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The right to participation of people living in poverty 2013, para. 51
- Paragraph text
- In the context of participation, availability means that channels of participation, access to information and accountability mechanisms must be made available in sufficient quantity (and be of sufficient quality) to meet the needs of the community in question.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Access to justice for people living in poverty 2012, para. 79
- Paragraph text
- Legal standing is the gateway for access to justice. To have access to the formal judicial system, it is necessary that the courts extend legal standing without discrimination, ensuring that all receive equal treatment when bringing claims, protesting violations or seeking remedies.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Marginality of economic and social rights 2016, para. 53
- Paragraph text
- In one third of the 32 lists of issues considered, the Committee requested information about the status of the Covenant within the State's domestic legal system. In almost all the lists, examples of cases in which domestic courts had considered or applied the Covenant were requested. In a little over half of the lists, States parties were asked about legislative measures taken to implement one or more of the rights.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Marginality of economic and social rights 2016, para. 15
- Paragraph text
- Economic and social rights are also of central importance to efforts to tackle extreme inequality and its consequences. The thoroughly documented increases in global wealth and income inequality threaten to undermine the social fabric, to turn civil and political rights into a tool that will be used predominantly to protect the rights and interests of the wealthy and to entrench forms of economic and political liberalism that ignore the needs and deny the rights of those living in poverty. In many respects, the approach currently taken by the international human rights system all but ensures the worst of all possible outcomes. On the one hand, the correct approach insists that economic and social rights are indivisible from, and of equal importance to, civil and political rights, thus suggesting that they can provide a meaningful response to extreme poverty, extreme inequality and other forms of rampant social injustice. On the other hand, the international human rights system systematically marginalizes those rights in many respects, and tolerates a situation in which the majority of States avoid the recognition, institutionalization and accountability that alone can establish solid foundations upon which to build respect for economic and social rights as full-fledged human rights and thus provide powerful and principled arguments to reduce levels of inequality.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Economic Rights
- Poverty
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The right to participation of people living in poverty 2013, para. 67
- Paragraph text
- At the end of the process, a final assessment of what has been agreed and what has not should be presented, to be discussed and agreed with participants, as well as information on next steps in the decision-making process and those responsible. The confidentiality of the participants must be respected in any final report or summary of the process.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The right to participation of people living in poverty 2013, para. 65
- Paragraph text
- Accountability is a critical feature of a human rights approach to participation. Participation understood as a right implies rights holders and duty bearers who can and must be held to account for failure to respect, protect and fulfil that right. To this end, people need access to procedures and institutions that provide redress and remedy, and mechanisms to ensure that their Government ful?ls the right of access to information and the right to participation.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Access to justice for people living in poverty 2012, para. 89
- Paragraph text
- Sometimes such systems also impose extremely punitive measures for the commission of even minor crimes. Moreover, while non-State legal orders may often be praised for providing rapid justice, speedy justice proceedings are by no means always just, and indeed many have features that constitute human rights violations by omitting basic due process guarantees.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Access to justice for people living in poverty 2012, para. 60
- Paragraph text
- The right to legal assistance, enshrined in many major global and regional human rights instruments, is essential for ensuring due process and equality before the courts. The provision of free and competent legal advice and assistance to those who are otherwise unable to afford it is a fundamental prerequisite for ensuring that all individuals have fair and equal access to judicial and adjudicatory mechanisms.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Access to justice for people living in poverty 2012, para. 24
- Paragraph text
- Awareness and understanding of the existence of legal rights, and of the ways in which such rights can be invoked before and enforced by judicial and adjudicatory mechanisms, is fundamental to enjoying the full range of civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights, and for remedying violations thereof.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Human rights based approach to recovery from the global economic and financial crises, with a focus on those living in poverty 2011, para. 28
- Paragraph text
- Governments should encourage independent organizations and academic institutions to develop alternative policy options and to carry out assessments of the social impact of all options and proposed measures. Recovery measures should also be open to oversight, including judicial scrutiny, and public officials involved in economic policy should be accountable for any policy decisions that endanger the enjoyment of human rights.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Human rights based approach to recovery from the global economic and financial crises, with a focus on those living in poverty 2011, para. 27
- Paragraph text
- To allow the public to participate democratically in discussions and decision-making, information about proposed policy measures must be disseminated widely and in a way that is easily understood. Participatory mechanisms should be established and the capacity of rights-holders to know their rights must be strengthened.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Social protection and old age poverty 2010, para. 79
- Paragraph text
- Human rights standards emphasize that everyone has the right to an effective remedy when his or her rights have been violated. Policymakers and others whose actions have an impact on the social pension schemes must also be held accountable when their decisions and actions impact negatively on the right to social security of older persons. Moreover, effective accountability mechanisms not only enhance protection for beneficiaries, but also improve the efficiency of social policies.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Older persons
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The importance of social protection measures in achieving Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 2010, para. 92
- Paragraph text
- Measures to improve participation, transparency and accountability must be culturally, physically and economically accessible to all, without discrimination of any kind. The absence of effective and meaningful participatory channels and accountability mechanisms makes social protection programmes less likely to be understood in terms of entitlements and rights and more likely to be viewed as instruments of clientelism that can be manipulated by political actors.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Taxation and human rightss 2014, para. 30
- Paragraph text
- As part of international cooperation and assistance, States have an obligation to respect and protect the enjoyment of human rights everywhere, which involves avoiding conduct that would foreseeably risk impairing the enjoyment of human rights by persons beyond their borders, and conducting assessments of the extraterritorial impact of laws, policies and practices.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Taxation and human rightss 2014, para. 21
- Paragraph text
- Many human rights treaties emphasize the right to participation. In particular, article 25 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights includes the right of all people to take part in the conduct of public affairs, a right that covers all aspects of public administration and the formulation and implementation of policy at international, national, regional and local levels. Effective and meaningful participation is in turn dependent on the right to seek, receive and impart information.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The UN responsibility for the cholera outbreak in Haiti 2016, para. 67
- Paragraph text
- The Special Rapporteur has argued above that the major concerns that appear to underlie the abdication approach can all be addressed satisfactorily without jeopardizing any core interests of the United Nations or its Member States. But the case to be made in favour of action is actually much stronger than that conclusion might suggest. Thus, before outlining what a constructive and responsible approach might look like, it is important to highlight the positive reasons which argue strongly for an urgent change of policy.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Marginality of economic and social rights 2016, para. 55
- Paragraph text
- Despite these impressive reporting figures, in half of the concluding observations the Committee recommended that measures be taken to ensure the "direct applicability" of the Covenant in the domestic legal order. In slightly less than half of the concluding observations, the Committee also recommended that the State concerned seek to raise awareness of the justiciability of the rights. And in almost every concluding observation (27), the Committee recommended that legislation be enacted or amended in order to implement Covenant obligations.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The World Bank and human rights 2015, para. 18
- Paragraph text
- The next step is to demonstrate that criminal justice interventions will not violate the political prohibition. While acknowledging that "most development efforts" have a "political dimension," a narrow interpretation is adopted, according to which the Bank cannot involve "itself in the partisan politics or ideological disputes that affect its member countries". Inappropriate involvement is said to include "favoring political factions, parties or candidates in elections," or "endorsing or mandating a particular form of government, political bloc or political ideology."
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2015
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The right to participation of people living in poverty 2013, para. 28
- Paragraph text
- Regarding the right to information, States have to make every effort to ensure easy, prompt, effective and practical access to information which might be of public interest, including by proactively making this information available and putting in place necessary procedures which enable prompt, effective, practical and easy access to information. Fees charged should not constitute an unreasonable impediment to access to information, and an appeals system should be in place to challenge failures to provide information (CCPR/C/CG/34).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The right to participation of people living in poverty 2013, para. 20
- Paragraph text
- This report focuses on the intrinsic value of participation as a fundamental right to which individuals are inherently entitled by virtue of their humanity. This right to take part and exert influence in decision-making processes that affect one's life is inextricably linked to the most fundamental understanding of being human and the purpose of rights: respect of dignity and the exercise of agency, autonomy and self-determination. The right to participation imposes concrete obligations on States voluntarily assumed in several binding human rights instruments.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Social protection and old age poverty 2010, para. 86
- Paragraph text
- Participation should be understood in a broad sense. It should include not only beneficiaries, but also civil society organizations that can play a role in advocating for the rights of older persons. Indeed, participatory processes are important to mobilize public understanding of and support for the establishment of social pensions schemes grounded on the recognition of the universal right to social security. In particular, public participation in budget exercises can ensure that public resources are devoted to expanding social security, in particular to the most vulnerable.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Older persons
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The right to participation of people living in poverty 2013, para. 39
- Paragraph text
- To fully respect dignity and autonomy, participatory processes must be meaningful for those living in poverty and they should be able to exert influence over the final outcome. They should be included in all stages of the relevant decision-making processes so that they have the chance to set priorities or question the agenda in fundamental ways.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Poverty
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Marginality of economic and social rights 2016, para. 45
- Paragraph text
- Second, even when economic and social rights are both constitutionally recognized and justiciable, there are many factors that can limit the resulting outcomes. Lawyers might not invoke such rights, a lack of resources and the absence of legal aid might make it impossible for many violations of economic and social rights to be litigated and potential applicants might be denied standing to sue. Even when cases get to court, the judiciary might not be independent, the judicial culture might not be amenable to scrutinizing the sort of issues raised by economic and social rights and the remedies available might be so weak as to deter such litigation.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Marginality of economic and social rights 2016, para. 40
- Paragraph text
- Many books have now been written extolling the virtues of involvement by the courts in enforcing economic and social rights in various countries around the world, but justiciability is by no means the whole story. Indeed, it might be argued that the focus on justiciability has become the tail that is wagging the analytical dog. Rights holders can seek accountability through many means, including: (a) sharing information with the media; (b) using community or peer pressure; (c) collecting and publishing data; (d) complaining to an authoritative body or person; and (e) evaluating and reporting. However, most of these methods assume that, at the end of the day, there will be a mechanism in place to which the claim can ultimately be brought for vindication in the absence of self-correction by the duty holder.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Marginality of economic and social rights 2016, para. 19
- Paragraph text
- Closely linked to this loss of legitimacy is a loss of credibility in the eyes of rights holders. The second-class status of economic and social rights has deeply negative consequences for the potential of the human rights movement to gain the widespread support that it needs in order to establish its credibility in the eyes of the literally billions of people whose fundamental needs continue to be of only minor relevance to the core human rights agenda. The fact that the movement is subject to powerful challenges at the global level is due in significant part to the perception that its overriding preoccupations do little or nothing to address the most abiding and pressing challenges confronted by a large part of humanity.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The UN responsibility for the cholera outbreak in Haiti 2016, para. 75
- Paragraph text
- By the same token, the new policy remains critically incomplete. There is not yet a promise of an apology or an acceptance of responsibility. The repetition of previous expressions of "deep regret" and "moral responsibility" is nothing new. The "legal position of the Organization", which is to deny all legal responsibility, is comprehensively reaffirmed. The obligation to provide an appropriate remedy is thus rejected, and instead solutions must be sought solely "through political, diplomatic or other means". In other words, the lamentably self-serving legal contortions devised to escape any form of legal responsibility still remain in place. Unless the new process also involves a reconsideration in this regard, the Organization's ability to salvage its moral, let alone its legal, credibility and authority will be gravely undermined.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The UN responsibility for the cholera outbreak in Haiti 2016, para. 51
- Paragraph text
- Given the extent to which there is agreement on this legal framework, the puzzle is why the current position of the United Nations remains so very distant from the outcome that these principles seem to require. In essence, there are two reasons. The first is the determination to abide by the unpublished legal opinion that declares the claim not to be of a private character. For the reasons explained above, this opinion should be reconsidered and revised. The second reason is the failure to openly acknowledge and clearly address a range of background considerations which have fuelled fears that have apparently deterred the various actors from seeking to resolve the problem in a principled manner. The report turns now to examining those matters.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The UN responsibility for the cholera outbreak in Haiti 2016, para. 36
- Paragraph text
- Third, the contention that receipt of the claims would "necessarily involve a review of political and policy matters" is self-serving and unjustified. The claims are far from being "political" in the sense defined by the Secretary-General in 1995 as those targeting actions or decisions of political organs, nor are they rambling denunciations (see A/C.5/49/65). In terms of policies, it is true that waste management and other such internal policies might need to be reviewed, but if that prospect is enough to trigger non-receivability, it would become effectively impossible ever to claim damages from the United Nations.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The UN responsibility for the cholera outbreak in Haiti 2016, para. 29
- Paragraph text
- The claimants challenged the non-receivability finding and requested either mediation or a meeting to discuss the matter. In July 2013, the Under-Secretary-General wasted no words in dismissing such requests: "In relation to your request for the engagement of a mediator, there is no basis for such engagement in connection with claims that are not receivable. As these claims are not receivable, I do not consider it necessary to meet and further discuss this matter." Left with no further recourse within the United Nations, the claimants filed a class action suit in October 2013 with the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. In January 2015, the court ruled that the defendants were immune from suit, a finding upheld on 19 August 2016 in Georges v. United Nations by the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The UN responsibility for the cholera outbreak in Haiti 2016, para. 24
- Paragraph text
- From a legal perspective, there are essential flaws in the reasoning of the panel in finding no fault. First, the experts' conclusion that the MINUSTAH base was the source makes it very difficult to then conclude that no individual or group was at fault. Second, the experts provide no analysis whatsoever to support their no fault assertion. Third, and most importantly, in its report the panel adopts a scientific rather than a legal approach, but this does not prevent it from purporting to offer a legal conclusion that no fault can be found, although it neither identifies any legal standard nor undertakes any legal assessment of evidence. The explanation it subsequently provided - that it did not "feel" that cholera was "deliberately" introduced - completely fails to mention, let alone address, the central issue of negligence which lies at the heart of the legal issue of fault in this case. These flaws clearly invalidate the no fault finding on which the United Nations has consistently sought to rely so heavily in order to avoid responsibility.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph