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	UN expert urges countries to give access to justice to people living in poverty by Magdalena Sepúlveda Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights   28 September 2012   The United Nations Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty, Magdalena Sepúlveda, urged States to embrace and use a long-anticipated set of guidelines* on extreme poverty and human rights adopted by the United Nations Human Rights Council.   “The Council’s embracing of these Principles represents an explicit recognition by States that the existence of extreme poverty is an urgent human rights concern and a moral scandal, whose eradication requires concrete and coordinated action at the national and international level,” said Ms. Sepúlveda, who drafted the guidelines on the basis of a decade of international consultations.   “The Guiding Principles seek to provide for the first time a global standard in the fight against extreme poverty, focusing on the rights of people living in poverty,” the expert noted. “This is a practical tool for policy makers which will guide States in designing their public policies, particularly their poverty eradication efforts, based on a human rights based approach.”   The adoption of the Guiding Principles on extreme poverty and human rights marks the end of a long process that began in 2001, when the then United Nations Human Rights Commission first proposed the elaboration of such guidelines. Based on international human rights norms and values, the Principles provide guidance on the application of States’ human rights obligations in the fight against extreme poverty.   “Now I urge States to use these Principles to strengthen their efforts to combat poverty, and civil society organisations to disseminate them and monitor their implementation widely,” the Special Rapporteur stressed. “The Guiding Principles should assist in empowering people living in poverty to claim their rights, and ensuring that anti-poverty programmes reach those hardest to reach: the poorest of the poor.”   “Today marks a point in the international community’s position towards national and international efforts to eradicate extreme poverty,” Ms. Sepúlveda said, noting that the Guiding Principles highlight specific rights whose enjoyment by persons living in poverty is particularly limited and obstructed, and in relation to which State policies are often inadequate or counterproductive.   “The adoption of these much needed principles has indeed taken a long time, but it ends up being very opportune. These Principles could play a key role protecting and empowering those who are hit hardest by the global economic crisis.”   The Human Rights Council will forward the Guiding Principles to the United Nations General Assembly. Check the Guiding Principles:   http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Poverty/Pages/AnnualReports.aspx   September 2012   The Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights has urged Member States to commit themselves to improve access to justice for the poor, adding that it is a crucial human right that is key to combat poverty.   “The rule of law is meaningless for people living in poverty without effective access to justice, which is a human right in itself, and essential for tackling poverty,” said the Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty, Magdalena Sepúlveda.   “Concrete actions must be taken to ensure that all individuals are empowered to claim their rights, demand effective remedies and accountability,” Ms. Sepúlveda said. “Without this, we are left with a two-tier rule of law: a reality for the privileged, but only rhetorical for the poor and excluded.”   Ms. Sepúlveda called on countries to “ensure that poverty is never a barrier to enjoying the benefits of the rule of law” and to make concrete pledges to improve access to justice by the poorest and most marginalized in their societies.   “Access to justice is a human right in itself, and essential for tackling the root causes of poverty,” said Ms. Sepúlveda today, urging States to improve such access for the poor as a core part of their efforts to fight poverty.   “Without access to justice, people living in poverty are unable to claim and realize a whole range of human rights, or challenge crimes, abuses or violations committed against them,” Ms. Sepúlveda stressed.   People living in poverty face serious obstacles to accessing justice systems – including financial, social and physical barriers – which perpetuate and exacerbate their disadvantage.   “People living in poverty are often prevented from seeking justice due to the cost and time of travel to a distant courthouse, fees charged for filing claims or lack of free, quality legal assistance,” the Special Rapporteur said. “The poor may be denied legal standing to file a claim because they do not have an official birth certificate.”   “Lack of information about their rights, illiteracy or linguistic barriers, coupled with entrenched stigma attached to poverty, also makes it harder for the poor to engage with the justice system. In such circumstances, a person living in poverty cannot uphold their rights or challenge injustice,” she stressed.   Ms. Sepúlveda noted that even mature democracies struggle to ensure de facto equal access to justice by those living in poverty. “It is crucial to construct an inclusive justice system that is close to the people, both socially and geographically,” the independent expert said.   “Ensuring access to justice for the poor requires well-functioning judicial systems and laws that do not solely reflect the interests of wealthy and more powerful groups but also take into account income and power imbalances,” she said. “Reforms must be implemented with the effective and meaningful participation of persons living in poverty.”   Ms. Sepúlveda emphasized that women living in poverty face particular difficulties in access to justice, and this is a major cause of their greater vulnerability to poverty. In her view, “efforts to tackle poverty must include empowering women to seek justice, and ensuring that the justice system does not discriminate against them.”   “I wish to remind States and others that efforts to end poverty must be multi-dimensional and sustainable. Improving access to justice is a crucial part of any strategy”. Visit the related web page
	Amid recent spate of executions, UN calls for end to capital punishment by Rupert Colville UN Office for Human Rights   31 August 2012   The United Nations agency tasked with defending human rights voiced renewed concern today over the sudden spate of executions in countries around the world following the recent use of capital punishment in Gambia, Iraq, and South Sudan.   “We urge all States, who have not yet done so, to introduce – or reintroduce – an official moratorium on the use of the death penalty aiming to abolish it,” Rupert Colville, spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), declared in a briefing to the press in Geneva.   Until now, Gambia was at the forefront in Africa in its efforts to abolish the death penalty in law and practice. Last week, however, in a strong reversal of that trend, nine prisoners were executed shortly after Gambian President Yahya Jammeh’s announcement that all people on death row would have their sentences carried out by mid-September.   Mr. Colville deplored the executions as a “tremendous regression” for the country’s justice system, noting that prior to last week the country had maintained a moratorium on the death penalty for 27 years and had abolished capital punishment for drug offences in April 2011.   He also pointed to the number of executions in Iraq, where 96 people have had their death sentences carried out since the beginning of 2012. During the month of August alone, 26 people have reportedly been executed, including 21 in a single day.   “Given the lack of transparency in court proceedings in Iraq, major concerns about due process and fairness of trials, and the very wide range of offences for which the death penalty can be imposed in Iraq, it is a truly shocking figure,” said Mr. Colville.   In a message issued yesterday, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, warned that international law, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), requires compliance with rigorous fair trial standards in cases where death sentences are imposed.   OHCHR’s concern over the Iraqi executions was also echoed by the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) in a separate statement released today, in which it urged the Government of Iraq to consider a moratorium on the implementation of all death sentences and to consider ratifying the Second Optional Protocol to the ICCPR, with a view to the eventual abolition of the death penalty.   Meanwhile, in his press briefing, Mr. Colville also expressed concern that two men hanged in the South Sudanese capital of Juba, on 21 August, did not have proper legal assistance.   The overall global trend on the use of the death penalty has seen the number of executions worldwide decline. An estimated 150 UN Member States have abolished the death penalty or introduced a moratorium, either in law or practice.   July 2012   United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called on Member States which use the death penalty to abolish this practice, stressing that the right to life lies at the heart of international human rights law.   “The taking of life is too absolute, too irreversible, for one human being to inflict on another, even when backed by legal process,” Mr. Ban told a panel organized by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on ‘Moving away from the death penalty – Lessons from national experiences’ at UN Headquarters in New York.   “Where the death penalty persists, conditions for those awaiting execution are often horrifying, leading to aggravated suffering,” he added.   In 2007, the General Assembly endorsed a call for a worldwide moratorium of the death penalty. Since then, the practice has been abolished by countries like Argentina, Burundi, Gabon, Latvia, Togo and Uzbekistan. More than 150 States have either abolished the death penalty or do not practice it.   However, Mr. Ban noted, the death penalty is still used for a wide range of crimes in various countries. In particular, he expressed concern that 32 States retain the death penalty for drug-related offences, and its use on juvenile offenders.   “I am also very concerned that some countries still allow juvenile offenders under the age of 18 at the time of the alleged offence to be sentenced to death and executed,” Mr. Ban said. “The call by the General Assembly for a global moratorium is a crucial stepping stone in the natural progression towards a full worldwide abolition of the death penalty.”   The High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, has also repeatedly called for the universal abolition of the death penalty, citing a host of reasons ranging from the fundamental right to life to the possibility of judicial errors. Visit the related web page
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