The unusual combination of financial crisis, food crisis, energy and climate crisis requires a new approach based on human rights, argues the international Social Watch coalition in its 2008 report, launched during the United Nations Conference on Financing for Development being held in Doha, Qatar, from 29 November to 2 December. Next December 10, as the report remembers, the 60th Anniversary of Universal Declaration of Human Rights will be commemorated and the title of the Social Watch Report 2008 is, precisely, "Rights is the Answer".
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The virulent campaign against the International Criminal Court waged by conservative hardliners in the Congress and Bush administration has alienated America from its allies and isolated the United States from the court’s application and enforcement of atrocity law, including the “crime of aggression”—with major implications for U.S. military engagements overseas, write David Scheffer and John Hutson in a new paper for The Century Foundation. The lurid worst-case scenarios spun out by ICC foes have patently not come to pass, the former war-crimes ambassador and former judge-advocate-general of the Navy point out, and the next President and Congress need to engage the United States closely in the court’s work.
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Trade unions, the self-organisations of domestic workers and support NGOs are working together, with the International Union of Food, Farm and Hotel Workers (IUF) taking the lead at a global level for domestic/household workers to be recognised as workers/ employees by the International Labour Organization (ILO).
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Colombia’s internal armed conflict has pitted the security forces and paramilitaries against guerrilla groups for more than 40 years. It has been marked by extraordinary levels of human rights abuses and violations of international humanitarian law, with civilians by far the principal victims. The Colombian government is in denial about the country's human rights situation.
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Though the State remains the primary provider of education, the role of nongovernment organisations (NGO) is significant. NGO and community-based initiatives play an important role in education provision in South Asia because, at present, agreed international targets cannot be reached through the state system alone. Non-formal programmes are an important alternative to formal schooling as they address gaps of formal education.
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Disability experts from around the world with backgrounds in government, international organizations, and civil society stressed the need to mainstream disability in all development activities in order to achieve equality for persons with disabilities.
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Human Rights
- Mon Dec 01 2008
Rights is the answer: Social Watch Report 2008
An approach based on human rights is the only way to overcome the current crisis, argues Social Watch, a worldwide coalition of civil society organizations.
Source:
Social Watch
Human Rights
/Sexual diversity
- Tue Nov 25 2008
Burundi: government moves to criminalize homosexuality
The National Assembly of Burundi passed a law on Friday November 21, 2008, making same-sex acts punishable for the first time in the history of the country.
Source:
IGLHRC
