Two reports on the situation of human rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea have been issued. The report of the Secretary-General (A/63/332) examines the efforts of the UN, UN agencies, and the government to promote and protect human rights in the country. The report of the Special R......
The report of the Working Group on the use of mercenaries as a means of violating human rights and impeding the exercise of the right of peoples to self-determination has been issued (A/63/325). The report summarizes the activities of the Working Group and makes recommendations regarding the use of......
Climate Wrongs and Human Rights: Putting people at the heart of climate-change policy (Oxfam, Aug. 2008) [text]
Employment Issues for Refugees and Asylum Seekers in the UK (ICAR, Sept. 2008) [text]
FMO Research Guide: Local Integration (FMO, Aug. 2008) [text]
The French Presidency’s European Pact on Immigration and Asylum: Intergovernmentalism vs Europeanisation? Security vs Rights? (Centre...
It’s difficult to know exactly what is happening in the north of Sri Lanka these days (media representatives are not allowed into the conflict-riddled war zone), but it’s clear that recent police actions in Colombo could have potentially disastrous effects – in an area rather open to international scrutiny at the moment. As reported by The Economist and the BBC, civilians who have arrived from the northern [Tamil-majority] areas to the [Sinhalese-majority] capital and surrounding areas in the past five years have, over the past week, been required to register with the police, supposedly in an effort to combat the suicide attacks that have become tragically more frequent of late.
The “census,” as it is being called, could of course be just that – a simple tally of how many...
The 2007 Humanitarian Accountability Report (HAP International, August 2008) [text]
2008 Report on International Religious Freedom (U.S. Department of State, Sept. 2008) [text]
Country reports 2007: Belarus, Moldova, Russian Federation and Ukraine (ECRE, July 2008) [text]
Failed States Index 2008 (Foreign Policy & Fund for Peace, July/August 2008) [text]
South Asia Human Rights Index 2008...
The annual report of the High Representative for the Alliance for Civilizations is now available. The report highlights the activities carried out by the High Representative and his Secretariat between May 2007 and April 2008 (A/63/336). The report also noted the launch of the Alliance's online clea......
The Fifth quinquennial review and appraisal of the World Programme of Action concerning Disabled Persons has been issued (A/63/183). The report covers activities organized since the previous review, including the adoption and entry into force of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilt......
I’ve just read “On the Brink of the Precipice: A Human Rights Account of Kenya’s post-2007 Election Violence” (.pdf, 169 pages, ~2mb), an ambitious report by Kenya’s national human rights institution, the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) with the technical help of my alma mater No Peace Without Justice.
The bulk of On the [...]...
15 September is the first-ever
International Day of Democracy. The Day was designated by General Assembly resolution A/RES/62/7 to "strengthen national programmes devoted to the promotion and consolidation of democracy" and to encourage "regional and other intergovernmental organizations to shar......
The Report of the Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families for its seventh and eighth sessions is now available (A/63/48). The report includes the consideration of reports submitted by Ecuador, Syrian Arab Republic and Bolivia in accordance with ......
The 61st annual DPI/NGO Conference, Reaffirming Human Rights For All: The Universal Declaration at 60 will take place at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris from 3-5 September 2008. In total 1,800 NGOs representing 648 organizations from 83 countries have registered for the conference.
The conference c......
Annual report of the of the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia is issued (A/63/210-S/2008/515). It covers the activities of the Tribunal during the period from 1 August 2007 to 31 July 2008.......
Annual report of the of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda is issued (A/63/209-S/2008/514). It covers the activities of the Tribunal during the period from 1 July 2007 to 30 June 2008.......
Growing Together: Youth and the Work of the United Nations (full-text, pdf) presents a comprehensive synthesis of the United Nations systemâs work on youth.The publication includes contributions from 30 UN Divisions, Offices, Funds, Programmes and Agencies and shows how each part of the organization......
Publications:
Reports and Documents for the 59th Executive Committee Plenary Session (August 2008) [access]
- The actual meetings are scheduled for 6-10 October 2008.
Selected Documents Relating to National Security and Counter-Terrorism Relevant to International Refugee Protection (UNHCR, July 2008) [text]
UNHCR Recommendations for the Ministerial Conference of the Euro-African Process on...
The interim report (A/63/161) of Asma Jahangir, Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, has been issued. The report provides an overview of activities of the Special Rapporteur carried out since her previous report (A/62/280 and Corr.1), including her recent visit to Angola, India, Isra......
The Climate Change-Displacement Nexus (Brookings-Bern Project on Internal Displacement, July 2008) [text]
For Disaster IDPs: An Institutional Gap (Brookings Institution, August 2008) [text]
Guiding Principles for Human Rights Field Officers Working in Conflict and Post-conflict Environments (Univ. of Nottingham, July 2008) [text via ReliefWeb]
The Many Faces of Displacement: IDPs in Zimbabwe...
Australian Journal of Emergency Management, vol. 23, no. 2 (May 2008) [full-text]
- Mix of articles.
Conflict Trends, no. 2008/2 [full-text]
- Mix of articles.
Human Rights Brief, vol. 15, no. 3 (Spring/Summer 2008) [full-text]
- Mix of articles.
Human Rights Quarterly, vol. 30, no. 3 (August 2008) [contents]
- Includes articles on Darfur and sexual violence in Bosnia and Rwanda.
Human...
this article was taken from the SOPUDEP website which quotes Kevin Site's "expose" on Yahoo.--------------------------------- For several months now, a variety of characters have appeared at the school to demand they vacate the premises. Some falsely stated they were descendants of the original owner but mostly it was an attempt to pressure the school by disrupting its normal operation. On Monday July 28, 2008, the Mayor of Petion-Ville, Lydie Clark Parent, delivered an eight (8) day eviction notice to SOPUDEP to vacate their school premises. This action is NOT legal as SOPUDEP has a 12-year lease on the property that expires in 2012. The school's rights under this contract were ultimately respected by the Mayor's office and the government of Latortue in 2004-2006 and has subsequently...
This article is reproduced entirely from the AfroAmerica XXI Newsletter #2------------------------------------------- In response to the continued lack of investment, economic marginalization and human rights violations, leaders of African descendant communities from Latin America have created AFROAMERICA XXI (AAXXI). This is a coalition with chapters in thirteen (13) countries in the Americas and partnerships in Africa, the Caribbean, the United States and Europe. Of the approximately 540 million people in the Latin America, 150 million are Afro Latinos. Similar to others of African descent, Afro Latinos have suffered the ravages and devastation of slavery and continue to suffer from persistent acts of racism. Politically and economically isolated, most Afro-descendants throughout...
A subcommittee of the U.S. Congress has just approved a bill that would let modestly more foreign nurses work in the United States. New York Times reporters are concerned that measures like this, by encouraging movement of nurses out of developing countries that need them, could literally kill children. Today, the World Health Organization agrees that health worker movements contribute to disease and death in poor countries.
Should you be outraged at our government? Should our representatives who encourage nurse migration be locked up alongside the murderous Radovan Karadzic, as a stunning article in the respected medical journal The Lancet asserts?
The debate on this topic often misses three big facts: 1) Blocking the movement of developing-country professionals does certain...
The journal Health and Human Rights has been around since 1994, and it started out under the editorship of Jonathan Mann. Paul Farmer has took over the reins in 2007, and now it has gone online and open access. The inaugural edition of the journal in this new format has a host of interesting looking articles, but my eye was caught by the piece entitled 'Notes on the rights of a poor woman in a poor country' by Tarek Meguid, Deputy Head of the Department ofObstetrics and Gynecology at Bwaila Hospital and Kamuzu Central Hospital in Lilongwe, Malawi. What is striking about the article is its graphic -- and moving -- description of a vast gap between the human right to health (often in the form of access to basic medical supplies) and what actually happens in health care centers in low-income...
My next piece, co-written with John Liebhardt, is up at Global Voices Online:Bloggers from around the world are reacting to the International Criminal Court's recent decision to charge Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir with multiple counts of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. Many of those bloggers are criticizing the indictments, claiming they are difficult to enforce and that they will bring more unrest to an already unstable nation.Read more»Featured in this round-up are Too Huge World, Sudanese Thinker, Sudan Watch, Emmanuel Abalo, Codrin Arsene, Nairobi Notebook, The Angry African, Victor Ngeny, Chris Blattman, Ugandabeat, Gay Uganda, Making Sense of Darfur, Daniel Sturgis and Ali...
The deadline for the 2008 United Nations Human Rights Prize has been extended to 31 July. The first prize was given on 10 December 1968 on the 20th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The prize is given out every five years to individuals and organizations in re......
Health and Human Rights, vol. 10, no. 1 (2008) [full-text]
- First issue in the newly-adopted open access format. Includes an article on promoting greater access to biomedical literature to meet the needs of people around the world who cannot afford the subscription costs generally associated with health and medical journals.
International Journal of Refugee Law, vol. 20, no. 2 (June 2008)...
David Sasaki joins the conversation, which is great - it was starting to feel a little bit like a mens singles tennis match between me and Patrick. Now it’s mens doubles, or something. David starts with a strong serve, although his accusation that
Both men seem to have the academic tendency to speak in aphorisms
seems a [...]...
My response to Patrick’s response to my original post got a bit out of hand, so I decided to make it a new blog post. What does Patrick have to say?
Citizen media, investigative journalism, the use of Web 2.0 tools to document instances of human rights violations, government corruption, etc. are ways to expose extremist [...]...
Bearing in mind my previous post, I’d like to take on Patrick - in fact, I’d like to take on his entire Global Voices love-in. First, though, a word from our sponsors!
Global Voices Online, Ushaidi and the range of similar projects using the web in novel ways are fantastic initiatives that have already started to [...]...
Civil Wars beyond their Borders: The Human Capital and Health Consequences of Hosting Refugees (Institute for the Study of Labor, April 2008) [text via Human Security Gateway)
Climate Change and Human Rights: A Rough Guide (International Council on Human Rights Policy, June 2008) [text]
Disabilities among Refugees and Conflict-Affected Populations (Women's Commission, June 2008) [access to...
In
Environment,
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Human Rights
UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) issued Human Rights, Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism: Fact Sheet No.32 (full-text, 1.89 MB) as part of The Human Rights Fact Sheet series. It defines the impact of terrorism and counter-terrorism on enjoyment of human rights; provides guida......