News Bulletin July 2011 PDF Print E-mail

DIGNITY INTERNATIONAL

MONTHLY NEWSBULLETIN - JULY 2011


Dignity News | Dignity Partner News | Other News | Action Appeals | Announcements | Events | Publications

 

Dignity News

* Phase 2: PWESCR Leadership Institute in Women’s Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

* Driving Change for a Dynamic Commonwealth: Asian Round Table Consultation for CPF CHOGM 2011

* HELP Students at Dignity International

* Meeting with People's Watch

* Meeting with YUVA, India

 

Dignity Partner News

* 2do Curso Nacional de Formación e Intervención Estrategica FIEDESC 2011 “Desc en las Ciudades de Bolivia”

 

Other News

* Reforming Neoliberalism from Above: The Disconnect

* World Refugee Day 2011

* Polluters’ Inaction on Climate Change: From Bonn to Durban

* GCAP Philippines Campaigns for Economic, Social and Cultural Right

* Spain: 19 June Massive Outrage

 

Action Appeals

* India: Open-cast Coal Mining Threatens Indigenous Villagers

* India: Planned Forced Land Acquisitions and Repression of Dissent

 

 Announcements

* FIAN Seeks Communications Trainee

* New Website and Resources from the Danish Human Rights Institute

 

Events

* 2nd International Conference on Human Rights Education

* Life Writing and Human Rights: Genres of Testimony

* OHCHR Meetings and Events

 

Publications

* New Report: State of the World’s Mothers

* Gender Equality in the Health Sector

 

 

DIGNITY NEWS

 

*** Phase 2: PWESCR Leadership Institute in Women’s Economic, Social and Cultural Rights - June 20th to 26th, 2011, Kathmandu, Nepal - The 1st regional/international workshop for women’s economic, social cultural rights is successfully completed and brought to a closure with the end of Phase 2. Dignity International is a supporting partner for this initiative.


Training Faculty in Meeting

Jerald Joseph, Executive Director of Dignity International remains as a core faculty member with Priti Darooka, Executive Director of PWESCR, Ms. Maria Virginia Bras Gomes, member of UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and Mr. Gagan Sethi, Executive Secretary of Janvikas.


Session in Action

The 18 participants went through deeper discussions on all topics similar to Phase 1.

  1. Social Construct of Gender – Feminist Analysis
  2. Analysis of Poverty
  3. Human Rights Framework
  4. ESCR Framework – ICESCR
  5. Field Trip to visit a semi-rural community


Colorful Participants

Awards were given to the Best Action Project and the Most Promising Leader as an acknowledgement.

Following this, the launch of the next Leadership Institute is already announced for January 2012.

 

 

 

*** Driving Change for a Dynamic Commonwealth: Asian Round Table Consultation for CPF CHOGM 2011 - The Asian Regional Consultation, in preparation for Commonwealth’s People Forum (CPF)which is held during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) 2011, was carried out on the 27th and 28th June in New Delhi, India. It was co-organised by All India Disaster Mitigation Institute (AIDMI), Ahmedabad, India, Dignity International, and Environment Challenge Organisation, Singapore, and supported by the Commonwealth Foundation.

Dignity International’s Executive Director, Jerald Joseph, was a co-facilitator for this workshop that was attended by 45 people from 6 countries.

To read the Asian consultation report, CLICK HERE >>>


Group photo

 

 

 

*** HELP Students at Dignity International - Dignity International welcomed 7 students from HELP University College, Malaysia, in the month of June. The students were with us for a short stint to learn about the organization, human rights, and leadership development.

During the internship, the students were hosted by Dignity’s local partner in Malaysia, PERMAS (The Residents’ Association of Selangor and Federal Territory). They underwent an exposure visit to an urban poor community in Jinjang Utara and learnt about the community’s 20-years struggle for their rights to housing and adequate standard of living.


Living conditions in Jinjang Utara

Besides that, the interns also conducted research on Human Rights and Business Corporation. Using the LYNAS rare earth refinery plant in Malaysia as a case study, they identified and analysed the impact of the project on people’s health, livelihood, and human rights that were being violated.


Students engaging in conversation with residences of Jinjang Utara

Dignity wishes our young friends the very best in continuing their studies whilst also being involved in the struggle for all human rights for all.

Viva student power!

 

 

 

*** Meeting with People's Watch - Jerald Joseph, Executive Director of Dignity International (DI) had the opportunity to visit People's Watch, a very strong NGO in Madurai, India on 30th June 2011. Since 1995, the organisation has been working on monitoring human rights through its paralegal support and human rights education, amongst its many other programmes. The occasion served as a good platform to share and learn about each other’s work.


Henri Tiphagne, Executive Director of People’s Watch, welcoming
Dignity International's Jerald Joseph at the People's Watch office

In addition to that, People's Watch has kindly offered to be a local supporting NGO for DI’s next workshop in India, the 4th Get Organised for Human Rights, in September 2011.

 

 

 

*** Meeting with YUVA, India


Seated: Jerald Joseph with Gopal Dube, Right to Water Team YUVA,
and Programme Director of YUVA Urban-Mr. Raju Bhise

Jerald Joseph, Executive Director of Dignity International (DI) also managed to pay a visit to one of DI’s strong partners, YUVA India, for an exchange on work and collaboration updates. The meeting went smoothly; including the time spent catching up with old colleagues of many years. YUVA will also play host to DI's upcoming Thai-India Community Exchange Programme come October 2011.

 

 

 

DIGNITY PARTNER NEWS

 

*** 2do Curso Nacional de Formación e Intervención Estrategica FIEDESC 2011 “Desc en las Ciudades de Bolivia” - The 2nd National Course on Strategic Intervention on ESC Rights - organized by UNITAS with the support of Dignity International and IIADI - took place from 6 to 12 of June 2011, in Cochabamba, Bolivia. The programme congregated Dignity International’s methodology with a strong Bolivian economical, social and political elements all brought together to support urban and rural social organizations in Bolivia.

 


Facilitators and secretariat

 

The participants
28 representatives from social organisations, neighbouring associations, unions and human rights institutions from all over Bolivia came to plan strategies to tackle economic social and cultural rights in the cities of Bolivia. Participants from Poltosí, Trinidad, La Paz, Sucre, etc… formed the second edition of the national programme.

 


Group photo

 

Sharing experiences and improving tools
The diversity of particpants’ background (representing miners sector, different indigenous ethnics from Bolivia, rural workers, human rights activists, etc..) was essential to enrich the programme bring the opportunity to discuss problems at Bolivian national level. Participants could share their experiences and expertises with colleagues and facilitators during the 6 days of the programme. Networking establishment was required by participants and also a will to join Dignity International Latin America Network.

 


Presentation by a participant

 

Source: Fabio Gama

 

 

OTHER NEWS

 

*** Reforming Neoliberalism from Above: The Disconnect – Two recent initiatives on the part of the United Nations show the increasing disconnect between what the majority of the world’s population know all too well, and what the proponents of neoliberalism continue to try to sell as “reforms.”

According to the Office for the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR): “Prof. John Ruggie, the author of a set of guidelines designed to help business companies respect human rights, is one of those people who want to make the world a better place. So after six intense years of research, analysis, international consultations, site visits and hundreds of meetings with governments, civil society organisations, companies and individuals, Prof. Ruggie has a lot to bring to the international debate on business and human rights.”

OHCHR continues: “The unanimous endorsement by the UN Human Rights Council of these guidelines, known as Guiding Principles, is a clear, strong sign of the importance accorded by the international community to the question of business and human rights.” And yet these very same “Guidelines” have been nearly unanimously rejected by civil society organisations representing millions of people living in poverty all over the world.

Likewise this past month, the third annual UNCTAD Public Symposium, organised in cooperation with the UN Nongovernmental Liaison Service under the general theme “Making Trade and Finance Work for People and the Planet.” This gathering asked the question: “What are the global and regional initiatives needed to avert new crises and make trade and finance work for full and productive employment, reduce inequalities and promote sustainable development?” How many decades has UNCTAD been spouting its platitudes with little or no change for the common person living in poverty? Indeed the economic situation has become even worse since UNTAD’s hay day, when it proclaimed the “New International Economic Order” back in the 1970s.

Regarding the Guiding Principles, as the Dignity Newsbulletin reported in its last issue, organisations and movements including Alianza Social Continental, FIAN International, Habitat International Coalition (HIC), Plataforma Interamericana de Derechos Humanos, Transnational Institute and La Via Campesina requested that the provision of suitable principles and the adoption of binding regulations for transnational corporation (TNC) operations should be included in a follow-up mandate by the Council. They also suggest that the Council establish its own complaints procedure for victims of human rights violations committed by TNCs. See the Statement to Delegations on the Human Rights Council 2011 "Civil Society Organisations respond to Ruggie's Guiding Principles regarding human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises"

This misguided approach to solving the extremely serious and ongoing violations of human rights which come as a result of economic activities supported by Member States and their TNCs is obviously not the “clear, strong sign” needed at this juncture. As poverty, unemployment and civil unrest sweep through the Mediterranean and throughout the streets of Europe, northern political leaders are getting their first taste of what has been occurring in Africa, Asia and Latin America all along. The formulation of the means to address these issues of human rights can come only from all people affected, not from international conferences and well-paid bureaucrats in New York and Geneva. Neither national governments nor their corporations can be trusted to ensure that all human rights are respected – that work lies in the hands of all of us who struggle daily to demand all human rights for all.

 

Editorial / NGLS / UNCTAD

 

 

*** World Refugee Day 2011 - On 20 June, World Refugee Day [1] was celebrated around the world, and in particular by the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR). This year, the Day centered on a recently launched global awareness campaign, the so-called “One-campaign,” which carries the message that “One refugee without hope is too many.”

In his message for this day, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, António Guterres, looked back at the changing refugee situation since the establishment of the Refugee Convention in 1951. Considering that the world has more than 43 million people displaced by violence and persecution, he questioned whether the international community was doing enough. "Are we doing enough to prevent conflict and to bring to an end those already underway? Are we doing enough to help every one of these 43 million people to find refuge and a future home? Are we doing enough to promote the tolerant and compassionate societies that welcome the less fortunate and do not add to their number?, he asked. He criticized the unjustified attitude of Europe towards refugees and hailed several developing countries for keeping their borders open.

On World Refugee Day, UNHCR also released its 2010 Global Trends report which confirms the deep imbalances in the international support given to those people in the world that are forcibly displaced. The report finds that 43.7 million people are displaced worldwide, including 15.4 million refugees, and 27.5 million internally displaced people. It also notes that 80 percent of the refugees are hosted in developing countries. To read more CLICK HERE>>>

 

Source: UNHCR

 

 

*** Polluters’ Inaction on Climate Change: From Bonn to Durban - With a crucial conference on climate change taking place in Durban, South Africa, in December, Patrick Bond cuts through the elite conspiracy that will result in a no deal scenario and a continued rise in global temperatures. 'The strongest possible stance will be needed to finally address the mess,' he writes.

Judging by what transpired at last week’s global climate negotiations in the former West German capital, Bonn, it appears certain that in just over five months time, the South African port city of Durban will host a conference of procrastinators, the ‘COP 17’ (Conference of Parties), dooming the earth to the frying pan. Further inaction on climate change will leave our city’s name as infamous for elite incompetence and political betrayal as is Oslo’s in the Middle East.

It appears certain that Pretoria’s alliance with Washington, Beijing, New Delhi and Brasilia, witnessed in the shameful 2009 Copenhagen Accord, will be extended to other saboteurs of the Kyoto Protocol, especially from Ottawa, Tokyo and Moscow, along with Brussels and London carbon traders.

What everyone now predicts is a conference of paralysis. Not only will the Kyoto Protocol be allowed to expire at the end of its first commitment period (2012). Far worse, Durban will primarily be a conference of profiteers, as carbon trading - the privatisation of the air, giving rich states and companies the property-right to pollute - is cemented as the foundation of the next decade’s global climate malgovernance. To read more of this article CLICK HERE>>>

 

Source: Pambazuka News

 

 

*** GCAP Philippines Campaigns for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights - For a lot of people rain is a symbol of wealth, but for Filipinos living in the streets, it only means cold, wet and hungry sleepless nights. Armed with umbrellas and ready for downpour, anti-poverty group, Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP) - Philippines, asks President Begnigno Aquino, if Filipinos having no homes is what he meant when he said in his Independence Day message last June 12 that Filipinos are now free from poverty.

One out of four Filipinos is poor. Seven out of ten Filipinos eat below the required dietary requirement. One out of three Filipino children is not in school, and more than 3.7 million families need decent homes.

"Walang kalayaan kung alipin ng kahirapan (there is no freedom if you are enslaved by poverty)," explains Erning Ofracio, urban poor leader and Executive Committee member of GCAP-Philippines during the Philippine launch of the global campaign on the Ratification of the Optional Protocol for the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), "habang tayo'y nabubuhay sa kahirapan, patuloy ang paglabag sa ating mga karapatan (for as long as we live in poverty, our rights are violated)." "Official data already show a bleak picture, but the reality is much worse," adds May-i Fabros, Project Coordinator of GCAP-Philippines, "because current official statistics do not reflect the invisible sectors- those living on the streets, the transient and ambulant poor, internally displaced persons, and indigenous peoples, whose rights are systematically being violated."

To read more CLICK HERE>>>

 

Source: Whiteband / GCAP

 

 

*** Spain: 19 June Massive Outrage - The level of outrage has once again exceeded all expectations, taking to the streets en masse, and showing the gap that exists between those who are angry and political institutions. From the 19 May (15M) to the 19 June (19J), forces have come together and unity has been created, not just the local areas (protest camps and neighborhood groups), but broader segments of society who identify with our fierce condemnation of the political class and the financial and banking system which are responsible for this crisis. The slogan “we are not commodities in the hands of politicians and bankers” summarises both demands.

The indignad@s (indignants) have unambiguously pointed the finger at those who have buckeld under the pressure of the “markets” and who in demanding that others tighten their belts, have not done so themselves. “We want to see politicians earning pitiful salaries of 1,000 euros a month” was one of the enthusiastically applauded slogans at the rally. This democracy has proved increasingly empty of content for a public prepared to take control over their own lives. One vote every four years is not enough for those who argue that politics must involve the daily exercise of their rights, from day to day and from the bottom up.

The attempt by the authorities to contain the movement, following the action at the Catalan Parliament on 15J, has not been able to cope with the collective social outrage that surpasses even that of the men and women who were in the protest camps. Anyone who believes that the movement is merely a passing phase of youthful activists was wrong. So are those who consider it to be simply a problem of public order. The usual suspects have turned into a multitude. Two years and nine months of crisis weighed heavily. The current movement expresses a deep social malaise that has finally emerged into the open and, as usual, without warning and in new ways. We are not part of a cyclical or passing phenomenon, but instead privy to the first stirrings of a new cycle of political activity, of which 15M and the protest camps acted as a springboard.

Over the last month we have regained confidence in collective action. It has gone from skepticism and resignation to “yes we can”. The riots in the Arab world, mass demonstrations in Greece and “will not pay for your crisis” of the Icelandic people have weighed heavily on the collective imagination and have given impetus to a restoring of confidence in the “we”, the collective political subject. The “globalisation of resistance” of that anti-globalisation movement, dating back more than ten years, has been revived again in a very different scenario, marked by the crisis.

After a day of 15J, where the movement was engaged in a battle for legitimacy, 19J was presented as a test for the movement to show its strength in the face of the attacks it has received. It needed to translate into action in the street the popular support that it has awakened. And that is exactly what it has achieved. The 19J has shown the expansion of the movement, its ability to mobilise en masse and its explosive expansion in a very short time. Its growth since the 15M is not only quantitative but also qualitative in terms of the diversification of its social base and its generational composition.

Now what? The challenges of moving to strengthen its roots involve strenthening the grassroots, establishing local assemblies and strengthening stable organisational mechanisms. The movement also needs to try to develop links with the working class, sectors in struggle and militant trade unionists, and to keep up the pressure on the main trade unions, who are puzzled by a change in the social and political landscape that they had not anticipated. It is necessary to achieve concrete victories. The prevention of several evictions, although they may be small and very defensive gains, point the way and bring new energy. More generally, the movement faces the challenge of combining its general character, its critique of the current global economic model and the political class, with the strengthening of concrete struggles against the cuts and policies that seek to transfer the cost of the crisis on to those who can least afford it.

The 19J has marked a turning point that ends the first phase which started with the 15M, and prepares the next phase of a movement that has only just begun.

Josep María Antentas is a member of the editorial board of the magazine Viento Sur, and a professor of sociology at the Autonomous University of Barcelona.

Esther Vivas is a member of the Centre for Studies on Social Movements (CEMS) at Universitat Pompeu Fabra. She is also a member of the editorial board of Viento Sur.

 

Source: Article published in El País, 20/06/2011

 

 

 

ACTION APPEALS

 

*** India: Open-cast Coal Mining Threatens Indigenous Villagers – The expanding operations of mining company Central Coalfields Limited (CCL) are posing an immediate threat to the survival of 1,000 indigenous people facing eviction from the village of Kusum Tola located in the North Karanpura region in the Indian State of Jharkhand. Heavy blasting in adjacent villages is already producing clouds of harmful dust and cracks in house foundations in Kusum Tola. The eviction is a gross violation of the villagers' human right to food. Meanwhile, the impact of the mining operations on regional watersheds will deprive them of access to water and is therefore a violation of their right to water. The mining operations negatively affect people's ability to maintain their livelihoods, with consequences including hunger and malnutrition.

This case requires your URGENT ACTION in writing to the Prime Minister of India, Mr. Manmohan Singh, to support the villagers in their resistance against CCL's mining plans, which are supported by the Indian Government.

Call to Action:
Please sign and mail, fax and/or email the attached, pre-addressed letter to the Prime Minister of India, Mr. Manmohan Singh, to support the villagers in their resistance against CCL's mining plans. Please send copies of your letter to Mrs. Pratibha Patil, President of India; Mr.Jairam Ramesh, Minister for Environment and Forests and Mr. Arjun Munda, Chief Minister of Jharkhand. Please do so by July 28, 2011. To read more and take action CLICK HERE>>>

 

Source: FIAN

 

 

*** India: Planned Forced Land Acquisitions and Repression of Dissent - On June 17, 2011, the International Network on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights sent a letter to the Chief Minister of Orissa and the national authorities of the Government of India to express concern regarding reported plans by police forces to forcibly enter Govindpur village (Erasama block, Jagatsinghpur District) in order to acquire lands for the development of a proposed integrated steel plant and captive power station, which will affect over 22,000 people who depend on these lands, forests and natural resources for their livelihoods. Villagers have expressed repeated concerns that the steel plant and power station will destroy rice paddies, fish-ponds, betel-vine cultivation and cause water-logging on agricultural lands. The project will also reportedly utilise excessive amounts of water and will likely create water scarcity for the purposes of domestic use and irrigation.

These impacts will affect thousands of villagers living in the project area, over one-third of whom are tribal groups and other disadvantaged castes, as well as poor farmers and fisherfolk. Despite the expressed opposition of local residents, twenty police platoons are presently reported to bestationed in the area and the authorities of the state of Orissa have announced renewed plans to enter Govindpur village. Members of the police forces have allegedly undertaken to destroy betel vines, a local crop, and affected villagers and human rights defenders have expressed serious concerns that they will be subject to acts of violence and real threats to their lives and livelihoods if the authorities proceed to enter the community. To read more and take action CLICK HERE>>>

 

Source: ESCR-Net

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS

 

*** FIAN Seeks Communications Trainee - FIAN, the international human rights organisation for the right to food, seeks a Trainee in the area of Communications. The Traineeship will start September 2011, for the duration of one (1) year, at the International Secretariat in Heidelberg, Germany.

Further information:
http://www.fian.org/get-involved/job/trainee-communications

 

Source: FIAN

 

 

*** New Website and Resources from the Danish Institute for Human Rights - The Danish Institute for Human Rights (DIHR) now launches a new annual report and a new website in Danish and English – with more focus on the Institute’s work and importance and with more targeted advice and information to stakeholders including a new annual report for 2010 in a magazine format and a brand new website in Danish and English with easy access to knowledge and guidance on human rights and equality. These are just some of the highlights when DIHR now publishes its new websites www.menneskeret.dk and www.humanrights.dk. You can also download DIHR’s new Annual Report 2010 here (20 MB, PDF). The Report is currently only available in Danish.

 

Source: DIHR

 

 

EVENTS

 

*** 2nd International Conference on Human Rights Education - 14 November 2011, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban,South Africa - Recognising that HRE is essential to the full realisation of human rights and fundamental freedoms and contributes significantly to promoting equality, respect for human dignity, preventing discrimination and enhancing participation in democratic processes, the objectives of the conference are:

  • To support and promote the UN objectives in HRE
  • To promote the role of HRE in the advancement of good governance
  • Foster HRE across the African continent and to build networks amongst stakeholders
  • Explore the role of HRE in advancement of the rights of vulnerable groups
  • Interrogate the role of HRE in promoting cultural diversity and accommodating traditional value systems

Deadline for abstracts/proposals: 15 July 2011. For more information click here

 

Source: Equalinrights

 

 

*** Life Writing and Human Rights: Genres of Testimony - 11-13 July 2011, Kingston University, Kingston-upon-Thames, London. The stories we tell about our lives and the lives of those around us leave footprints across history. That history can be of personal, familial or of widespread political and public importance. Whether public or private, the telling of and the listening to life narratives is a concern of increasing importance across a range of disciplines, professions and practices. Since the end of the First World War, politics has been increasingly expressed as and measured against norms categorised as human rights. The individual in relation to the state and states in their interactions with one another are, in theory and sometimes also in practice, governed by the legal architecture of human rights frameworks at national, regional and global levels. These same processes may come into play in cases of domestic or private human rights abuses, where the victim must make public their suffering in order for it to be recognised, and for justice to be done.

For more information, visit the Kingston University London (CLN)

 

 

*** OHCHR Meetings and Events

Expert mechanism on the rights of indigenous peoples / 4th session
From : 11-07-2011 To : 15-07-2011
PN XX

Human Rights Committee / 102nd session
From : 11-07-2011 To : 29-07-2011
PW Grd Floor

Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) / 49th session
From : 11-07-2011 To : 29-07-2011
New York

CEDAW Pre sessional WG
From : 01-08-2011 To : 05-08-2011
New York

Advisory Committee of the Human Rights Council / 7th session
From : 08-08-2011 To : 12-08-2011
PN XX

Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) / 79th session
From : 08-08-2011 To : 02-09-2011
PW Grd Floor

Human Rights Council – Organisational meeting / 18th session
From : 26-08-2011 To : 26-08-2011
PN XX

WG on Arbitrary Detention / 61st session
From : 29-08-2011 To : 02-09-2011
PN XI

WG on communications / 61st session
From : 29-08-2011 To : 02-09-2011
PW 1st Floor

BoT, UN Voluntary Trust Fund on Contemporary Forms of Slavery / 16th session
From : 12-09-2011 To : 16-09-2011
PN XI

Committee on the Protection of the Rights of Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families (CMW) / 15th session
From : 12-09-2011 To : 23-09-2011
PW 1st Floor

Human Rights Council / 18th session
From : 12-09-2011 To : 30-09-2011
PN XX

Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) / 6th session
From : 19-09-2011 To : 23-09-2011
PN VII/NY

Committee on the Rights of Child (CRC) / 58th session
From : 19-09-2011 To : 07-10-2011
PW Grd floor

CEDAW - WG Communications / 21st session
From : 28-09-2011 To : 30-09-2011
PN XVI

Social Forum / 4th session
From : 03-10-2011 To : 05-10-2011
PN XII

Universal Periodic Review / 12th session
From : 03-10-2011 To : 14-10-2011
PN XX

Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) / 50th session
From : 03-10-2011 To : 21-10-2011
PN XVI

 

 

PUBLICATIONS

 

*** New Report: State of the World’s Mothers - In commemoration of Mother’s Day, Save the Children published “Champions for Children: State of the World’s Mothers 2011.” This year’s publication contains contributions from leading authors from academia, politics, religion, business and the arts on why the United States, as a nation, must continue to invest in lifesaving maternal and child health programs.

Besides from a specific focus on the United States, the publication also presents the 2011 Mothers’ Index, which compares the well-being of mothers and children in 164 countries. The top 10 countries within the index score well on all indicators related to mothers’ and children’s health, and educational and economic status, with countries such as Norway, Australia and Iceland being at the top. On the contrary, the 10 bottom-ranked countries perform very poorly on most indicators. The report notes that in these countries on average, “one woman in thirty will die from pregnancy-related causes. One child in six dies before his or her fifth birthday, and one child in three suffers from malnutrition. Nearly 50 percent of the population lacks access to safe water and only four girls for every five boys are enrolled in primary school.” The majority of these countries, eight out of ten, are situated in sub-Saharan Africa.

To download the report, click here.

 

Source: NGLS / Save the Children

 

 

*** Gender Equality in the Health Sector - Human Rights and Gender Equality in the Health Sector is a new (May 2011) report jointly published by UN Human Rights and the World Health Organisation. To read more and access a free copy CLICK HERE>>>

 

Source: OHCHR




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


 
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