UN Commission on Social Development issues call to empower the poor by UN News, ECOSOC, Office for Human Rights 9:47pm 5th Feb, 2013   The United Nations Commission on Social Development has commenced its 10-day session in New York with a call to give the poorest and most vulnerable populations the tools they need to lift themselves out of poverty.    “Empowerment is critical to poverty eradication and to development,” said the Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, Wu Hongbo. “Indeed, I would even say that any long-term solution to poverty must start with empowerment.”    According to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s latest report on promoting people’s empowerment, nearly 80 per cent of the world’s population is without adequate access to social protection, leaving those living in poverty feeling powerless to improve their position.    The report, “Promoting empowerment of people in achieving poverty eradication, social integration and full employment and decent work for all” also states that while more than 600 million people have overcome poverty since 1990, over 1 billion people will still be struggling to reach that goal by the 2015 deadline year for attaining the anti-poverty targets known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).    In addition, the economic crisis and high fuel prices have slowed the rate of poverty reduction and increased unemployment rates, which also lead to social unrest. Globally, 200 million people were unemployed at the end of 2011, an increase of 27 million jobless persons since 2007, and 621 million young people are neither in employment, school or training nor looking for work.    “These are not mere statistics, but are lives affected, livelihoods lost and opportunities missed,” Mr. Wu said, urging the Commission to come up with concrete measures and actions for combating unemployment and empowering vulnerable populations.    To better understand how to promote empowerment and integrate it into the development agenda, participants at the Commission’s session will hear from experts leading discussions on this topic, as well as focusing on the elderly, youth, and people with disabilities.    The session will also include more than 30 side events and consideration of five resolutions as well as recommendations by the Civil Society Forum on promoting the empowerment of people to achieve social development goals.    Speaking at the Commission’s opening meeting, the President of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), Néstor Osorio, said that without adequate policies and mechanisms, social tensions increase and erode social cohesion, which is essential for promoting development.    Mr. Osorio also underlined the potential of information and communications technology to empower people in rural areas or disadvantaged communities by giving them access to knowledge.    “These tools will allow people to have their voices hear and increase their visibility,” Mr. Osorio said, noting that this would be one of the aspects explored during panel discussions in the next few days.    http://social.un.org/index/CommissionforSocialDevelopment.aspx    6 February 2013    UN highlights new tool enabling individual complaints on economic, social and cultural rights.    The United Nations has welcomed the upcoming availability of a new human rights instrument which, for the first time, will allow victims to file complaints at the international level about violations of their economic, social and cultural rights, placing those rights on equal footing with all other human rights.    The new complaints mechanism, established by the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, will allow individuals or groups to file a complaint with the UN if their rights – such as inadequate access to food, housing or work – are violated by a Member State that is party to the Protocol.    “The entry into force of the Optional Protocol is a major breakthrough,” UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said in a press release.    “The Protocol will provide an important platform to expose abuses linked to poverty, discrimination and neglect, which up until now victims have had to endure without any possible recourse at the international level. It will provide a way for individuals, who may otherwise be isolated and powerless, to make the international community aware of their situation,” she added.    The Protocol, adopted during the General Assembly’s December 2008 meeting to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, opened for signature the following year.    On 5 February, Uruguay became the 10th Member State to ratify the Protocol, thereby enabling it to enter into force in three months time, on 5 May. Argentina, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ecuador, El Salvador, Mongolia, Portugal, Slovakia and Spain have also ratified it.    “With the entry into force of the Optional Protocol, a jurisprudence will now be developed that will help define the scope of application of economic, social and cultural rights and outline adequate remedies for victims,” Ms. Pillay said.    The High Commissioner strongly encouraged other States among the 160 that are already party to the Covenant to ratify the Optional Protocol as soon as possible.    “The Protocol makes a strong and unequivocal statement about the equal value and importance of all human rights and the need for strengthened legal protection of economic, social and cultural rights in particular,” Ms. Pillay said.    The Guiding Principles on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights    Based on international human rights norms and standards, the Guiding Principles provide for the first time global policy guidelines focusing specifically on the human rights of people living in poverty.    They are intended as a practical tool for policy-makers to ensure that public policies (including poverty eradication efforts) reach the poorest members of society, respect and uphold their rights, and take into account the significant social, cultural, economic and structural obstacles to human rights enjoyment faced by persons living in poverty.    The Human Rights Council adopted the Guiding Principles at its 21st session in September 2012. The Principles can be accessed here:    http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Poverty/Pages/DGPIntroduction.aspx    12 December 2008    New human rights instrument closes vital protection gap, says High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay.    The United Nations human rights chief has welcomed the General Assembly’s adoption of an important new instrument to strengthen the protection of economic, social and cultural rights, stressing that it gives a voice to victims of violations.    “The approval of the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights is of singular importance by closing a historic gap,” stated UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay.    The Protocol, adopted during the Assembly’s 10 December meeting commemorating the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, will enable victims to complain about violations of the rights enshrined in the Covenant at the international level for the first time.    Ms. Pillay stressed that the Protocol provides a voice to victims of human rights violations. It also “makes them better equipped to enlist the international community’s help to address their plight.”    The High Commissioner noted that the Universal Declaration for Human Rights chose not to rank rights. “On the contrary, it recognized the equal status of political and civil rights with economic, social and cultural rights, and underlined that all rights are inextricably linked,” she said. “Violations of a set of rights reverberate on other rights and enfeeble them all.”    Protecting Human Rights beyond Borders - International Commission of Jurists.    Economic, social and cultural rights (ESCR) include the rights to decent work, an adequate standard of living, housing, food, water and sanitation, social security, health, and education.    ESCR are thus as essential as the freedom of expression or the right to a fair trial for ensuring human dignity.    States have repeatedly affirmed their belief in the universality and interdependence of all human rights, and their commitment to treat economic, social and cultural rights on an equal footing with civil and political rights.    To date, 160 States have ratified the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and are therefore obligated to respect, protect and fulfil these rights.    Major obstacles remain    However, despite the guarantee of ESCR under international law, victims of violations of these rights still face major obstacles in accessing justice, effective remedies and reparations.    The ICJ is working with various actors at the national, regional and international levels to identify and address these obstacles, ensure accountability and combat impunity in cases of violations of ESCR.    Legal advocacy    Our means for achieving these objectives include legal advocacy, especially at the national and regional levels, so as to improve legal frameworks for the protection of ESCR and bring them in line with international standards.    Training    We also offer training and engage in dialogue with civil society actors, lawyers and judges so that they can use international law more systematically in the adjudication of ESCR claims at the domestic and regional levels.    We further provide legal and advocacy support to individuals and groups whose ESCR have been threatened or violated, and help them bringing their cases to courts.    Stronger standards needed    At the international level, we advocate for stronger standards and mechanisms for the enforcement and protection of ESCR.    This includes promoting ratification of the new optional protocol to the ICESCR by States that, once in force, will allow victims of ESCR violations that have been unable to obtain justice at the national level to bring their case to the relevant UN Committee for review.    The commentary on the Maastricht Principles on Extraterritorial Obligations of States in the area of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights was published in the latest issue of the Human Rights Quarterly of November 2012.    This new document provides an analysis of each of the Maastricht Principles as well as the legal sources on which the latter are based.    As such, it will represent an important resource for practitioners and activists who want to protect human rights in a globalized and complex world in which traditional territorial borders have lost their primacy.    In September 2011, the Maastricht Principles had been adopted by 40 international law and Human Rights Experts during a conference convened by the Maastricht Centre for Human rights and the ICJ. They establish a set of Principles defining obligations and responsibilities for the realization of ESCR in the context of the extraterritorial acts and omissions of States.    The Principles build on the Limburg Principles on the Implementation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1986) and on the Maastricht Guidelines on Violations of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1997).    http://www.icj.org/themes/economic-social-and-cultural-rights/    February 5, 2013    Economic, Social and Cultural Rights now fully justiciable at the International Level.    The Optional Protocol on ESC Rights Comes into Force in May 2013.    Very soon, those who have experienced violations of economic, social and cultural rights will have a new opportunity to access justice.    The Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (the Optional Protocol), will allow individuals and groups to seek justice in an international forum if their rights – including adequate housing, food, water, sanitation, health, work, social security and education – are violated and their government fails to ensure access to an effective remedy at the national level.    “Access to justice is essential for victims of all human rights violations and the Optional Protocol provides a key instrument to accomplish this,” said the Coalition spokesperson.    We congratulate the first ten countries that have ratified the Optional Protocol on proving their commitment to the realization of all human rights. We call on all other states to follow this positive example. For human rights to be truly achieved and a life in dignity to be a reality for all, everyone whose human rights are violated must have an effective remedy.    The Optional Protocol establishes a vital tool for people, in particular for those living in poverty, to seek realization of all human rights and to hold their government accountable for ESC rights violations.    Furthermore, the Optional Protocol offers the opportunity to increase the State´s understanding of their obligations with regard to economic and social rights and will contribute to the adoption of positive measures.    The Optional Protocol is intended to complement and not replace national mechanisms, which remain the key space for victims to seek justice. However, the decisions made under this new mechanism are likely to influence national and regional courts around the world.    Therefore, governments ratifying the Optional Protocol should ensure that there are national mechanisms in place, such as courts and human rights commissions with the mandate and capacity to enforce economic, social and cultural rights.    http://www.escr-net.org/ Visit the related web page
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