The Campaign News

Today, Oslo, Norway, has opened its doors to the first of two days of Every Human Has Rights related events on the important topic of Decent Work.

According to the International Labor Organization (ILO), "Decent work sums up the aspirations of people in their working lives – their aspirations for opportunity and income; rights, voice and recognition; family stability and personal development; and fairness and gender equality. Ultimately these various dimensions of decent work underpin peace in communities and society. Decent work reflects the concerns of governments, workers and employers."

Thursday, September 4th: The Norwegian State Secretary of Affairs opened Oslo's two days of Decent Work discussion with a conference addressing some of the human rights issues that must be reckoned with in order to effectively establish decent work as an global standard. In particular, Thursday's meeting focused on trafficking in human beings, and the forced labour and the gender dimensions of globalisation. Participants included representatives from the ILO, Save the Children, Realizing Rights, Norwegian Trade Unions, NHO Norway, Working Women Wordwide and more.

On Friday, September 5th, the Norwegian government will partner with the Financial Times to host The ‘Decent Work’ Conference: A Key to Social Justice and Fair Globalization.

Mr Juan Somavia, Director General, International Labour Organization will join Mr Pascal Lamy, Director General, World Trade Organization; The Elders’ Mary Robinson and Muhommad Yunus, and others, to address the complexities of a globalising labour market and to contribute to the international debate on how coherent support for the ILO’s Decent Work Agenda – with its four pillars of employment creation, workers’ rights, social dialogue and social protection – can help improve economic governance, and promote full employment and decent working conditions around the world.

• You can listen in, as Financial Times and Norwegien Government brings this discussion to you live via web-cast during the event. You can watch the morning sessions live (from 7:00 to 10:00 GMT/UTC) here: Part I; and the afternoon sessions live (12:15 to 16:00 GMT/UTC) here: Part II.

Look for a summary on the September 4th Decent Work event and the September 5th Oslo Decent Work Conference in the campaign news section of www.everyhumanhasrights.org.

Archived footage of the UN Event: 'The Human Right to Food and the Global Food Crisis: Root Causes and Responses'

On August 29th, some of the human rights world’s leading voices, working toward solutions to the global food crisis, gathered at the United Nations to discuss the root causes and responses to the global food crisis, and the human right to food

With recent increases in food prices pushing the number of people living without food security to as high as 1.7 billion people, the need for a human rights-based approach to understanding the root causes of (and solutions to) the food crisis has never been more pressing.

In his introductory remarks, Ngonlardje Mbaidjol of the OHCHR, who moderated the event, said: “The human rights dimension of the food crisis is the one that speaks with the voices of the poor and marginalized; and that empowers them to seek the fulfillment of their rights, and the right to food in particular, from states and other duty bearers.”

Mbaidjol said that of the many high profile efforts to address the food crisis over the last 6 months, very few that included the human rights perspective. His hope for the afternoon's discussion was to: “…openly and frankly examine if the right to food and the human rights based approach would lead us to a different analysis of the underlying root causes of the crisis, and then after, to devising more [efficacious] and just responses that allow human beings, from different parts of the world, to live a life of dignity and freedom from want – as the drafters of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights envisaged in 1948.”

Oliver De Schutter, the Special Rapporteur on the right to food, emphasized the need to turn away from ready-made solutions to food production increases, which pay insufficient attention to the social and environmental dimensions of the crisis. Instead, he pointed to efforts that would help the small scale & local farmers, who constitute the majority of those who are hungry. De Schutter suggested that by applying a human rights framework to policies shaping the global food chain, we would develop better targeted solutions, more sustainably addressing the needs of those who are now hungry and malnourished.

Heather Grady, of Realizing Rights, put the failure of emphasizing the human rights aspect of the food crisis into the context of the broader failure to embed human rights standards and principles into international development discourse and practice. Grady's comments echoed that of De Schutter's, stating that: "First, a human rights approach to food security starts with mapping the problem to identify who are most vulnerable, and targeting the solutions to them. And second, that this is not about the amount of food produced, but far more about the power of those who produce food, the purchasing power of the poor, and about access to food."

Karen Hansen-Kuhn, of Action Aid, agreed with speakers like Flavio Valente, of FIAN International, who said that the core of the problem has it's roots in the structural adjustment programs and aggressive trade liberalization driven by the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and World Trade Association, dating back decades. Hansen-Kuhn suggested that many of these policy choices have stripped smaller-scale farmers of the tools they need to defend their livelihoods, and feed their families and their nations.

The event also included Themba Masuku of FAO; Joia Mukharjee of Partners In Health; and Sanjay Reddy of Columbia University.

Each participant took time to share their perspective on the causes of the global food crisis, and the solutions they propose as part of a more effective and human rights-based approach to achieving food security for the more than 1 billion people currently living without.

You can watch the whole event by pressing play on the video player embedded in this news-post or by visiting the UN Video Archive website; and you can learn more about the right to food at campaign's 'The Right to Freedom from Hunger' theme page.

As ministers and agency heads from around the world, gather in Ghana for the High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness, Every Human Has Rights partner The Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP) held a press conference in Accra, announcing the beginning of their '50 Days of Action Against Poverty and Inequality'.

“There is a period of unique opportunity in the 50 days ahead when people can show they won’t accept the suffering of human poverty any longer. There are ways for every man, woman and child in the world to take action, however small and local, so that leaders fulfil the Millennium Development Goals, adhere to the Universal Declaration on Human Rights and stretch their efforts to narrow the staggering inequality that exists in our world today,” according to GCAP Co-Chair Adelaide Sosseh.

Millions of people in over 120 countries will mobilize against poverty and inequality over the next 50 days, culminating in the annual 'Stand Up' action from October 17-19, 2008. In 2007 43.7 million people Stood Up to create a new world record in one day.

Some of the notable dates around which the 50 Days of Action Against Poverty and Inequality are:

2-4 September Third High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness, Accra, Ghana
25 September UN High level conference on MDGs (alongside UN General Assembly)
7 October World Day for Decent Work
13-19 October Global Week of Action on Debt
11-13 October Annual Meetings of the World Bank and IMF
15 October Rural Women’s Day
16 October World Food Day
17 October International Day for the Eradication of Poverty
17-19 October Stand Up and Take Action against Poverty and Inequality
19 October Micah Sunday
All October Freedom From Poverty, Every Human Has Rights Campaign

GCAP is calling for actions ranging from concerts to seminars to football matches to rallies and also encourages participants to take action online by signing the Every Human Has Rights pledge.

GCAP is the world’s largest civil society alliance of social movements, International NGOs, trade unions, community groups, women’s organizations, faith and youth groups, local associations and campaigners; the alliance will take the lead on Every Human Has Rights' theme Freedom from Want / Freedom from Poverty throughout October.

Aerial art demanding world leaders take action on the global food crisis in July.

Throughout the year, global citizen's have called on world leaders to take action to address the global food crisis. Yet a multitude of high level meetings, from the Rome Conference on World Food Security to the UN General Assembly meeting and G-8 Summit this July, have failed to address the crisis from a human rights perspective. People around the world continue to bear the burden of rising food costs; while root causes of the crisis remain unaddressed.

This Friday, from 3-6pm New York Time (starting at 19:00 GMT), Every Human Has Rights partners ActionAid with Karen Hansen-Kuhn and Realizing Rights with Heather Grady, join the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food, Olivier De Schutter, and others to discuss a human rights approach to ending the food crisis. The event is titled 'The Human Right to Food and the Global Food Crisis: Root Causes and Responses'.

• You can listen in, as the Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights brings this discussion to you live via web-cast during the event, and as archived video on the UN web cast web page thereafter.

Panelists will address the global food crisis and its roots; the right to food and policy choices; accountability and remedies for violations to the right to food; progress and challenges ahead; and the role of international trade regimes and international human rights law.

In case you miss it, we will post a recap of the event on the 'Campaign News' section of everyhumanhasrights.org; but we hope you can join us live for this important discussion on the right to food.

Learn more about the right to food at our 'Right to Freedom from Hunger' Theme Page.

September is quickly approaching, and with it, the Every Human Has Rights campaign will turn its focus toward the theme 'Right to Decent Work', led by campaign partner Realizing Rights: The Ethical Globalization Initiative. Realizing Rights considers work on "fostering equitable trade and decent work" critical to greater human development and security.

Decent work opportunities are too often overlooked in national development policies and are still a distant dream for many in rich and poor countries alike. Focusing on the right to Decent Work is particularly important as we mark the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

What is 'Decent Work'? Here is an excerpt from the recently launched 'Right to Decent Work' theme page, provided by the team at Realizing Rights:

You can stay up to date on 'right to decent work' campaign events via the news section of this website throughout September (and beyond). As Heather Grady alluded to in her recent Dispatch from Liberia, it's going to be a busy month. Here is a teaser of what is to come:

• Decent Work Conference - organized by the Financial Times and the Norwegian Government, in cooperation with the Norwegian Trade Union Confederation and the Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise. The conference will bring together a wide range of stakeholders and featured speakers including Realizing Rights President Mary Robinson, ILO Director General Juan Somavia and WTO Director General Pascal Lamy. (5 September, Oslo, Norway, website).


• Working Out of Poverty: A Decent Work Approach to Development and Growth in Africa - co-convened by the Government of Liberia, Realizing Rights and the ILO, this event will encourage specific commitments on decent work from senior representatives of governments, donors, companies and civil society organizations (5-7 September, Monrovia Liberia, website).


• Decent Work and the MDGs - co-convened by the ILO and Realizing Rights during the week of the UN high level event on the MDGs, this meeting will explore how decent work can contribute to, and feature more prominently in efforts to achieve the UN Millennium Development Goals (22 September, New York, website).

Learn more on the Right to Decent Work theme page.