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Extreme inequality and human rights 2015, para. 36
- Paragraph text
- Although one of the Open Working Group's proposed goals is aimed at reducing inequalities, the Special Rapporteur has observed that human rights norms are almost absent from the proposal (see A/69/297, paras. 45-49). In his synthesis report the Secretary-General attributed far greater importance to them, although he did not explicitly discuss the relationship between inequalities and human rights. The link was however acknowledged in statements calling for a future free from poverty and built on human rights, equality and sustainability, a post-2015 agenda built on the principles of human rights and the rule of law, equality and sustainability, and again in the linking of the challenges of reinforcing human rights, equality and sustainability (see A/69/700, paras. 18, 49 and 82). More generally, the Secretary-General underscored the need to continue to remedy the policy incoherence between current modes of international governance in matters of trade, finance and investment on the one hand, and the norms and standards for labour, the environment, human rights, equality and sustainability on the other (ibid., para. 95). He also acknowledged an indirect link between human rights and inequality by juxtaposing the value of dignity with deepening inequality, thus implying that inequality undermined human dignity.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The UN responsibility for the cholera outbreak in Haiti 2016, para. 18
- Paragraph text
- Almost four years after the initial spillage, a report of the Office of Internal Oversight Services Internal Audit Division, whose public release was long delayed, found that the regulatory framework for effective waste management in MINUSTAH continued to be unsatisfactory, a rating that signified that "critical and/or pervasive important deficiencies" existed.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Taxation and human rightss 2014, para. 71
- Paragraph text
- In addition, the rightful benefits in terms of revenue often go abroad (sometimes to tax havens), aided by the fact that extractive industries are often not required to disclose their profits on a project-by-project basis. The public revenue generated through taxes on the sector remains well below potential; the revenue secured by many resource-rich countries is very low in relation to the value of exports.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The right to participation of people living in poverty 2013, para. 31
- Paragraph text
- Aside from the United Nations human rights instruments, various other legal frameworks also refer to participation. While not specifically focused on participation of people living in poverty, these other frameworks could also assist in determining the legal content of the right to participation. For example, the Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters (Aarhus Convention) regulates procedural rights for environmental decision-making for State parties. It links environmental rights with human rights, and in particular the right to participation, and is based on three pillars - access to information, public participation in decision-making, and access to justice in environmental matters. The Convention sets out minimum requirements for public participation in various categories of environmental decision-making. The public participation requirements include: (a) timely and effective noti?cation to the concerned public; (b) reasonable time frames for participation, including provision for participation at an early stage; (c) a right for the concerned public to inspect information relevant to the decision-making process at no cost; (d) an obligation for the decision-making body to take due account of the outcome of public participation; and (e) prompt public noti?cation of the decision, with the text of the decision and the reasons and considerations on which it is based made publicly accessible.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The UN responsibility for the cholera outbreak in Haiti 2016, para. 35
- Paragraph text
- Second, the duties owed by the United Nations are directly analogous to those owed by a company or private property owner to ensure adequate waste management and to take adequate precautions to prevent spreading diseases.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Extreme inequality and human rights 2015, para. 56a
- Paragraph text
- [The challenge of putting questions of resources and redistribution back into the human rights equation has several dimensions:] The nature of the obligation to ensure respect for civil and political rights has been treated all too often as implying that resource considerations are not relevant in evaluating governmental compliance with the relevant international obligations. In other words, questions of the availability of resources and equality of access to those resources were largely eliminated from the most vibrant parts of the international human rights system, and relegated instead to the minor league discussions about economic, social and cultural rights. In the latter context, ironically, they were given overwhelming importance, such that the qualification contained in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights that a State's obligations extended only to the maximum of its available resources is often invoked to excuse basic non-compliance;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Environment
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The World Bank and human rights 2015, para. 50
- Paragraph text
- In fact, if the major new banks do not adopt appropriate social protection policies, there would be good reason to assume that the Bank will be less able to compete in terms of the time taken for project planning, the conditions offered to borrowers and the speed of disbursement. Both the New Development Bank, which proclaims itself "as an alternative to the existing US-dominated World Bank and International Monetary Fund", and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank were set up in 2015. The Articles of Agreement of both banks reproduce the same political prohibition clause as is contained in the Articles of Agreement of the World Bank. The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank is committed to addressing environmental and social impacts, but it remains to be seen what type of standards and safeguards will be adopted and how, if at all, human rights will be factored in. Those are issues that will warrant the most careful scrutiny going forward.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The World Bank and human rights 2015, para. 49
- Paragraph text
- It is often suggested that obliging the Bank to take human rights into account would place it at a disadvantage to other lenders, which might not do so. In 2006, the then President of the Bank, Paul Wolfowitz, criticized the Government and banks of China for not attaching human rights and environmental standards to their loans to Africa. In 2011, China overtook the Bank in the volume of its development lending. The creation of new multilateral investment banks and the growth of national development banks in countries like Brazil and India, means ever more competition in the market for lenders. While the World Bank has always downplayed such suggestions, most commentators suggest that those developments have placed it under competitive pressure.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The World Bank and human rights 2015, para. 48
- Paragraph text
- There is a vast difference, however, between having a carefully tailored human rights policy and becoming an enforcer of rights. Many other international organizations have adopted such policies; none of them have become enforcers. The established international human rights regime exists to engage with States that are accused of violations and to find ways to encourage, facilitate and promote compliance with international norms. There is no reason why that task would or should move to the Bank if it were to acknowledge that human rights are also relevant to its operations. There are many ways in which the Bank can encourage or even assist States to design policies and projects that are consistent with the obligations that those States have voluntarily undertaken through the ratification of binding international treaties. It is especially noteworthy in this respect that the Bank safeguards already require it to take account of the international environmental treaty obligations of a country when undertaking an environmental assessment and it has managed to do that without giving rise to undue controversy.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The World Bank and human rights 2015, para. 39
- Paragraph text
- The principal exception to that general rule has been the issue of human rights. As theories of development have changed and the Bank has confronted new challenges, legal counsels have had no difficulty in justifying the engagement of the Bank with issues such as corruption, the rule of law, environmental degradation and other novel issues. Alone among those new issues, human rights is classified as political rather than economic, despite the view of a former General Counsel that "human rights are an intrinsic part of the Bank's mission". Today, it is still the Legal Department that takes the lead in "policing" the human rights taboo within the Bank. That is said to apply even within the discussions in the Executive Board.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The World Bank and human rights 2015, para. 33
- Paragraph text
- Safeguards for investment project financing within a new environmental and social framework are expected to be adopted by the end of 2015. In late 2014, 28 special procedures mandate holders addressed a lengthy and detailed analysis of the July 2014 draft framework to the World Bank. The Special Rapporteur notes that his own position is adequately summarized in the letter, in which the authors state that "the document seems to go out of its way to avoid any meaningful references to human rights and international human rights law, except for passing references in the vision statement and environmental and social standard (ESS) 7." Unfortunately, the second draft, which is about to be released, is no improvement in that regard, despite voluminous submissions by large numbers of stakeholders calling upon the Bank to take account of human rights.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The importance of social protection measures in achieving Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 2010, para. 42
- Paragraph text
- While climate change simultaneously poses massive challenges for human rights and the prospects of those living in extreme poverty, the international and domestic actions required in the context of climate change represent an unparalleled opportunity to overcome poverty, generate new levels of development, further the realization of human rights and build a more stable, balanced and robust global economy. States - particularly the industrialized countries that emit high levels of greenhouse gasses - must provide substantial funding, separate from and additional to pre-existing official development assistance (ODA) commitments, to help developing countries adapt to the inevitable effects of a warming climate.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The importance of social protection measures in achieving Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 2010, para. 41
- Paragraph text
- While it is positive that the importance of sustainable development is reflected in the Millennium Development Goals, it is regrettable that they fail to include a specific goal or target related to climate change. This is despite the fact that those living in extreme poverty are affected the most by, yet have contributed the least to, the phenomenon. In addition, Goal 7 (ensure environmental sustainability) is criticized for not appropriately representing the realities of developing countries. For instance, many low- and middle-income countries argue that they cannot afford to focus on renewable energy sources, such as solar and wind power, and instead need to use natural resources to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. While this is a complex issue, the "pollute first, clean up later" approach is clearly not a viable option. For most low-income countries, Goal 7 is not necessarily about cutting emissions, but rather about enabling those in poverty to "manage, control and sustainably develop natural resources". In this regard, social protection programmes can play a considerable role.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The importance of social protection measures in achieving Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 2010, para. 40
- Paragraph text
- For example, appropriate social protection programmes could include cash transfers to those who are most vulnerable to climate change risks and have the least adaptive capacity. This could prevent them from using damaging coping mechanisms and help them to build assets and resilience through the development of more climate-resistant livelihoods, livelihood diversification or weather-indexed crop insurance. Properly designed and implemented employment guarantee schemes could be another way in which to build the resilience of vulnerable persons in the face of climate change. Social protection programmes must be among the pillars of the climate change action plans that are increasingly being formulated by Governments.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
14 shown of 14 entities