Drawing on more than a year of information gathering, this position paper presents a snapshot of the repression and criminalization of peaceful environmental protest and civil disobedience observed by the Special Rapporteur in European countries that are Parties to the Aarhus Convention. It explains why the Special Rapporteur considers this repression and criminalization to constitute a major threat to democracy, human rights, the civic space, and to the exercise of the rights guaranteed under the Aarhus Convention, and therefore why he has made this issue a priority topic under his mandate. It sets out why the Special Rapporteur considers a profound change in how States respond to environmental protest to be urgently required and features five calls for action to States on how to do so. It also urges the human rights community to coordinate their efforts to support this call for action.
Published by United Nations (UN)
The Special Rapporteur recommends that:
- New initiatives be developed in order to bridge the worlds of corporate and government finance, housing, planning and human rights;
- Strategies be developed to achieve target 11.1 of the Sustainable Development Goals and the New Urban Agenda include a full range of taxation, regulatory and planning measures;
- Trade and investment treaties recognize the paramountcy of human rights, including the right to housing;
- Business and human rights guidelines, on a priority basis, be developed specifically for financial actors operating in the housing system;
- States review all laws and policies related to foreclosure, indebtedness and housing, to ensure consistency with the right to adequate housing;
- States ensure that courts, tribunals and human rights institutions recognize and apply the paramountcy of human rights; and
- International, regional and national human rights bodies devote more attention to the issue of financialization, and clarify it for States.
After five months of military operations, Israel has destroyed Gaza. Over 30,000 Palestinians have been killed, including more than 13,000 children. Over 12,000 are presumed dead and 71,000 injured, many with life-changing mutilations. Seventy percent of residential areas have been destroyed. Eighty percent of the whole population has been forcibly displaced. Thousands of families have lost loved ones or have been wiped out. Many could not bury and mourn their relatives, forced instead to leave their bodies decomposing in homes, in the street or under the rubble. Thousands have been detained and systematically subjected to inhuman and degrading treatment. The incalculable collective trauma will be experienced for generations to come.
By analysing the patterns of violence and Israel’s policies in its onslaught on Gaza, this report concludes that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the threshold indicating Israel’s commission of genocide is met. One of the key findings is that Israel’s executive and military leadership and soldiers have intentionally distorted jus in bello principles, subverting their protective functions, in an attempt to legitimize genocidal violence against the Palestinian people.
Press Officers of the Meetings Coverage Section in the Department of Global Communications capture in writing the deliberations of United Nations meetings as they happen. Within two to three hours of adjournment of a meeting, a press release in both English and French is posted on the Section’s website, giving a blow-by-blow account as well as an overview.
Coming from political science, international affairs and journalism backgrounds, Press Officers also have to have good ears and fast fingers, often “taking it from the floor” – writing a synopsis at the same time while listening to a speaker deliver a statement. That summary must accurately render in concise, clear words, the gist of what is being said.
Many times, Press Officers will have a written copy of a delegation’s intervention and must quickly encapsulate eight or nine pages into one to three paragraphs. The capacity for synthesizing or "l'esprit de synthèse" guides the Section and its Press Officers.
Carefully reviewed by Editors and Editorial Assistants who check the accuracy, terminology and writing quality of draft copies, these press releases are jargon-free, easily understood synopsises for the public, press, Governments and civil society to keep informed of international issues being discussed in the Security Council, General Assembly, Economic and Social Council, as well as other United Nations bodies.