global info
Towards Habitat III: do not disturb the operator?
The Global Platform for the Right to the City, made up of the most important international networks engaged on this topic, sent a letter on 26/05/15 proposing that the civil society collaborates to assist in the preparations for the United Nations Summit Habitat III (Quito, October 2016).Unfortunately, no response has been received to date, adding another fence to the ones that UN Habitat has already put up. This comes as no surprise, the proposal is based on human rights, an approach which would unsettle the UN Habitat as it is deeply rooted in neoliberal principles.Instead of waiting for someone to finally decide to respond, it would be better to resolutely focus on building the Alternative World Urban Social Forum at Habitat III.
Police Violence Against Homeless, Poor Persons, Housing & Homelessness Addressed At Global Review of U.S. Human Rights Record
Photo Credit: US Human Rights Network
On Monday, May 11, the U.N. Human Rights Council reviewed the U.S. for compliance with its human rights obligations as part of the U.S.’s second Universal Periodic Review raising concerns about the criminalization of homelessness and poverty as well as the lack of adequate housing in the U.S.
10 key trends in record year for internal displacement
Carrying whatever possessions they can, women arrive in a steady trickle at a camp for Internally Displaced People (IDPs) established next to a base of the African Union Mission for Somalia (AMISOM) near Jowhar. © Tobin Jones/UN Photo
OXFORD, 6 May 2015 (IRIN) - Those trying to escape conflict and violence often only make headlines when they cross an international border and become refugees, but the majority of people forced to flee their homes seek refuge within the borders of their own country. They are “internally displaced persons,” or IDPs. By the end of 2014 there were 38 million of them, more than twice the number of refugees.
Evicted and abandoned: how the World Bank Broke Its Promise to Protect the Poor
An estimated 3.4 million people have been physically or economically displaced in the past decade by projects funded by the World Bank. The bank has regularly failed to protect the poor and vulnerable people it claims to serve, a new 11-month ICIJ investigation
has revealed.
Home sweet home: housing practices and tools that support durable solutions for urban IDPs
Home sweet home: housing practices and tools that support durable solutions for urban IDPs
Despite a longstanding recognition of the need to improve the response of actors addressing urban displacement, there is a lack of guidance on how to do this and a limited knowledge of practices that have successfully addressed the housing, tenure security and livelihood needs of urban IDPs.
United Nations, The legal responsibility of local authorities to respect the right to housing
The United Nations Special Rapporteur on adequate housing Leilani Farha
We are publishing the Report of the United Nations Special Rapporteur for the Right to Housing, presented during the 28th sessión of the United Nations Human Rights Council (Geneva , 2-27th March 2015). It is a very important document in that it clarifies that the ratification by States signatory to the International Covenant for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, establishes the legal obligation by local authorities to protect this right through effective actions and policies.It is to be read closely and used during local conflicts, notably in the fight against evictions, wherein local authorities ofteh play a primary role.This means that there are no excuses for the disengagement of certain local authorities. On the contrary, it has to be clear to the whole world that they also have legal obligations to act to defend the right to housing.
2015, the inhabitants together, in solidarity, for dignity, without borders!
For the homeless, those living in poor housing, and those who have been evicted, to fight and win, thanks to the struggles, solidarity, resistance and alternatives, to the neoliberalism lashes ...Our best wishes for gaining your support!
Encuentro en el Vaticano: Papa convoca a movimientos sociales de todo el mundo a combatir las causas estructurales de la pobreza
El Papa Francisco se reunió en la mañana de este martes 28 de octubre en el Salón del Sínodo con los participantes del Encuentro Mundial de los Movimientos Populares (del 27 al 29 de octubre), organizado por el Pontificio Consejo Justicia y Paz en colaboración con la Pontificia Academia de las Ciencias Sociales y con los líderes de varios movimientos.
Why the World Needs to Get Ready for the Next Generation of Slums
People who live in slums don't have easy lives to begin with. Lately, though, politicians have been doing their best to make matters even more complicated. A few weeks ago the Venezuelan government started evicting
Caracas's infamous 45-story slum, the "Tower of David," relocating residents to government housing outside the city. In early July, a few weeks earlier, a thousand slum dwellers in Islamabad found themselves confronting riot police as they tried to protest the Pakistani government's plans to evict them from their homes ("katchi adabi
" settlements). Around the same time, a local government in India approved plans
to build the first of 10,000 new "transit accommodations" for displaced slum dwellers. That followed Bombay's brutal anti-slum
drive in May, when authorities bulldozed more than 100 family homes, forcing over 600 residents onto the streets.
Disconnecting water from people who cannot pay - an affront to human rights, say UN experts
Three UN experts on the human rights to water and sanitation, adequate housing, and extreme poverty and human rights expressed concern Wednesday about reports of widespread water disconnections in the US city of Detroit of households unable to pay water bills.