Builds upon two earlier reports on extreme poverty as well as a mission report on extreme poverty conditions in the United States and takes into account observations of the Expert Seminar on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights in Geneva in 2007.

Builds upon two earlier reports on extreme poverty as well as a mission report on extreme poverty conditions in the United States and takes into account observations of the Expert Seminar on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights in Geneva in 2007.

The present 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.

This book explores destitution from the perspective of international human rights law and, more specifically, economic, social, and cultural rights. The experience of destitution correlates to the non-realisation of a range of economic, social, and cultural rights. However, destitution has not been defined from this perspective. Consequently, the nexus between destitution and the denial of economic, social, and cultural rights remains unrecognised within academia and policy and practice. This book expressly addresses this issue and in so doing renders the nexus between destitution and the non-realisation of these rights visible. The book proposes a new human rights-based definition of destitution, composed of two parts. The rights which must be realised (the component rights) and the level of realisation of these rights which must be met (the destitution threshold) to avoid destitution. This human rights-based understanding of destitution is then applied to a UK case study to highlight the relationship between government policy and destitution, to illustrate how destitution manifests itself, and to make recommendations – founded upon engendering the realisation of economic, social, and cultural rights – aimed towards addressing destitution. This book will have global and cross-sectoral appeal to anti-poverty advocates, policy makers, as well as to researchers, academics and students in the fields of human rights law, poverty studies, and social policy.

This book focuses on descriptions of the developments in legal frameworks and policies regarding the human rights of older persons. First, it covers the policies adopted and practices developed at the universal system, particularly within the sphere of the United Nations. Second, it includes a side-by-side comparison of the work of regional human rights mechanisms, which have picked up some momentum in the past decade. Through its inclusion of law, policy, and current processes, the widest net possible has been cast to collect a descriptive resource for advocates. Overall, we hope that this book contributes to a better understanding of the current limitations and possibilities that international institutions offer to uphold the human rights of older persons. We expect that this information will allow states and other policy makers to move forward with the international recognition of the human rights of older persons. We know this is only a first effort in compiling and reporting the standards that are being produced by different international institutions. But we have no doubt that many others will follow with their expert analysis of these emerging standards, and that the ongoing discussion will finally crystalize in international human rights binding instruments explicitly recognizing the universal rights of older persons.

This book examines the creation and formative years of the United Nations Human Rights Council which was created in 2006 to replace the UN Commission on Human Rights. The book assesses the extent to which the Council has fulfilled its mandate. International law and theories of international relations relating to international organizations are used to examine the Council and its functions. Council sessions, procedures and mechanisms are analysed in depth and particular consideration is given to whether the Council has become politicised to the same extent as the Commission.