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 is devoted to the 25th anniversary of the United Nations Declaration on the Right to Development. It contains a collection of analytical studies of various aspects of the right to development, which include the rule of law and good governance, aid, trade, debt, technology transfer, intellectual property, access to medicines and climate change in the context of an enabling environment at the local, regional and international levels. It also explores the issues of poverty, women and indigenous peoples within the theme of social justice and equity. The book considers the strides that have been made over the years in measuring progress in implementing the right to development and possible ways forward to make the right to development a reality for all in an increasingly fragile, interdependent and ever-changing world.

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 Universal Declaration of Human Rights recognizes that social and economic welfare is essential for human dignity, freedom to develop as a person, and ultimately “social security” in the broad sense of social justice. This study examines the text, context, and origins of article 22 which establish an entitlement to the economic, social and cultural (ESC) rights indispensable for wellbeing. By using legal rights to define socially just conduct that secures human dignity, article 22 reorients philosophical approaches to the conception and processes of social justice. The individual, the community and the State are collaboratively engaged in the realization of ESC rights, through national effort and international cooperation. ESC rights must be implemented as a whole, not selectively; this approach serves a functional purpose as well since, in operation, the rights are largely interdependent. The study analyzes the current tendency to fragment the pursuit of ESC rights into selective and uncoordinated initiatives, and proposes adjustments to the theory and practice governing the responsibility and conduct of States, international organizations, the business sector, and other private actors. The legal principles rooted in article 22 create a vital connection between human rights and development that reshapes development cooperation, in relations between States and in multilateral efforts like the Millennium Development Goals and policies of international financial institutions. Development success needs to be redefined to include reducing inequality and assisting the most vulnerable and marginalized. Development processes should integrate methods that ensure participation, transparency and accountability. Even so, democratic processes are no guarantee that ESC rights will be taken seriously, nor do they necessarily lead to full elimination of economic and social inequality. Judicial enforcement and solidarity among private actors, and attention to the synergies that realization of one ESC right provides another are equally important to making the entitlement a reality for all. The approach to human rights in article 22 acts as a compass in the pursuit of social justice. Its course to realizing ESC rights reaches beyond mere assets and material comforts, and surpasses quantitative assessments of equality and non-discrimination, critical as these may be. Rather, progress toward social justice through ESC rights is measured by assessing whether the opportunities, resources and freedoms provided to people are sufficient for their full and free development as human beings, individually and as members of society. Article 22 affirms the vision of a just society in which dignity and personal development are secured with ESC rights that offer the chance for well-being to everyone. This book is the third volume in The Universal Declaration of Human Rights Series. The Series will consist of approximately 20 volumes, each dealing with a substantive right (or group of rights) set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). Each volume is authored by an expert in human rights generally and in the particular subject addressed. Without losing sight of the political context in which the implementation of human rights must occur, each book provides a comprehensive, legally-oriented analysis of the rights concerned, including an examination of the legislative history of the text of each right as adopted in 1948, the right's subsequent articulation and interpretation by international bodies and in subsequent international instruments, and a surv...

The Financial Crisis Inquiry Report, published by the U.S. Government and the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission in early 2011, is the official government report on the United States financial collapse and the review of major financial institutions that bankrupted and failed, or would have without help from the government. The commission and the report were implemented after Congress passed an act in 2009 to review and prevent fraudulent activity. The report details, among other things, the periods before, during, and after the crisis, what led up to it, and analyses of subprime mortgage lending, credit expansion and banking policies, the collapse of companies like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and the federal bailouts of Lehman and AIG. It also discusses the aftermath of the fallout and our current state. This report should be of interest to anyone concerned about the financial situation in the U.S. and around the world.THE FINANCIAL CRISIS INQUIRY COMMISSION is an independent, bi-partisan, government-appointed panel of 10 people that was created to "examine the causes, domestic and global, of the current financial and economic crisis in the United States." It was established as part of the Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act of 2009. The commission consisted of private citizens with expertise in economics and finance, banking, housing, market regulation, and consumer protection. They examined and reported on "the collapse of major financial institutions that failed or would have failed if not for exceptional assistance from the government."News Dissector DANNY SCHECHTER is a journalist, blogger and filmmaker. He has been reporting on economic crises since the 1980's when he was with ABC News. His film In Debt We Trust warned of the economic meltdown in 2006. He has since written three books on the subject including Plunder: Investigating Our Economic Calamity (Cosimo Books, 2008), and The Crime Of Our Time: Why Wall Street Is Not Too Big to Jail (Disinfo Books, 2011), a companion to his latest film Plunder The Crime Of Our Time. He can be reached online at www.newsdissector.com.