Dignity News

* Battle for Survival in Pakistan

* Dignity International Invited as Trainer

* Farewell to Dignity Team Member Valerie Traore

Other News

* Human Right to Water Declared by UN General Assembly

* Action Not Words: The State and Indigenous Peoples

* Chinese Workers Demand Justice

* UN Human Rights Committee: Israel violates Human Right to Housing

Action Appeals

* Take Action for World Food Security

* Join the Call for the World Assembly of Inhabitants (Dakar 2011)

Announcements

* Role of Human Rights in Development: Impact and Responsibility

* UNIFEM Essay and Photo Contest: Promoting Gender Equality and Women’s Human Rights

Events

* No to Austerity! Workers Plan International Strike

* EAPN/BAPN conference: Laying the Foundations for a Fairer Europe

* OHCHR Meetings and Events

Publications

* Legal Opinion on the Right to Property from a Human Rights' Perspective

* (Mis)Investment in Agriculture: The Role of the IFC in the Global Land Grab

This disaster is not like an earthquake or a tsunami. In the 2005 earthquake in northern Pakistan, 80,000 people died more or less at one blow; whereas the immediate death toll from this flood is in the low thousands. The loss of property, however, is catastrophic. It is as if a neutron bomb exploded overhead, but instead of killing the people and leaving their houses intact, it swept away the villages, crops and animals, leaving the people alive. As of 12 August, Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Authority reported that approximately 724,000 homes have been damaged or destroyed.

The flood waters submerged over 7 million acres of agricultural land and ripe crops of rice, cotton and sugarcane destroyed. There is shortage of food items across the country.

Northern Pakistan suffered infrastructural damages especially as more then 100 roads and bridges were damaged causing inaccessibility to many areas. The floods entered Sindh province and continued to dispose of crops, homes and roads.

What we may not realise is that these 20 million affected were poor but they were not starving. They come from places where they can raise a whole family because they own a buffalo or a few goats. They were probably the last 20 million who lived off the land and, in the process, fed us all.

The month of Ramadan started on 12 August, but the outbreak of floods in the country has dented its fervor. Flood-affected people began their month-long fast with little or no arrangements for food.

More international aid is now reaching the country – but the demand is more then the actual supply. The international and national agencies continue with their humanitarian efforts as I write this. However, they too are frustrated by the absence of any meaningful government response for its people. In the first few days, the PPP-led dispensation simply kept beating about the bush by saying that the flooding was massive and there was no way it could have been tackled, thus evading its rescue duty.

While the flood was in full swing, intentional breaches were made in the protective embankments in Punjab and Sindh provinces in order to protect the agriculture lands of many politicians including our President Mr. Asif Ali Zardari. This act reinforces that human rights have been and will continue to be violated in Pakistan. Also, it has caused a severe mistrust between the people of Pakistan and the authorities.

I observed the past three weeks’ efforts of our Government; and sense that our ministers are visiting affected areas for photo sessions to score points against each other. People continue to remain trapped, forced to live on roadsides and railway tracks without any shelter for many days despite the claim of federal and provincial governments that immediate relief is being provided.

Flood affected people criticise the government for not waking up to this reality in time and this reinforces their opinion that those in power are insensitive towards those in distress. While the country was being hit by floods, President Zardari did not postpone his Europe visit and his establishment has been under fire since then.

This is also the main cause of the indifference of the international communities, as well as Pakistani citizens to pool their funds for the relief of the affected population.

But this is no movie.

This is a harsh reality that I continue to live and battle with every day.

It’s the start of what has turned into a living nightmare for millions of Pakistanis affected directly or indirectly by the floods. Who knew that the Indus River would turn its fury on the people of Pakistan? Roads, bridges, and houses were built on the river’s bed and when the Indus returned after almost nine decades, it could not find its old path. It went around like a mad dog, sniffing for its old habitat and devoured everything in its way.

Today, some 20 million Pakistanis are in need of special attention for protection. The UN and other donor humanitarian agencies warn of massive disease outbreaks and second wave of deaths from water-borne diseases unless help is provided to these flood victims.

In my country that is already battling with a brutal Taliban insurgency much is at stake, now.

Saadia Haq for Dignity International

*** Dignity International Invited as Trainer – Orang Asli (Indigenous Peoples) Workshop on Community Organising for Land Rights 4-7 July 2010, Ipoh Malaysia. Organised by JKOAP and SPNS. 50 people from 20 villages discussed and used interactive sessions to have discussion on reality of land rights and its impact on the indigenous communities. Communities working for their human rights as indigenous peoples reaffirmed the need to use community organising (C.O.) as a crucial way to strengthen their peoples participation and involvement in their advocacy of land rights issues and law reform matters in Malaysia.

The executive director, Jerald Joseph was invited to co-facilitate with Tijah Chopil from JKOAP, this workshop to develop and enhance skills on community organising and leadership skills for community leaders and community based organisations working on land rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Training on ASEAN Human Rights Mechanism, 19-21 July 2010. Organised by Forum Asia and SUARAM. 30 participants form different NGO, research institutes, staff of members of parliaments attended this three day workshop to learn about ASEAN, ASEAN Charter and the newly formed regional mechanism -ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission Human Rights (AIHRC) that was formed in 2009. This training aimed to inform local NGOs about ASEAN and understand its mechanism in order to engage and push the boundaries of the weak mechanism of the AIHRC.

Jerald Joseph is the main author of a training manual being developed on ASEAN Human Rights Mechanisms and this was the first training to put into effect the training module in a workshop context. He was the main trainer that utilised participatory methodology in order to get local NGOs on board with knowledge and information about ASEAN. Participants struggled to make meaning of the local issues of human rights violations and its relevance to weak body like AIHRC. Over the three days participants realised that it was another avenue for advocacy that could be used creatively when local realities don't offer many possibilities to take up human rights issues.

*** Farewell to Dignity Team Member Valerie Traore – Over the past two years, Valerie Traore (Burkina Faso) has served as Dignity’s Advisor for Advocacy.

During this time Valerie has worked closely with many Dignity partners and organisations including our cooperation with the World Social Forum. Effective this month, Valerie will be leaving the Dignity Family, and we wish her well.

*** Human Right to Water Declared by UN General Assembly - World-wide 884 million people lack access to safe drinking water and a total of more than 2.6 billion people do not have access to basic sanitation. Each year about two million people die of the consequences of polluted water, the majority among them are children under the age of five. To address this grave violation of human rights, the UN General Assembly recognised the right to access to water and sanitary basic care on 28th of July on the initiative of Bolivia. To read more CLICK HERE>>>

Source: FIAN

“Today the Declaration remains more of a reminder of how far there is to go in bringing justice and dignity to the lives of indigenous peoples than a reflection of what has actually been achieved on the ground.” The Special Rapporteur expressed his fear that the wide gap between the Declaration and its effective implementation will persist, leading to a certain complacency and acceptance of that condition: “This cannot be allowed to happen; the faithful implementation of the Declaration must be the focus of concerted attention by governments worldwide, the UN system, and other actors.” To read the full statement CLICK HERE>>>

Source: OHCHR

*** Chinese Workers Demand Justice - When young Chinese workers rose up in a wave of protests this summer, their small acts of defiance crested into a global tremor. The explosion of labour action in Chinese cities, including the high-profile Honda protests, is bearing some political fruit. Guangdong is working on a set of reforms to give muscle to collective-bargaining laws that have thus far existed mostly on paper. To read more CLICK HERE >>>

Source: China Labour Bulletin

*** UN Human Rights Committee: Israel violates Human Right to Housing - The UN Human Rights Committee has found Israel in violation of its commitments under international law. The violations identified by the Committee include forced evictions of Palestinians from their homes, the demolition of Palestinian homes, and denying Palestinians access to safe drinking water and sanitation. The UN Human Rights Committee issued its findings against Israel at the conclusion of its three-week session in Geneva. The Committee found that the Israeli violations of Palestinian’s housing rights, including forced evictions and house demolitions in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, amounted to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. To read more  CLICK HERE>>>

Source: COHRE

*** Take Action for World Food Security - The agenda of the upcoming session of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) on 11-14 October, 2010, includes a policy roundtable on land tenure and international investment in agriculture. This will be one of the most relevant sessions in the sense that it will show if the reformed CFS can effectively deliver international policy responses to one of the most pressing issues of our times: how to protect the lands of rural communities from encroachment. Please send a letter to the ministry in your country representing your government in FAO (usually the ministry of agriculture) with copy to the ambassador of your country in FAO requesting them to ban land grabbing. For more information CLICK HERE>>>

Source: FIAN

*** Join the Call for the World Assembly of Inhabitants (Dakar 2011) - All cities and rural areas are experiencing a structural crisis, resulting from the implementation of urban policies in favour of global capitalism, which is expressed through a variety of problems: the loss of the social function of cities; the commercial exploitation of economic, social, cultural and environmental rights; deepening social, economic and gender inequalities; the absence of democracy and social participation in decision-making processes that are in the public interest; an increase in insecurity despite the rise of police and military violence; the dramatic increase in forced evictions as a pillar of capitalist urbanism; the criminalisation of social movements and the marginalisation of good practice in the social production of habitat; the environmental degradation, forcing the poor to live in high-risk areas; the failure of governments to comply with regulatory frameworks established at national and international levels to ensure the right to housing; the ineffectiveness of UN-Habitat, dedicated to strengthening its bureaucracy and thus leaving room for speculative capitalism, responsible for the housing/real estate bubble.

Faced with this situation, initiatives have emerged from around the world, of grassroots organisations and networks of inhabitants heroically resisting forced evictions, struggling against privatisation processes and the liberalisation of the housing sector, occupying empty properties and vacant urban land, joining together in solidarity to defend the right to housing and to the city. At the same time they build alternatives, developing approaches that feed into urban and rural policies in order to achieve sustainable human development; many of these experiences are supported and strengthened by local governments and dedicated academics and professionals.

In this way, the extraordinary capacity and maturity of urban social movements to engage creatively, efficiently and cooperatively in providing solutions to a range of urban and rural problems is demonstrated. To read more and sign the appeal, CLICK HERE>>>

Source: World Assembly of Inhabitants

*** Role of Human Rights in Development: Impact and Responsibility - Abo Akademi University, Turku/Abo, Finland. This one-week intensive course offers participants an opportunity to acquire specialist-level knowledge in the field of human rights and development. It offers critical examinations of the conceptual and practical relevance of the international human rights framework to development cooperation, focusing on strategies to integrate the two fields, including but not limited to human rights-based approaches to development. There is special focus on human rights as an accountability framework and women and children as claimants of rights. The course will provide both theoretical and practical insights, for example in the area of assessing impact and the value of human rights-based approaches to development.

The course is designed for PhD students, scholars, practitioners (e.g., law, human rights and/or development), policy-makers and advanced master's students. Detailed information and application forms can be obtained from their website. Application deadline: 14 September 2010.

Source: Abo Akademi

*** UNIFEM Essay and Photo Contest: Promoting Gender Equality and Women’s Human Rights - As part of CEDAW's 30th Anniversary and International Women's Day, UNIFEM is holding an essay and photo contest from 8 March to 2 September in the Pacific region. The theme of the contest is "Promoting Gender Equality and Women’s Human Rights — From National Commitments to Real Change." Contest participants are asked to tell the story of how women's lives have changed or not changed in their country or community in photos or an essay. Please read attached flyer for full contest details. Eligible Countries: Cook Islands, FSM, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Niue, Palau, PNG, Samoa, Solomons, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu. For more information, visit UNIFEM.

Source: UNIFEM

*** No to Austerity! Workers Plan International Strike - The European Trade Union Confederation is staging a European Day of Action on 29 September next. This Day of Action follows a decision by the ETUC Executive Committee on 1 and 2 June. It will be made up of a Euro-demonstration in Brussels and trade union actions in the various European countries. The European trade unions will be demonstrating against the austerity measures adopted recently by many European countries, and to demand recovery plans in favour of quality jobs and growth.

There are also strikes and rallies scheduled to take place in the US and other countries to show solidarity with everyone whose economic, social and cultural rights are being violated by neoliberal austerity measures. For more information on the European actions CLICK HERE>>>

Source: ETUC

*** EAPN/BAPN conference: Laying the Foundations for a Fairer Europe – On 24 September the European and Belgian Anti Poverty Networks will convene a conference supported by Belgian Presidency: Laying the Foundations for a Fairer Europe: Ensuring an adequate minimum income for all in Brussels. For more information and programme contact Sian Jones at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Source: EAPN

*** OHCHR Meetings and Events –

*** Legal Opinion on the Right to Property from a Human Rights' Perspective - The concept of property rights is often associated with commercial rights protecting corporate ownership of goods, land, or scientific innovation. However this narrow reading obscures the importance of the right to property as a human right and the social function of property as a dimension of other human rights including the human rights to food, housing and social security.

The legal opinion was commissioned by Rights & Democracy and written by Dr. Christophe Golay and Ms. Ioana Cismas at the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights. It compiles and comments upon existing instruments and jurisprudence at the international, regional and national levels. The authors conclude that the human right to property has two main components: on one hand it is essential for the protection of human life and dignity, and on the other hand it may be limited in order to resolve social injustices and advance the human rights of specific disadvantaged individuals or groups.

The legal opinion will be of interest to academics and human rights activists working on questions related to access to land, the right to food and the right to housing as well as foreign investment and the activities of transnational corporations. To download and read more CLICK HERE>>>

Source: Rights and Democracy

*** (Mis)Investment in Agriculture: The Role of the IFC in the Global Land Grab - The leaked draft report from the World Bank earlier this year, The Global Land Rush: Can it Yield Sustainable and Equitable Benefits, challenges the publicly held position of the World Bank on investments in agricultural lands in poor nations – a trend that has come to be popularly known as land grabbing. Although such investments have been hailed by the World Bank as a way to generate jobs and infrastructure, the report states, “investors are targeting countries with weak laws, buying arable land on the cheap, and failing to deliver on promises of jobs and investments,” and in some cases inflict serious damage on the local resource base. Conclusions of the leaked report confirm those of(Mis)Investment in Agriculture: The Role of the International Finance Corporation in the Global Land Grab, a report released by the Oakland Institute in April this year.

The Bank's report is certainly a surprising turn of events given that the Bank's private sector arm, International Finance Corporation (IFC), has not only legitimised the land grab trend but effectively facilitated and promoted it. The key question is how this acknowledgment will be integrated into the work of the Bank’s agencies which have increased the ability of foreign investors to acquire land in developing country markets. This calls for heightened scrutiny of the Bank’s activities in promoting investor-friendly policies that spur foreign direct investment in agriculture in poor countries, and holding it accountable instead of allowing it to sweep the damning findings under the rug.

Click Here to Read More.

Source: The Oakland Institute

This is a monthly electronic news bulletin of 'Dignity International: All Human Rights for All'. Dignity International does not accredit, validate or substantiate any information posted by members to this news bulletin. The validity and accuracy of any information is the responsibility of the originator.

If you are working in the area of human rights with a special attention to different aspects of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, we would love to hear from you. To contribute, email us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it