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Critical reports

Part of a series of the Human Rights Programme of the CETIM.

This series of critical reports deals with what is at stake concerning certain debates within the UN instances on human rights in order to inform and train all those engaged in the struggle for the respect and the implementation of their human rights.

It also hopes to provide them a better knowledge of the documents (conventions, treaties, declarations, etc.) and existing official instruments.

The Human Rights Program of the CETIM is dedicated to the defence and promotion of all human rights, a commitment based on the principle that human rights are totally inseparable and indivisible. Within that commitment, however, the CETIM has a particular focus on economic, social and cultural rights and the right to development, still much neglected in our times when not denied outright. Its objective includes combating the impunity accompanying the numerous violations of these rights and helping the communities, social groups and movements victimized by these violations to be heard and to obtain redress.

     
2012
The Fight against Poverty and Human Rights
     
2011
Transnational Corporations : Major Players in Human Rights Violations
  For the Respect of The Rights of all Migrant Workers
     
2010
Mercenaries, Mercenarism and Human Rights
International, Regional, Subregional and Bilateral Free Trade Agreements
     
2009
The Right to Water
The Rights of Peasants
Transboundary Transfers of Toxic Wastes and their Effect on Human Rights
     
2008
The Global Food Crisis and the Right to Food
  The Optional  Protocol to the ICESCR
  The Human Rights Council and its Mechanisms
     
     
     
     

THE FIGHT AGAINST POVERTY AND HUMAN RIGHTS

n°11 - June 2012 - PDF

 

Introduction
I. What is Poverty?
   A. The Semantic Fog
   B. A Multidisciplinary Field of Research
   C. What is Lacking in the Research
   D. Multidimensional Poverty
II. The Lessons of History: Ideology and Poverty
III. Quantifying Poverty

   A. Measuring Monetary Poverty
   B. Measuring Non-monetary Poverty
   C. Figures Relative to Poverty
   D. How do These Figures Help Us?
   E. And Inequality
IV. Strategies in the Fight against Poverty
   A. From Francis of Assisi to the Great Confinement
   B. From Mandeville and Marx to Social Citizenship
   C. From the ILO to the U.N. and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
V. The Break with Neo-liberalism and its Repercussion within the U.N.
   A. Debt, Structural Adjustment Programs, the World Bank and Its Claim to

       Fight   Poverty
   B. The Millennium Development Goals: A Story of a Preordained Failure
Conclusion

   

Extract by Francine Mestrum for Public Service Europe:

Global poverty is a consequence of free-trade ideology

   
Some documents and websites mentionned on this report:
Website of Social Global Justice
UNDP, Human Development Report 2001 (pdf)
Website of the UN Secial Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
  Annual reports
  Country visits
General Assembly Resolution 3201 (S-VI) adopted the 1st May 1974
General Assembly Resolution 3202 (S-VI) adopted the 1st May 1974

ESCR, Substantive Issues Arising in the Implementation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: Poverty and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

10 May 2001 (§§ 1 and 8, E/C.12/2001/10)

   
   
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TRANSNATIONAL CORPORATIONS : MAJOR PLAYERS IN HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS

n°10 - December 2011 - PDF

 

Contents
Introduction
I. FAILED ATTEMPTS TO SET BINDING INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS FOR TRANSNATIONAL CORPORATIONS (TNCs)
     A. Previous Efforts
     B. Reopening of the Discussion
     C. John Ruggie's 2011 Final Report
     D. The Global Compact, a Trojan Horse within the United Nations

II. TNCs, THE ARMAMENTS INDUSTRY AND THE WAR
     A. A Lucrative Large-Scale Private Industry
     B. NATO 's “Marketing” of Armaments
     C.The Paralysis of the Conference on Disarmament

III. TNCs AND MERCENARIES
     A. An Exponential Phenomenon
     B. A Case Study

IV. TRANSNATIONAL FINANCIAL CAPITAL, CRISES AND THE DETERIORATION OF LIVING CONDITIONS
     A. The Hegemony of Financial Capital
     B. Financial Crises
Conclusion

Annex

   
Some documents and websites mentionned on this report:

Website of the UN Special Representative on Human Rights and TNC and Other business Enterprises

See the CETIM Issue on this subject
See the CETIM booklet Transnational Corporations and HUman Rights
See the CETIM publication on Global Compact and Nestlé
   
   
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FOR THE RESPECT OF THE RIGHTS OF ALL MIGRANT WORKERS

n°9 - October 2011 - PDF

 

Contents
Introduction
I. The causes of international migration
II. The Problems and Human Rights Violations encountered by migrants during the process of migration
III. The situation for migrants in the host country and at their borders

     A) The European Union

          1. The situation for regular migrants

          2. The situation for irregular migrants

          3. The situation for asylum seekers

          4. Arbitrary detention

          5. The crime of solidarity
     B) The situation of domestic workers throughout the world
IV. Recommendations at the international level to protect the rights of migrants
Conclusion

Annex

   
Some documents mentionned on this report:
Website of the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants
UNDP, Human Development Report 2009. Overcoming barriers: Human mobility and development
Website of Migreurop

Migreurop, “A Critical Chronology Of European Migration Policies”

by Alain Morice (CNRS-University Paris-Diderot) for Migreurop

6th September 2011

Website of the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI)

December 18, The UN Treaty Monitoring Bodies and Migrant Workers: a Samizdat

Update October 2009

 
 
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MERCENARIES, MERCENARISM AND HUMAN RIGHTS

n°8 - Novembre 2010 - PDF

  Annex 1 - International Convention against the Recruitment, Use, Financing and Training of Mercenaries
  Annex 2 - Convention for the Elimination of Mercenaries in Africa
  Annex 3 - Draft Convention on Private Military and Security Companies (PMSC)
   
Some other documents mentionned on this report:
  Website of the Special Rapporteur on the use of mercenaries
  Website of the Working Group of Experts on the use of mercenaries
  The Montreux Document
  Watch our conference with some experts on this issue (in French)
   
   
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INTERNATIONAL, REGIONAL, SUBREGIONAL AND BILATERAL FREE TRADE AGREEMENTS

n°7 - July 2010 - PDF

     
Some documents mentionned on this report:
 
 
 
STOP LAND GRABBING NOW! Say NO to the principles of “responsible” agro-enterprise investment promoted by the World Bank !
Joint Statement by La Vía Campesina, FIAN, Land Research Action Network and GRAIN (April 2010)
 
 

Human Rights and Bilateral Investment Treaties. Mapping the role of human rights law within investor-state arbitration
by Luke Eric Peterson, Ed. Rights and Democracy - International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development (2009)

 

Bolivia y el CIADI: crónica de un divorcio anunciado

Equipo de Análisis Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores y Cultos de Bolivia, only in Spanish (July 2010)

 

Trade and Development Report 2007

UNCTAD

 

32 organismes exigent plus de transparence et de consultation de la population concernant les négociations d’un accord de libre-échange Canada-Union européen

Press release from Attac Québec, only in French (6 August 2010)

   
 
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THE RIGHT TO WATER

n°6 - October 2009 - PDF

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Annex 12 - Report 2003 of the Special Rapporteur on the right to food

Jean Ziegler, The right to food, Commission on Human Rights, E/CN.4/2003/54 (10 January 2003)

 

Annex 13 - Report 2001 of the Special Rapporteur on the right to food

Jean Ziegler, General Assembly, The right to food, A/56/210 (23 July 2001)

 
 
 
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THE RIGHTS OF PEASANTS

n°5 - September 2009 - PDF

  Annex 1 - Declaration of Rights of Peasants - Women and Men, adopted by La Vía Campesina International Coordinating Committee (Seoul, March 2009)
 
 
 
 
 
 
    Annex 7b - Voluntary guidelines to support the progressive realization of the right to adequate food in the context of national food security, FAO (November 2004) Part II
 
 
 
 
 
     
More on this issue:
  FAO Website on the right to food
 
 
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TRANSBOUNDARY TRANSFERS OF TOXIC WASTES AND THEIR EFFECT ON HUMAN RIGHTS

n°4 - May 2009 - PDF

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Annex 7 - Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade (revised version 2005)

and Rotterdam Convention Website HERE

 
 
 
 
 

Annex 12 - Norms on the responsibilities of transnational corporations and other business enterprises with regard to human rights (adopted by the Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights in 2003)

and its Commentary (Sub-Commission, 2003)

 
 
 
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THE GLOBAL FOOD CRISIS AND THE RIGHT TO FOOD

n°3 - December 2008 - PDF

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
     
More on this issue:
  Website of the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Olivier de Schutter (June 2008-)
  Website of the former UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Jean Ziegler and his team (2000 - June 2008)
 
 
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THE OPTIONAL PROTOCOL TO THE INTERNATIONAL COVENANT ON ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS (ICESCR)

n°2 - November 2008 - PDF

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
More on this issue:
 
 
 
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THE HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL AND ITS MECHANISMS

n°1 - March 2008 - PDF

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
     
More on this issue:
  Webpage of the Human Rights Council