Human Rights

SC Open Consultation – LBI on B & HRs, 18 October 2023

Open Consultation on

The Process to negotiate a Legally Binding Instrument on Business and Human Rights

18 Oct 2023, 15:30-17:00 CEST

This open consultation is an opportunity for participants representing developing countries, civil society and academia to exchange views and discuss the ongoing process to negotiate an international instrument to regulate the human rights impacts of transnational corporations and other business enterprises.

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SouthViews No. 252, 21 September 2023

The Right to Development: Principles, Realization and Challenges

 By H.E. Mr. Ali Bahreini

The main theme of the 54th session of the Human Rights Council revolves around economic, social, and cultural rights, with a particular focus on the right to development. This article addresses the importance of the right to development, the Iranian perspective on it, and the impact of various challenges on its full and effective realization.

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SC Statement to HRC54 General Debate Item 3, 21 September 2023

Statement

General Debate – Item 3

54th regular session of the Human Rights Council

South Centre

21 September 2023

The South Centre appreciates the presentation of the thematic reports, and the reports of the Working Groups on the Right to Development and Private Military and Security Companies.

The South Centre will continue supporting developing countries for the achievement of these objectives and the provision of innovative solutions for tackling the unique challenges faced by developing and least developed countries.

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SC Statement – Interactive Dialogue with SR on RtD, 20 September 2023

Statement during the Interactive Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Development

54th regular session of the Human Rights Council

South Centre

20 September 2023

The South Centre, as an intergovernmental organization of developing countries, welcomes the report prepared by the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Development on his vision for reinvigorating the right to development.

We thank the Special Rapporteur once again for considering the research undertaken and inputs provided by the South Centre in his report, and would like to reiterate our strong support for his important work and mandate.

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SC Statement – Interactive Dialogue with the Expert Mechanism on RtD, 20 September 2023

Statement during the Interactive Dialogue with the Expert Mechanism on the Right to Development

54th regular session of the Human Rights Council

South Centre

20 September 2023

The South Centre, as an intergovernmental organization of developing countries, welcomes the annual report presented by the Expert Mechanism on the Right to Development.

We would like to express support to the Expert Mechanism on the Right to Development, highlighting that international cooperation and solidarity among States are indispensable means to achieve the objectives set out in the Declaration of the Right to Development.

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SC Contribution – Call for Inputs by UN SR on RtD, June 2023

Inputs – Special Rapporteur on the Right to Development

“Role of businesses in realising the right to development”

South Centre

June 2023

The Human Rights Council, in its resolution 33/14 of 29 September 2016, established the mandate of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to development. In 2023, the Special Rapporteur will present a report on “the role of business in realising the right to development in the context of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and other relevant international human rights instruments” to the United Nations General Assembly in October 2023.

With the objective of collecting information regarding the role of businesses in realising the right to development, Prof Surya Deva, Special Rapporteur on the Right to Development, made an open call for inputs from various stakeholders such as States, international organisations, national human rights institutions, civil society organisations, and others.

In line with its programme of work, the South Centre is keen to submit the following information to the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Development considering the need to achieve progress on the fulfilment of social rights, in particular the Right to Development (RtD) and its interface with issues such as climate change, corporate responsibility, food security and small farmers’ livelihood.

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Policy Brief 119, 23 June 2023

Strengthening efforts towards fulfilling the human right to food and the right to clean, safe and healthy environment

By Danish and Daniel Uribe

In the face of the unprecedented global crises that the world is currently facing, upholding and fulfilling the human right to food and a clean, safe and healthy environment have become critically important. The Human Rights Council (HRC) adopted two important resolutions on these issues in its 52nd Session, held from 27 February to 04 April 2023. The present policy brief discusses the implications and scope of these resolutions to strengthen and advance fundamental human rights, building resilience and promoting the role of multilateralism as a tool to face the triple planetary crises and recover better from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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SC Contribution – Call for Inputs by UN SR on HRs & Environment, 14 June 2023

Response to the Call for Inputs by the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and the environment

Should the interests of foreign investors trump the human right to a clean,
healthy and sustainable environment
?”

South Centre

14 June 2023

To realize the right to clean, healthy & sustainable environment and reduce ISDS risks, States need to align their FDI policies with human rights, climate action and SDGs, including via reform of the international investment regime.

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SC Submission to the Global Digital Compact, April 2023

Submission to the Global Digital Compact

Apply Human Rights Online

 South Centre

 Geneva, April 2023

The South Centre’s Board approved in September 2022 its Programme of Work 2023-2025 where the policy dimensions of digital transformation are highlighted as one of the priority areas for developing countries, including the need to harness digital technologies in education, health and the production of goods and services, support the development of a domestic digital industry, improve their digital infrastructure, advance digital equity and inclusion, effectively tax the digital companies and contribute to shaping the digital governance architecture to advance the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Following the call made in the Declaration on the Commemoration of the Seventy-Fifth Anniversary of the United Nations (A/RES/75/1) for improved digital cooperation, the United Nations (UN) Secretary General’s Roadmap for Digital Cooperation and his report ‘Our Common Future’, the South Centre submits the following written contribution to the UN Secretary General ahead to the Summit of the Future with the objective of providing support to developing countries in the intergovernmental process concerning the digital transformation.

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Research Paper 176, 29 March 2023

Where Does Global Health Funding Come From and Where Does It Go? 

By Germán Velásquez

In theory, the World Health Organization (WHO) is the coordinating agency for global health. Influential private and public actors have claimed the relevance and central role of this United Nations (UN) agency. In practice, paradoxically, the money budgeted for health goes largely to other institutions and not to the WHO. New institutions and mechanisms have been created to which funds are channeled (GAVI, The Global Fund, Act-A, CEPI, COVAX, etc.). These institutions or mechanisms are, in most cases, public-private partnerships where the pharmaceutical industry is usually present. Official Development Assistance is important but represents only 1 per cent of what developing countries’ expenditure on health. How much is spent to promote global health and where this money goes is the subject of this paper. After the experience with COVID-19, a fundamental question that must be addressed is how the global public interest can be preserved by creating common public goods and protecting human rights in the prevention, preparedness, and response to present and future pandemics.

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Documento de Investigación 176, 29 de marzo de 2023

De dónde viene y a dónde va el financiamiento para la salud mundial  

Por Germán Velásquez

En teoría la OMS es la agencia coordinadora de la salud mundial, y los grandes actores, privados y públicos, revindican la relevancia y el rol central de esta agencia de Naciones Unidas. En la práctica, paradójicamente, los dineros para la salud van en gran parte a otras instituciones y no a la OMS o incluso se crean nuevas instituciones o mecanismos donde se canalizan los nuevos fondos (GAVI, Fondo Mundial, Act-A, CEPI, COVAX etc.) Estas instituciones o mecanismos son, en la mayoría de los casos,  partenariados público-privados donde está presente la industria farmacéutica. La Ayuda Oficial para el Desarrollo es importante pero sólo representa el 1% de lo que invierten los países en desarrollo en salud. En qué se gasta para promover la salud global y a dónde va este dinero es el objeto de este documento. Una de las preguntas que debemos hacernos tras la experiencia con COVID-19 es cómo vamos a preservar el interés público global mediante la creación de bienes públicos comunes y la protección de los derechos humanos en las actividades de prevención, preparación y respuesta a las pandemias presentes y futuras.

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South Centre Annual Report 2022

South Centre Annual Report 2022

Read the South Centre Annual Report 2022 for an analysis of the situation faced by our members & other developing countries & for a summary of the Centre’s activities in 2022.

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