procedures' report
- Temas
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Personas afectadas
- N.A.
- Año
- 2017
Párrafo
Effects of pesticides on the right to food 2017, para. 60
- Paragraph text
- The Aarhus Convention has recently been invoked concerning confidentiality of information regarding glyphosate. In a recent case brought by non-governmental organizations to the European Court of Justice, the Court ruled that health and safety information about the pesticide must be made available to the public. The case stems from the European Commission’s refusal to grant access to such information (see A/HRC/30/40, paras. 46-47). The ruling further demonstrates the international consensus that health and safety information about pesticides and other hazardous substances should never be confidential.
- Organismo
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Tipo de documento
- Special Procedures' report
- Temas
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Personas afectadas
- N.A.
- Año
- 2017
Párrafo
Effects of pesticides on the right to food 2017, para. 37
- Paragraph text
- Many of the pesticides used today, accounting for approximately 60 per cent of dietary exposure, are systemic. Seeds treated with systemic pesticides are commonly used in soybean, corn and peanut production. Similarly, crops may be genetically engineered (so-called GMOs) to produce pesticides themselves. Proponents of systemic pesticides and genetically engineered crops claim that by eliminating liquid spraying, the risk of exposure to farm workers and other non-target organisms is greatly reduced. However, further studies of chronic exposure are needed to determine the extent of the impact of systemic pesticides and genetically engineered crops on human health, beneficial insects, soil ecosystems and aquatic life. For example, transgenic corn and soybean varieties have been developed that are capable of producing Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) endotoxins that act as insecticides. While the use of Bt crops has led to a reduction in conventional synthetic insecticide use, controversy remains about the possible risks posed by these crops.
- Organismo
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Tipo de documento
- Special Procedures' report
- Temas
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Personas afectadas
- N.A.
- Año
- 2017
Párrafo
Effects of pesticides on the right to food 2017, para. 93
- Paragraph text
- The amount of pesticides needed to protect crops depends on the robustness of the farming system. If crops are cultivated in unsuitable locations, they tend to be more susceptible to pests and diseases. Over the past decades, diversity in farming systems has been greatly reduced in terms of crops and varieties grown in natural habitats. The result is a loss of ecosystem services like natural pest control through predators and a loss of soil fertility. Rather than encouraging resistance, crop breeding in industrial agriculture has focused on high-yielding varieties that respond well to chemical inputs but that are more susceptible to pests and diseases. As most seed companies are now owned by agrochemical companies, there is limited interest in developing robust varieties. In order to succeed with pesticide reduction, it is essential to reintroduce diversity into agriculture and move away from monocultures of single varieties.
- Organismo
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Tipo de documento
- Special Procedures' report
- Temas
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Personas afectadas
- N.A.
- Año
- 2017
Párrafo
Effects of pesticides on the right to food 2017, para. 64
- Paragraph text
- The Responsible Care Global Charter is also a voluntary initiative of the chemical industry that major agrochemical companies, but not all, have signed.
- Organismo
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Tipo de documento
- Special Procedures' report
- Temas
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Personas afectadas
- N.A.
- Año
- 2017
Párrafo
Effects of pesticides on the right to food 2017, para. 107r
- Paragraph text
- [States should:] Eliminate pesticide subsidies and instead initiate pesticide taxes, import tariffs and pesticide-use fees.
- Organismo
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Tipo de documento
- Special Procedures' report
- Temas
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Personas afectadas
- N.A.
- Año
- 2017
Párrafo
Financialization of housing and the right to adequate housing 2017, para. 17
- Paragraph text
- The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has suggested that the obligation to fulfil incorporates both an obligation to facilitate and an obligation to provide. In the context of the critical relationship between housing and financial markets, the articulation of a State's fulfilment obligation to not only provide housing when needed but also to facilitate the implementation of the right to housing is helpful in capturing the wide range of States' obligations to ensure that financial markets and the actions of private investors work towards the realization of the right to adequate housing.
- Organismo
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Tipo de documento
- Special Procedures' report
- Temas
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Personas afectadas
- N.A.
- Año
- 2017
Párrafo
Financialization of housing and the right to adequate housing 2017, para. 3
- Paragraph text
- Housing and commercial real estate have become the "commodity of choice" for corporate finance and the pace at which financial corporations and funds are taking over housing and real estate in many cities is staggering. The value of global real estate is about US$ 217 trillion, nearly 60 per cent of the value of all global assets, with residential real estate comprising 75 per cent of the total. In the course of one year, from mid-2013 to mid-2014, corporate buying of larger properties in the top 100 recipient global cities rose from US$ 600 billion to US$ 1 trillion. Housing is at the centre of an historic structural transformation in global investment and the economies of the industrialized world with profound consequences for those in need of adequate housing.
- Organismo
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Tipo de documento
- Special Procedures' report
- Temas
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Personas afectadas
- N.A.
- Año
- 2017
Párrafo
Financialization of housing and the right to adequate housing 2017, para. 24
- Paragraph text
- The amount of money involved in the purchase of housing and real estate is almost impossible to digest. Cushman and Wakefield, an American global real estate services firm engaging in $90 billion worth of real estate sales per year, publishes an annual report entitled "The Great Wall of Money" which includes a calculation of the amount of capital raised each year for trans-border real estate investments. The total in 2015 was a record $443 billion, with residential properties representing the largest single share. The report notes that "cross border flows will continue to transform real estate investment across the globe".
- Organismo
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Tipo de documento
- Special Procedures' report
- Temas
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Personas afectadas
- N.A.
- Año
- 2017
Párrafo
Financialization of housing and the right to adequate housing 2017, para. 40
- Paragraph text
- Accountability to global finance rather than to human rights has been rigorously imposed by the International Monetary Fund and other creditors when Governments have faced foreign debt crises. Decisions made by central banks and finance ministers in consultation with international financial institutions are rarely informed by input from stakeholders or those involved with housing policy and programmes. Processes put in place to address the debt crisis in Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe through the "Vienna Initiative" for example, brought together "key stakeholders", identified as national central banks and Western European parent banks along with multiple regional and international financial institutions. Absent were civil society groups and anyone representing the interests of borrowing households, the people most affected by any decisions taken.
- Organismo
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Tipo de documento
- Special Procedures' report
- Temas
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Personas afectadas
- N.A.
- Año
- 2017
Párrafo
Financialization of housing and the right to adequate housing 2017, para. 25
- Paragraph text
- Housing and urban real estate have become the commodity of choice for corporate finance, a "safety deposit box" for the wealthy, a repository of capital and excess liquidity from emerging markets and a convenient place for shell companies to stash their money with very little transparency. In addition, corporate tax havens that generate massive amounts of profit immune from taxation, estimated at 30 per cent of global gross domestic product, are particularly attracted to housing and real estate. In most countries, residential investment provides many tax advantages, so that the housing system itself provides a tax haven for the rich (see A/67/286, pp. 11-12).
- Organismo
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Tipo de documento
- Special Procedures' report
- Temas
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Personas afectadas
- N.A.
- Año
- 2017
Párrafo
Financialization of housing and the right to adequate housing 2017, para. 53
- Paragraph text
- There are currently almost 2,500 bilateral investment treaties in force and almost 300 treaties with investment provisions. Provisions in investment treaties generally provide protection for investors from actions by States without imposing obligations on them to uphold human rights. Investors are guaranteed fair and equitable treatment, protection from direct or indirect expropriation and other protections and have access to an investor-State dispute settlement procedure to seek damages for breaches of those provisions. The effect of those protections is that investment in housing and real estate for the purposes of speculation and the accumulation of wealth becomes a protected "right", while government measures to regulate investment to protect the right to housing may be the basis for claims against States by private investors for massive damage awards.
- Organismo
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Tipo de documento
- Special Procedures' report
- Temas
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Personas afectadas
- N.A.
- Año
- 2017
Párrafo
Financialization of housing and the right to adequate housing 2017, para. 20
- Paragraph text
- Prior to the advent of mortgage-backed securities in the 1980s, the provision of credit for a housing purchase was generally an individualized contractual relationship between a single lender, usually a bank or a savings and loan institution, and a single creditor or homeowner. Mortgage-backed securities were promoted as a means of attracting additional lenders into the mortgage market by reducing the reliance on local financial institutions. They allowed for portfolios of mortgages to be bundled together, in order to distribute the risk more evenly among all of the mortgages, and sold to investors in the form of bonds or investment instruments on secondary bond markets. That created new conditions for global capital to be invested in housing finance.
- Organismo
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Tipo de documento
- Special Procedures' report
- Temas
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Personas afectadas
- N.A.
- Año
- 2017
Párrafo
Financialization of housing and the right to adequate housing 2017, para. 34
- Paragraph text
- Increased prices of housing and real estate assets have become key drivers in the creation of greater wealth inequality. Those who own property in prime urban locations have become richer, while lower-income households confronting the escalating costs of housing become poorer. Surveys of ultra-high-net-worth individuals show that more than half have increased the proportion of their investments allocated to residential properties, with the most common reasons being in order to sell at a later date and to provide a safe haven for wealth. The "economics of inequality", in fact, may be explained in large part by the inequalities of wealth generated by housing and real estate investments. Buying a home with a mortgage becomes a speculative investment depending on volatile financial markets, which may generate considerable wealth on leveraged equity or, alternatively, deprive households of a lifetime of savings.
- Organismo
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Tipo de documento
- Special Procedures' report
- Personas afectadas
- N.A.
- Año
- 2017
Párrafo
Financialization of housing and the right to adequate housing 2017, para. 71
- Paragraph text
- Elsewhere, taxes on luxury properties have been instituted. Singapore imposes an 18 per cent property sales tax and an additional buyer stamp duty on wealthy property owners and investors, with revenues used to subsidize homeownership of low-income individuals. A number of jurisdictions, including China, Germany and Malaysia, have introduced a property speculation tax. Tax in China, announced in early 2013 after renewed speculative activity in the housing market, involves a straight 20 per cent on capital gains, and in Taiwan Province of China, residential property owners are taxed 15 per cent on the sale price of their property if they sell it within one year of purchase and 10 per cent if sold within two years.
- Organismo
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Tipo de documento
- Special Procedures' report
- Temas
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Personas afectadas
- N.A.
- Año
- 2017
Párrafo
Financialization of housing and the right to adequate housing 2017, para. 77c
- Paragraph text
- [The Special Rapporteur suggests that the way forward requires a shift to take hold so that States ensure that all investment in housing recognizes its social function and States' human rights obligations in that regard. That requires a transformation of the relationship between the State and the financial sector, whereby human rights implementation becomes the overriding goal, not a subsidiary or neglected obligation. The Special Rapporteur believes that can be achieved with more constructive engagement and dialogue between States, human rights actors, international and domestic financial regulatory bodies, private equity firms and major investors. In order to create those new conversations and achieve that shift, the Special Rapporteur recommends the following:] Trade and investment treaties should recognize the paramountcy of human rights, including the right to housing, and ensure that States are fully empowered to regulate private investment so as to ensure the realization of the right to housing;
- Organismo
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Tipo de documento
- Special Procedures' report
- Temas
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Personas afectadas
- N.A.
- Año
- 2017
Párrafo
Financialization of housing and the right to adequate housing 2017, para. 70
- Paragraph text
- A number of States, including Austria, China, the Philippines, Thailand and Viet Nam, have instituted restrictions on foreign purchasers of residential real estate. The province of British Columbia in Canada has introduced a 15 per cent foreign homeowner tax. The City of Vancouver recently approved a 1 per cent tax, which would apply to both foreign and domestic investors, on vacant homes in order to address the issue of approximately 20,000 vacant homes in its overheated speculative housing market. Net revenue from those taxes is to be invested in affordable housing initiatives.
- Organismo
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Tipo de documento
- Special Procedures' report
- Temas
- Economic Rights
- Personas afectadas
- N.A.
- Año
- 2017
Párrafo
Effects of pesticides on the right to food 2017, para. 58
- Paragraph text
- Although the Convention on Biological Diversity does not explicitly mention pesticides, it is still highly relevant in view of the negative impacts of pesticides on biodiversity. Article 6 of the Convention requires parties to create a national strategy for the conservation of biodiversity, promotes sustainable development and recognizes the need for food security. National legislation for the protection of biodiversity is increasingly being used in efforts to restrict the use of hazardous pesticides. For example, in the United States, several lawsuits are being brought under the Endangered Species Act to protect the loss of biodiversity from pesticides.
- Organismo
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Tipo de documento
- Special Procedures' report
- Temas
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Personas afectadas
- N.A.
- Año
- 2017
Párrafo
Effects of pesticides on the right to food 2017, para. 67
- Paragraph text
- Overall, while some of these initiatives have had some impact, the voluntary nature of soft law instruments clearly limits their effectiveness.
- Organismo
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Tipo de documento
- Special Procedures' report
- Temas
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Personas afectadas
- N.A.
- Año
- 2017
Párrafo
Effects of pesticides on the right to food 2017, para. 52
- Paragraph text
- The responsibility of corporations is specified in the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. In addition to setting out States’ existing obligations to protect against business-related human rights abuse and ensure access to remedy for victims, the Guiding Principles specify the independent responsibility of businesses to respect human rights, that is to avoid and address adverse human rights impacts linked to their operations. While businesses are not directly bound by international human rights treaties, the Guiding Principles provide a broadly agreed normative basis to assess corporate activity.
- Organismo
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Tipo de documento
- Special Procedures' report
- Temas
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Personas afectadas
- N.A.
- Año
- 2017
Párrafo
Effects of pesticides on the right to food 2017, para. 48
- Paragraph text
- While international human rights laws provide substantive protections against excessive and unsafe pesticide practices, implementation and enforcement remain major challenges. Most commonly, a human right that contemplates the negative effects of pesticides is implicit in the right to health. For example, in the African system, which does not recognize the right to food, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights has interpreted the right to health to require Governments to take action to prevent third parties from destroying or contaminating food sources.
- Organismo
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Tipo de documento
- Special Procedures' report
- Temas
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Personas afectadas
- N.A.
- Año
- 2017
Párrafo