2009

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On 10 December 2008 the UN General Assembly adopted the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.  Malcolm Langford, Director of SERP, edited a special issue of the Nordic Journal of Human Rights to explore perspectives on the new complaint and inquiry procedure established by the protocol.

The 2009 report of the independent expert on the question of human
rights and extreme poverty by Magdalena Sepúlveda Carmona was submitted to the UN Generaly Assembly. The report analyzes the impact of cash transfer programmes on the enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms by people living in extreme poverty and provides recommendations on cash transfer programmes from a human rights perspective.

Magdalena Sepúlveda Carmona is a research fellow of SERP.

In one of the poorest shack settlements in Durban, South Africa, armed thugs have been reported to have killed settlement residents and destroyed their home in a coordinated and racially motivated attack. Local police appear to be entirely complicit in these attacks, as do local members of the African National Congress. Here is SERP's letter sent to President Jacob Zuma to intervene directly, and to remind him and those involved in this violence that the world watches their actions.

says UN Expert on Extreme Poverty on International Day of Older People.

The seminar explored the right to restitution of land and property in Transitional Justice processes. SERP presented a conceptual overview, the legal basis of the right to restitution of land, as well as experiences from the field. Three case studies, Colombia, South Africa and Kenya, were presented to contextualize the role of restitution of land in Transitional Justice. To access the presentations and case studies click here.

The UN Human Rights Council has accepted SERPs working paper on the right to sanitation as an official UN background document. Norway played a leading and constructive role on promoting the right to sanitation during the session.

On February 20, 2009 the independent expert on the question of human rights and extreme poverty, Magdalena Sepúlveda Carmona, presented the report at the 10th special session of the Human Rights Council.  The report addresses the impact of the current global financial crisis on people living in extreme poverty and the enjoyment of their human rights. It stresses that the crisis offers an opportunity to move beyond the restructuring of the global financial and monetary systems and to place people at the centre of policy measures by enhancing social protection systems from a human rights-based approach. The report describes how human rights standards provide a normative framework for the adoption of social protection measures and provide guidance for their design, implementation and evaluation. Beyond reaffirming political will to rescue economies, the report urges the international community to take action and mobilize support in order to ensure that those who continue to suffer the most acute consequences of economic crises are protected and supported through the adoption and strengthening of social protection systems.

*Magdalena Sepúlveda Carmona is a research fellow of SERP.

Nepal is currently undergoing a constitutional reform process. The Fundamental Rights Committee of the Nepali Constituent Assembly, which is tasked to draft the Constitution, sent out four public questions on the inclusion of socio-econmic rights. Here is our letter to the Committee.