Articles
Human Rights Under Unprecedented Pressure worldwide
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The "unprecedented pressure" being placed on international human rights standards risks unravelling the unique set of protections that have been set in place after the end of World War II, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has said, in the run-up to Human Rights Day on 10 December.
In a UN news release, the UN human rights chief Mr Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein announced that on Human Rights Day, the UN Human Rights Office will launch a campaign entitled "Stand up for someone's rights today."
The High Commissioner underlined that it was within the power of every individual to play a role in pushing back against such pressures.
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Supporting the Private Sector with Development Funds
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The role of private sector in development is currently one of the most debated issues in international cooperation. It is inscribed in a wider context where financial resources for official development assistance (ODA) are shrinking, development cooperation is evolving beyond the traditional ‘aid’ concept, and the actors/entities that can be key players in development are growing. Fortunately, development is seen more and more as a holistic process that should be supported by integrated global policies (such as trade, investments, etc.), bringing about improvements in terms of both economic and social progress, the latter being based on the full respect of human rights.
Read more: Supporting the Private Sector with Development Funds
Land Grabbing in Europe
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In discussions on the ‘global land grab’, the popular term to describe the rising commercial interest in farmland and the increase in large-scale land deals worldwide, Europe is often overlooked. Instead, Europe is held up as a showcase for good land governance, where well-regulated land markets and sound land investments are assumed to prevail. To the extent that the role of Europe in the global land grab is addressed, it is through the involvement of European investors and policy drivers in land deals in the global South.
This brief aims to fill this research gap by examining the scale, scope, drivers and impacts of land grabbing in Europe.
Neoliberalism against Human Rights
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THERE IS AN OPPOSING RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN NEOLIBERALISM (AND AUTHORITARIANISM) AND THE HUMAN RIGHTS FRAMEWORK. (Gillian McNaughton) Part 1 of 2
-Mind that the SDGs are indeed permissive of neoliberalism. (G. McNaughton)
-However attractive the ideas of neoliberalism are at first sight, they hide a dangerous liberal logic that threatens human rights and cannot thus make for a better world. (Francine Mestrum)
Development Agenda at Risk unless Governments Honour their Political and Financial Commitments
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Governments must move from rhetoric to action and urgently honour their political and financial commitments to development, a group of United Nations human rights experts has said in a joint statement* marking the thirtieth anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration on the Right to Development by the United Nations General Assembly, on Sunday, 4 December.
Without fresh commitment and finance, the ground-breaking Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will not be met by their target date of 2030, the experts warn. “The SDGs will remain empty promises without proper political and financial commitment, regulation, management, and related safeguards.”
