View previous stories
	Cuts to legal aid an assault on democracy by Kate Blagojevic Open Democracy United Kingdom   July 2013   Proposals to cut legal aid and judicial review in Britain will make it harder for people fighting for their rights.   The Birmingham six, The Guildford Four, the families of Jimmy Mubenga and Jean Charles de Menezes and Stephen Lawrence and many more have fought for justice in Britain after wrong doing by the police, local or national government. The British public has keenly followed attempts to address these injustices, which have ranged from unlawful killing to wrongful imprisonment. All of these cases depended on the availability of well-qualified, dedicated lawyers who were able to access government legal aid funds to gather evidence to right the wrongs committed by public officials or contractors against individuals resident in the UK.   Yet, given the sweeping reforms that it wants to implement with little parliamentary debate or scrutiny this autumn, the Conservative government seems convinced that the public neither loves, nor needs, legal aid.   Thousands of people could potentially suffer from miscarriages of justice in our prisons, immigration detention centres, youth offenders institutions, psychiatric units and on our streets at the hands of government agencies.   Both legal aid and judicial review are currently under threat of funding cut backs.   Legal aid is the system that allows lawyers to work for people who cannot afford to pay their legal fees. It goes hand-in-hand with judicial review, the process by which ordinary people can take the government or the local government to court over a mistake or a bad decision. Together they play a crucial role in allowing ordinary people to fight for the rights to which they are entitled.   Legal aid has historically been there to protect everyone in the UK by ensuring that each individual has access to justice. The modern system was created by the Legal Advice and Assistance Act 1949 as part of a series of ‘sweeping reforms’ to the welfare state introduced by Clement Attlee’s post-war Labour government. It meant that those who could not afford their legal fees no longer had to simply gamble on the good will of lawyers for legal advice. Yet as Matt Foot, Criminal defence solicitor at Birnberg Peirce and Partners, has said in relation to the proposed reforms, ‘this government is taking us back to the 1930s.’   According to changes outlined in the reforms, in judicial review cases, legal aid will only be paid for the work carried out after the High Court grants permission for the case to proceed to a full hearing. This means that solicitors (and barristers) will have to decide whether to carry out the work for a homeless family, or a person facing removal from the UK, or a disabled client refused community care services, at the risk of not being paid for the substantial work that goes into preparing their case before such permission is granted.   Cases that settle before permission for a full hearing is granted will also not be eligible for legal aid. This means that perversely, even where the government agency backs down before the case comes to court, the lawyers, who have successfully defended their clients’ rights, will not be paid. This often happens when challenging a local government decision not to provide a service that is required, such as emergency housing, special education, adult and social care. As housing charity Shelter’s Ellie Robinson has explained, ‘Shelter advisors ask council officers to reconsider but if the local authority sticks to their guns, Shelter issues a Judicial Review. At which point either the local authority concede and accommodate the family, or the Court issues an emergency injunction forcing them to do so. The family now have a roof over their heads and are safe for the night so the Judicial Review is withdrawn.’ These cases will simply not be possible under the proposed reforms.   In defence of criminal defence   Another highly damaging aspect of the reforms is the introduction of competitive tendering for criminal defence work which will see contracts going to the cheapest bidder. There will be no safeguards to ensure that those accused of a crime are given a good quality service, and some fear that the resulting change in the way in which lawyers are paid could give them a financial incentive to get their client to plead guilty and to finish the case as early as possible.   Moreover, it is likely that outside companies who are currently used in government tendering processes - such as Eddie Stobart (the lorry company), ‘TescoLaw’, or G4S - will get the government legal aid contracts rather than specialised human rights and immigration solicitors. There is a distorted logic to this kind of joined-up working. G4S is a private security company that runs the prisons and police custody roles in which many criminal legal aid clients will likely be held before and after they are advised to plead guilty.   The cumulative effect of these proposals is that they will effectively remove the government from accountability to ordinary people who are fighting for their rights, services and justice. But they will also enable the government’s vicious cuts agenda to be implemented with fewer challenges. For example, many people who are facing eviction because they haven’t been able to keep up with rent after the introduction of the bedroom tax or benefits cap, which has made them poorer. They will struggle to be able to find lawyers who will challenge local authority decisions to make them homeless..   Attempts to challenge lack of services or abuse by a public official or the police will become virtually impossible. This isn’t just an attack on individuals or communities, or even society. It’s an assault on democracy. Visit the related web page
	One Billion face ongoing risk of Extreme Poverty by Overseas Development Institute, FAO, Unicef   One Billion face ongoing risk of Extreme Poverty. (Overseas Development Institute)   Climbing out of extreme poverty -- and staying there – can be very difficult. A new report warns up to one billion people are at risk of extreme poverty by 2030 unless more is done to support them in hard times.   Unemployment, poor health, high food prices, conflict and natural disasters – these are some of the things that can drive people below the poverty line of $1.25 a day.   The Overseas Development Institute and the Chronic Poverty Advisory Network have released the Third Chronic Poverty Report. Network Director Andrew Shepard -- the lead author -- warns of poverty’s “revolving door.”   “People fall into poverty as well as escape it. And once they’ve escaped it they can fall back in again.”   He said there are three legs of poverty that must be addressed.   “You can be poor the whole of your life, chronically poor. And policies, generally speaking, don’t deal very well with that. You can become poor. You can be impoverished. Policies are beginning to address that a little bit better than they did 10 years ago, but there’s still a long way to go on that, especially in Africa, and actually also in Asia. And then once you escape poverty, you need to keep on in an upward trajectory. You need to keep on moving away from poverty because you can easily fall back in again,” he said.   It’s estimated there were 1.2 billion people in extreme poverty in 2010.   “People who are chronically poor, they’re poor over their lifetimes for reasons and those reasons can be quite hard to tackle. For example, they might be discriminated against. And some countries now have good policies against discrimination, buy many countries don’t yet or they don’t implement them.”   Shepard said that the most frequent cause for falling back below the poverty line is ill health.   The report recommended three approaches to – what it calls -- zero poverty.   “The first of these is providing some sort of cash relief, if you like -- cash transfers or an employment guarantee. Something which provides a safety net. The second thing is a massive investment in education because education works to help people out of poverty – to keep them going in the right direction. And education, of course, works to sustain peoples’ escapes out of poverty provided that you can get them up to a high enough level,” he said.   Primary and secondary education levels are a must, he said.   The third step to reduce poverty is called “pro poorest economic growth.”   Shepard said, “You need jobs, of course. And those jobs can be agricultural, non-agricultural, but jobs also need to be decent. They need to pay some kind of minimum wage. That can be underpinned by an employment guarantee. And you need health and safety provisions.”   The report calls on all countries to have universal health coverage and good disaster risk management to deal with the weather extremes of climate change.   It also said international aid “will continue to be extremely important in low-income countries.” However, it adds, “few donors have displayed real interest in tackling chronic poverty.”   “The report does an analysis, which shows that there are about 44 countries which spend a total of less than $500 per person per year. That’s on everything. And the report also indicates that quite a few of those countries – I think it was 19 – won’t be doing very much better by 2030,” he said.   Shepard said countries also can find more money to help tackle poverty by doing a better job of collecting taxes.   He said some of the more promising stories in reducing poverty in recent years include China, Vietnam, Brazil, Ethiopia, Nepal and Bangladesh.   The issue of chronic poverty is expected to be addressed as the international community decides how to replace the Millennium Development Goals. They come due next year.   Last October, the World Bank warned over 400-million children continue to live in “abysmal conditions.”   Bank President Jim Yong Kim said the goal of ending poverty -- and boosting shared prosperity -- can be achieved, but only if nations “work together with new urgency.” Those efforts, he said, must include education and health care for children.   http://www.odi.org.uk/chronic-poverty   The social and economic costs of global malnutrition are unacceptable, by José Graziano da Silva. (FAO)   Twenty six percent of all children under five are stunted. Ending malnutrition must be a global priority.   Denouncing the huge social and economic costs of malnutrition, FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva has called for resolute efforts to eradicate malnutrition as well as hunger from around the world.   In a statement marking the launch of FAO''s flagship annual publication The State of Food and Agriculture (SOFA), Graziano da Silva said that although the world has registered some progress on hunger, one form of malnutrition, there was still "a long way ahead".   "Our message is that we must strive for nothing less than the eradication of hunger and malnutrition".   The report Food systems for better nutrition notes that although some 870 million people were hungry in the world in 2010-2012, this is just a fraction of the billions of people whose health, well being and lives are blighted by malnutrition.   Two billion people suffer from micro-nutrient deficiencies. Twenty six percent of all children under five are stunted and 31 percent suffer from Vitamin A deficiency.   Child and maternal malnutrition continue to reduce the quality of life and life expectancy of millions of people, while obesity-related health problems, such as heart disease and diabetes, affect millions more.   To combat malnutrition, the report makes the case that healthy diets and good nutrition must start with food and agriculture.   The way we grow, raise, process, transport and distribute food influences what we eat, the report says, noting that improved food systems can make food more affordable, diverse and nutritious.   Eradicating hunger remains a pressing challenge that has an impact on every other attempt to improve lives.   An estimated 842 million people were found to be chronically hungry between 2011 and 2013.   Agriculture remains the key pathway to improving both access to food and income for most vulnerable families worldwide. Policies aimed at enhancing agricultural productivity and rural development, especially when smallholder producers are targeted, can help to create employment opportunities and achieve hunger reduction -- even where poverty remains widespread.   At least 2 billion people suffer from various vitamin and mineral deficiencies and related diseases. Malnutrition undermines wellbeing at all ages, and is seen as the underlying cause of death for some 2.6 million children annually.   In some developing countries, malnutrition is threatening the next generation of parents, teachers, scientists and leaders.   Inadequate nutrition causes stunting, weakened immune systems and difficulties in learning and concentration.   If having access to enough food is necessary for a person’s survival, then getting an adequate combination of safe and nutritious foods is fundamental to his or her future, and to the well being, health and development of entire communities and economies.   Some significant progress has been made in reducing hunger over the past two decades, as measured by the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) objective of halving the prevalence of dietary energy undernourishment by 2015.   Child stunting – a key indicator of malnutrition – has declined, but if present trends continue, at least half a billion more children will still experience stunted growth over the next 15 years.   Meanwhile, around one and a half billion people are overweight, with half a billion deemed obese, and hence, more vulnerable to diet-related non-communicable diseases.   The conversation about malnutrition and hunger may be scientific, social and economic, but above all, it is political.   Good nutrition starts with access to nutritious food. Food systems must be improved in ways that make nutritious foods available and affordable to people throughout their lives.   Overcoming malnutrition in all its forms – caloric undernourishment, micro-nutrient deficiencies and obesity – requires a combination of appropriate interventions in food systems, public health, education and social protection to guarantee availability and access to nutritious food, reduce the vulnerability of poor populations to disease, and improve consumer awareness of the sources of good nutrition.   Food systems must place extra priority on meeting the special needs of mothers and young children.   Malnutrition during the critical first thousand days from conception can cause permanent physical and cognitive impairment in children and lasting damage to mothers’ health.   In most governments, nutrition lacks a natural home and a responsible official. Nutrition is a public issue and tackling it is a task requiring strong political commitment, leadership at the highest levels, as well as unprecedented cooperation and coordination among various ministries and partners.   The UN Secretary General’s Zero Hunger Challenge, launched in 2012, recognizes the intrinsic link between development and proper nutrition for all. It calls for a world without hunger, no more stunting, zero food waste and loss, sustainable agriculture and a doubling of poor farmers’ incomes.   Food security and nutrition remains very much at the center of discussions to define the work of the High-Level Panel on the Post-2015 Development Agenda.   The report''s recommendations for action include:   • Use appropriate agricultural policies, investment and research to increase productivity, not only of staple grains like maize, rice and wheat, but also of legumes, meat, milk, vegetables and fruit, which are all rich in nutrients.   • Cut food losses and waste, which currently amount to one third of the food produced for human consumption every year. That could help make food more available and affordable as well as reduce pressure on land and other resources.   • Improve the nutritional performance of supply chains, enhancing the availability and accessibility of a wide diversity of foods. Properly organized food systems are key to more diversified and healthy diets.   • Help consumers make good dietary choices for better nutrition through education, information and other actions.   • Improve the nutritional quality of foods through fortification and reformulation.   • Make food systems more responsive to the needs of mothers and young children. Malnutrition during the critical ‘first 1000 days from conception can cause lasting damage to women''s health and life-long physical and cognitive impairment in children.   Giving women greater control over resources and incomes benefits their and their children''s health, the report says.   Policies, interventions and investment in labour-saving farming technologies and rural infrastructure, as well as social protection and services can also make important contributions to the health and nutrition of women, infants and young children.   Some projects that have proved successful in raising nutrition levels include enhanced production, marketing and consumption of local vegetables and pulses in East Africa; promotion of home gardens in West Africa; encouragement of mixed vegetable and animal farming systems together with income-generating activities in some Asian countries; breeding staple crops such as sweet potatoes to raise their micro-nutrient content; enriching products like yoghurt or cooking oil with nutrients.   Making food systems enhance nutrition is a task requiring strong political commitment and leadership at the highest levels, broad-based partnerships and coordinated approaches with other important sectors such as health and education, according the report.   http://www.fao.org/publications/sofa/2013/en/ http://www.fao.org/food/en/ http://www.fao.org/hunger/en/ http://www.un.org/en/zerohunger/news.shtml   Stunting affects 165 million children under five years old. (Unicef)   Proper nutrition is a powerful good: people who are well nourished are more likely to be healthy, productive and able to learn. Good nutrition benefits families, their communities and the world as a whole.   Undernutrition is, by the same logic, devastating. It blunts the intellect, saps the productivity of everyone it touches and perpetuates poverty.   As UNICEF documented in its 2013 report, ‘Improving Child Nutrition: The achievable imperative for global progress’, the scope of undernutrition goes beyond the crises we see in the headlines. Stunting affects 165 million children under five years old – one out of every four.   Stunting - or low height for age - traps people into a lifelong cycle of poor nutrition, illness, poverty and inequity. The damage to physical and cognitive development, especially during the first two years of a child’s life, is largely irreversible. A child’s poorer school performance results in future income reductions of up to 22 per cent on average. As adults, they are also at increased risk of obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease.   In 2012, an estimated 25 per cent of children under five years of age were stunted globally, or 162 million children, which represents a 37 per cent decrease from an estimated 257 million in 1990. However, a new Lancet article on nutrition from 6 June 2013 shows that progress is not fast enough, so what is needed now is strong, global commitment and leadership to accelerate efforts.   There are many compelling reasons to increase efforts. A group of leading economists, the Copenhagen Consensus, has consistently confirmed that taking action on undernutrition is the single most important, cost-effective means of advancing human well-being. Thus would accelerate the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals, save lives and should be a top global priority.   Proper nutrition helps give every child the best start in life. UNICEF is committed to scaling up and sustaining coverage of its current high-impact nutrition interventions in the programme areas of: (1) Infant and Young Child Feeding; (2) Micronutrients; (3) Nutrition Security in Emergencies; and (4) Nutrition and HIV/AIDS.   http://www.unicef.org/nutrition/ http://www.unicef.org/socialpolicy/index_childpoverty.html http://www.unicef.org/socialpolicy/ http://www.unicef.org/socialpolicy/index_socialprotection.html http://www.unicef.org/socialprotection/framework/ http://www.unicefglobalstudy.blogspot.com.au/ http://www.unicef.org/sowc2014/numbers/ http://www.unicef.org/emergencies/
	View more stories