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July 9, 2012
in News EN

On the 21st of June, the Human Rights Council held an interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights and a clustered interactive dialogue with both the Working Group on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises and the Independent Expert on the effects of foreign debt and other related international financial obligations of States on the full enjoyment of human rights, particularly economic, social and cultural rights. María Magdalena Sepúlveda Carmona, Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights,  expressed gratitude that extreme poverty was being prioritised but criticised...

July 9, 2012
in News EN

On the 20th of June 2012 the NGO Platform on diversity and cultural rights hosted an event on the subject of cultural rights. The main speaker of the side event was the Special Rapporteur in the Field of Cultural Rights, Ms Farida Shaheed. As the first mandate holder, her job began with identifying cultural rights, based on the assumption that everyone has the right to take part in cultural life. This consists of three elements:  The right to access for culture, the right to participate in, and to contribute to culture. She highlighted the utmost importance of...

July 2, 2012
in News EN

On the 22nd of June the UN conference on sustainable development, Rio +20, came to a close. 191 national delegations produced a final document entitled: “The future we want”. The document contains 283 articles which detail the commitments of the international community to global sustainable development. The document focuses in particular on green economy, which was described as: “one of the important tools available for achieving sustainable development which could provide options for policy making”. The document highlights the pressing need for global governance for sustainable development through the strengthening of the institutional framework. This framework should be inclusive, transparent and effective. In addition, the...

June 28, 2012
in News EN

On the 19th of June, the Human Rights Councils held a clustered dialogue with Mr Kishore Singh, Special Rapporteur on the right to education. Mr Singh reported that, despite the considerable progress made in universalizing access to primary school, education remained of worrying low quality in many areas. He added that it is essential to promote the right to education both as entitlement in terms of universal access to basic education and as a tool of empowerment, enabling the acquisition of values, knowledge, skills and competencies. To conclude, the Special Rapporteur recommended that States accord high priority to...

June 26, 2012
in News EN

On the 14th of June, the 101st Conference of the International Labour Organization (ILO) was visited by the Burmese opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, General Secretary of the National League for democracy (NLD) and, since April 2012, Member of the Parliament of Republic of Union of Myanmar. Ms. Suu Kyi was visiting Europe for the first time in 24 years, most of which had been spent under house arrest since the Burmese military regime – still governing -  condemned her. During the ILO Conference Ms. Suu Kyi addressed the issue of youth employment in Myanmar, drawing attention to...

June 26, 2012
in News EN

On the 13th of June Mr G. Napolitano, the Italian President, addressed the 101st International Labour Conference. He expressed great concern regarding widespread unemployment in Europe and around the world, particularly among the youth, and recalled  - through the words of the economist Federico Caffé – that labour is not only a means of production, but a primary end in itself. As such, States should consider it as a priority in public policies. The Italian President emphasised that, within the EU, leaders had started to talk about the importance of stimulating growth, along with fiscal...

June 21, 2012
in News EN

"Simply put, participatory, accountable, non-discriminatory and empowering development is more effective, more just and ultimately more sustainable." On June 12th, 2012, prior the UN Rio +20 Conference on sustainable development, The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ms Navi Pillay, stated that sustainable development would not be possible without taking into account human rights. She asserted that “strategies based on the narrow pursuit of economic growth without due regard for equity and related environmental, social and human right considerations, will both fail in their economic objectives, and risk damaging the planet and the fundamental rights of people.”  “In...

June 21, 2012
in News EN

On Tuesday the 12th of June, the UN Secretary-General published his “list of shame”, which reported 52 parties who recruit and use, kill and maim or commit sexual violence against children in addition to those who attack schools and hospitals. This included four new parties in Sudan, Yemen and Syria. Mr Ban’s annual report to the Security Council on children and armed conflict gave an overview of the grave violations committed against children in conflict zones, the main perpetrators, as well as measures taken for the protection of children. The Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Children and Armed...

June 13, 2012
in News EN

On the 31st of May 2012 the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) examined the situation of children and the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in Vietnam. The Committee drew attention to some necessary reforms in order to align domestic legislation with international standards. This included raising from 16 to 18 the age of adulthood and reforms in the field of juvenile criminal justice. The experts’ concern focused on discrimination against children from minority groups and children with disabilities. They drew attention to inequality in the accessibility of basic services (birth registration, education, health facilities etc.)...

June 13, 2012
in News EN

On the 12th of June, World Day Against Child Labour, several experts released statements expressing their continued concern for children labouring to survive. According to the ILO’s Director-General Juan Somavia, 215 million children remain in child labour and over half of these in the worst forms of labour. Despite ILO targets to end child labour by 2016, only 30 million children have been brought out of labour. The number of children in the worst forms of labour is over 11 times the population of Hungary.   The ILO estimates that 5 million children are trapped in forced labour, a...

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