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Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 38
- Paragraph text
- As mentioned above, unethical recruitment practices and how they represent a risk of forced labour and trafficking in persons are not widely acknowledged within the private sector or among the stakeholders that participate in the standard-setting process. While some initiatives, such as the Ethical Trading Initiative or Social Accountability International, were created to uphold a strong labour rights component, others, such as the Marine Stewardship Council, were established primarily with an environmental focus. As a result, the level of sophistication in developing indicators that can effectively account for companies’ risk practices in this area varies from one initiative to another. The differences among initiatives regarding their original motivation may not only have an impact in the standard-setting and revision process but may also affect a multi-stakeholder initiative’s success in establishing an assurance programme that effectively monitors businesses compliance with a trafficking standard.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Environment
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 36
- Paragraph text
- Some examples of industry coalitions are the Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition and the Business Social Compliance Initiative of the Foreign Trade Association. The Coalition brings together companies such as Apple, HP and Intel and has developed a code of conduct and audit scope that includes extensive references to issues such as unethical recruitment practices. The Business Social Compliance Initiative is a cross-sectoral initiative that has also developed a code of conduct and an implementation plan, including auditing, a capacity-building programme for businesses, including for suppliers, and alternative stakeholder engagement activities. As mentioned above, standards and an assurance programme alone are not sufficient to embed the standards into a company’s business model. Thus, many multi-stakeholder initiatives and industry coalitions develop, in parallel, capacity-building programmes and other awareness-raising activities for their stakeholders to help promote the standards and their implementation.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance 2007, para. 8
- Paragraph text
- State Parties shall institutionalize good economic and corporate governance through, inter alia: Enabling legislative and regulatory framework for private sector development;
- Body
- African Union
- Document type
- Regional treaty
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2007
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Minimum Age Convention 1973, para. 5. (1)
- Paragraph text
- A Member whose economy and administrative facilities are insufficiently developed may, after consultation with the organisations of employers and workers concerned, where such exist, initially limit the scope of application of this Convention.
- Body
- International Labour Organization
- Document type
- International treaty
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 1973
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Equal Remuneration Convention 1951, para. 3. (2)
- Paragraph text
- The methods to be followed in this appraisal may be decided upon by the authorities responsible for the determination of rates of remuneration, or, where such rates are determined by collective agreements, by the partíes thereto.
- Body
- International Labour Organization
- Document type
- International treaty
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 1951
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Minimum Age Convention 1973, para. 3. (2)
- Paragraph text
- The types of employment or work to which paragraph 1 of this Article applies shall be determined by national laws or regulations or by the competent authority, after consultation with the organisations of employers and workers concerned, where such exist.
- Body
- International Labour Organization
- Document type
- International treaty
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 1973
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Occupational health 2012, para. 14
- Paragraph text
- Many in the formal workforce find themselves in a situation similar to those in the informal workforce. There is a growing trend toward contractualization and informalization of formal work, a process by which workers become their own employers and thereby may lose occupational health protections otherwise afforded to them as employees. At the same time, many developed economies are systematically moving away from standard work-full-time, year-round, permanent wage employment with a single employer with adequate statutory benefits and entitlements -, leading to an increase in part-time, casual, temporary, self-employed or contingent workers. While such workers are not technically part of the informal economy because their work and workplaces are likely to be still regulated, they may face difficulties similar to those faced by informal workers. For example, in many developed economies, employers are not required to provide health benefits to part-time and temporary employees. Both contractualization and the trend towards replacing standard work with atypical work often represent attempts by employers to evade their responsibility under existing occupational health regimes.
- 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
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Minimum Age Convention 1973, para. 5. (4) (b)
- Paragraph text
- [Any Member which has limited the scope of application of this Convention in pursuance of this Article:] may at any time formally extend the scope of application by a declaration addressed to the Director-General of the International Labour Office.
- Body
- International Labour Organization
- Document type
- International treaty
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 1973
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Minimum Age Convention 1973, para. 5. (2)
- Paragraph text
- Each Member which avails itself of the provisions of paragraph 1 of this Article shall specify, in a declaration appended to its ratification, the branches of economic activity or types of undertakings to which it will apply the provisions of the Convention.
- Body
- International Labour Organization
- Document type
- International treaty
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 1973
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention 1958, para. 1
- Paragraph text
- Having been convened at Geneva by the Governing Body of the International Labour Office, and having met in its Forty-second Session on 4 June 1958, and
- Body
- International Labour Organization
- Document type
- International treaty
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 1958
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 19
- Paragraph text
- Under the Modern Slavery Act, companies with a total turnover of over £36 million conducting business, or part of a business, in any part of the United Kingdom are required to publish an annual slavery and human trafficking statement to disclose the steps the organization has taken during the financial year to ensure that slavery and human trafficking is not taking place in any of its supply chains and in any part of its own business. Companies may also provide a statement that the organization has taken no such steps. The statement may include information on the company’s structure and its supply chains, its policies and due diligence processes to combat human trafficking and slavery, specific parts of its business and supply chains that may be exposed to higher risks and steps taken to mitigate such risks, the effectiveness of such efforts, and training made available for its staff. In addition, the statement must be signed by the highest level of management. The duties imposed under the Modern Slavery Act can be enforced in civil proceedings undertaken by the authorities.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Extreme poverty and human rights on universal basic income 2017, para. 68
- Paragraph text
- How then should human rights actors and institutions respond to the crisis of economic insecurity and the phenomena associated with it? And where might a campaign to achieve a basic income fit into the overall equation?
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Extreme poverty and human rights on universal basic income 2017, para. 28
- Paragraph text
- Van Parijs and Vanderborght acknowledge, however, that while Green parties in Europe and the United States are generally supportive of basic income, the concept does not draw strong support from socialist, Christian Democrat or liberal parties.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Extreme poverty and human rights on universal basic income 2017, para. 11
- Paragraph text
- Under a basic income system, regular payments would be made to recipients, for example on a monthly basis. Predictability and continuity ensure that redistributive and poverty-reducing goals are met, whereas one-time only payments or lump sums do not ensure a consistent floor.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The role of digital access providers 2017, para. 28
- Paragraph text
- These competing considerations have led to variations in regulatory approaches. In India, public concern over Facebook’s Free Basics culminated in a ban on any arrangement that “has the effect of discriminatory tariffs for data services being offered or charged to the consumer on the basis of content”. Restrictions on zero rating are in effect in Chile, Norway, the Netherlands, Finland, Iceland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta and Japan. In contrast, the United States, followed later by the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC), adopted guidelines involving a case-by-case approach. States that adopt a case-by-case approach should carefully scrutinize and, if necessary, reject arrangements that, among other things, zero-rate affiliated content, condition zero rating on payment or favour access to certain applications within a class of similar applications (for example, zero rating certain music streaming services rather than all music streaming). Additionally, States should require meaningful corporate disclosures about network traffic management practices. For example, Chile requires ISPs to disclose Internet access speeds, price or speed differentials between national and international connections, and related service guarantees.
- 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
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Development cooperation in the water and sanitation sector 2016, para. 20
- Paragraph text
- Nevertheless, the overall global increase in funding to the sector masks significant annual variations in disbursed funds and funding modalities. Regarding funding commitments, for the 2010-2012 period, 41 per cent of aid commitments were grants and 59 per cent were concessional loans. In addition, critical reviews of development cooperation flows indicate that the available data on those flows may be fragmented at best. That could be due in part to a lack of collaboration between funders to provide consolidated, reliable, accurate and disaggregated data. Regarding disaggregation, the majority of development projects registered in the relevant database of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), accounting for more than half of the amount of funds dedicated to the sector, do not clearly indicate, for example, whether rural or urban areas have been targeted. Considering the markedly lower levels of access to adequate water and sanitation services in rural areas compared with urban areas, that information gap indicates a need for improved reporting by Member States. Another noteworthy source of data inaccuracy is the non-inclusion of important interventions in informal settlements because those are considered to be part of so-called "slum/squatter upgrading".
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Affordability of water and sanitation services 2015, para. 87h
- Paragraph text
- [The Special Rapporteur offers the following recommendations. States should take the following measures:] Give careful thought particularly to ensuring the affordability of sanitation provision, where costs are frequently underestimated;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Affordability of water and sanitation services 2015, para. 87b
- Paragraph text
- [The Special Rapporteur offers the following recommendations. States should take the following measures:] Ensure transparency about existing and planned financing mechanisms and subsidies;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Affordability of water and sanitation services 2015, para. 85
- Paragraph text
- For households that receive water and sanitation through utilities, data is available through the International Benchmarking Network for Water and Sanitation Utilities, which includes data on water tariffs charged by a significant number of utilities. Beyond such existing initiatives, a review of potential indicators demonstrates the complexity of monitoring affordability. Determining and monitoring the costs of non-networked supply and including them into measures of affordability is particularly challenging, but essential from the perspective of human rights. Focusing solely on utility tariffs bears the risk of severely underestimating expenses and would paint an overly positive picture of affordability that only captures the better-off, while neglecting the very real challenges that the most disadvantaged people and communities face in accessing water and sanitation. This review shows that monitoring affordability in its complexity (including water, sanitation and hygiene access expenditure) is feasible, but would require a combination and analysis of data from different sources. The Special Rapporteur encourages States and international organizations to explore these options further to ensure more comprehensive monitoring of the affordability of access to services.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Human Rights Obligations Related to Non-State Service Provision in Water and Sanitation 2010, para. 9
- Paragraph text
- Private sector participation is commonly used to refer to a broad spectrum of contractual arrangements between governments and the private sector that involve private companies in varying degrees in the provision of water and sanitation services. They differ according to the ownership of assets, the responsibility for capital investments, the allocation of risks, the responsibility for operations and maintenance, and the typical contract duration. For instance, while the model of concessions confers the management, risk and responsibility for investment on the private sector, private sector participation can also be limited to contracting out some aspects of management or service provision. In many cases, the system cannot be designated as exclusively public or private but instead takes on a hybrid nature, also in the form of joint ventures. The oft-used term "privatization" obscures the fact that full-scale privatization, that is, divestiture including the transfer of assets, is a rare exception rather than the norm. To avoid imprecision and confusion, the independent expert will not use the term, but will rather mention private sector participation when referring specifically to the private sector.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The first decade of the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children 2014, para. 60
- Paragraph text
- Supply chains and public-private partnerships. The mandate has maintained a strong focus on non-State actors and the role they can or should play in preventing and responding to trafficking. Information about trafficked labour in the supply chains of major industries, including agriculture, information and communications technology, fishing, garment-making and textiles, has alerted the mandate to the importance of engaging directly with business corporations. Over the past years, the Special Rapporteur has taken up this difficult issue, undertaking research and holding wide-ranging consultations on trafficking in global supply chains. In a dedicated report she outlined a series of clear and practical recommendations for businesses and States to help them eliminate trafficking in the supply chain (A/67/261). This provided the basis for further consultations with business experts that resulted in a draft set of benchmarks and indicators for ensuring that supply chains are free of trafficking. That draft was presented to the Human Rights Council at its twenty-third session (A/HRC/23/48/Add.4, appendix I) and the second United Nations Forum on Business and Human Rights in 2013.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. B.
- Paragraph text
- [Recommendations to Member States:] Undertake multifaceted sensitization programmes targeted at bonded labourers and at risk populations to ensure that they are aware of their rights and of avenues of remedy for violations.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. 31
- Paragraph text
- A number of different countries have taken measures, including the development of legislation, policies and programmes, to eradicate and prevent debt bondage and related forms of servitude. Examples of these are discussed below, and additional material is included in the annex.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. B.
- Paragraph text
- [Recommendations to Member States:] Undertake public-awareness-raising campaigns to challenge stigma and prejudices towards groups vulnerable to debt bondage, and sensitize populations to the rights of such people.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. B.
- Paragraph text
- [Recommendations to Member States:] Ensure effective regulation of private sector organizations in line with the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. B.
- Paragraph text
- [Recommendations to Member States:] In the context of implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals, continue and expand targeted poverty reduction programmes that reduce the vulnerability of the individual to debt bondage.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. B.
- Paragraph text
- [Recommendations to Member States:] Ensure that robust anti-discrimination legislation is in place to protect groups that can become vulnerable to debt bondage because of multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 84
- Paragraph text
- To successfully combat contemporary forms of slavery, Governments should consider the good practices identified above and the recommendations presented below.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Effective Implementation of the OPSC 2010, para. 116
- Paragraph text
- With respect to corporate social responsibility, a large number of businesses have adopted codes of conduct or have launched or supported information and awareness programmes. Some States have adopted legislation on the accountability of Internet access providers, telecommunications companies and banks.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph