News (53)
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UN Report on Israeli Colonies Speaks Truth |
By :Robert Fisk |
14 November 2019 |
He’s a very tall man with bright eyes and a broad smile, and he holds out a great paw when he greets you. But Michael Lynk is no gentle giant.
He may teach human rights law at the Western University in London, Ontario, but as the UN’s special rapporteur on human More...
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Report to UNCERD on Israeli Apartheid |
By :Middle East Monitor |
14 November 2019 |
Eight Palestinian, regional and international NGOs have submitted a substantial report to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), ahead of the committee’s upcoming review of Israel’s next month.
According to a statement published this week, the NGOs in question were Al-Mezan Centre for Human Rights, Al-Haq, More...
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PHROC Rebukes Donor States over UNRWA Cuts |
By :Palestinian Human Rights Organizations Council (PHROC) |
04 August 2019 |
Palestinian Refugees must not suffer the consequences of alleged misconduct. Palestinian Human Rights Organizations Council (PHROC) criticizes funding cuts to UNRWA over ethics evaluation.
PHROC: Support UNRWA and Ensure Refugee Rights under International Law
A ten-page report was issued by the ethics office of United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) More...
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USA: Seattle, Insurgent Sanctuary |
By :Samantha Michaels, Mother Jones |
15 April 2019 |
Seattle’s Mayor Had the Perfect Response to Trump’s Threat to Send Immigrants to Sanctuary Cities: “The president’s threats won’t intimidate me.”
On Friday, President Donald Trump said his administration was seriously considering sending undocumented immigrants caught along the border to sanctuary cities around the country as a way to punish Democrats More...
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India: Refugees Get Land Titles |
By :Rina Chandran,Thomson Reuters Foundation |
29 January 2019 |
Refugees in India`s West Bengal get land titles amid citizenship row.
India is not a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention, which spells out refugee rights and state responsibilities to protect them.
BANGKOK—Authorities in India`s West Bengal state have given land titles to about 30,000 refugees who have lived in settlement More...
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We`re Celebrating 70th Human Rights Day |
By :HLRN |
10 December 2018 |
Declaration on Human Rights Day and the Right to the City
We, social movements, civil society and local governments’ organizations are committed to social justice through the promotion, defense and fulfillment of all human rights related to habitat, including the Human Right to Adequate Housing, Land and the Right to the More...
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UN Peasants’ Rights Declaration Adopted in GA |
By :HLRN |
20 November 2018 |
NEW YORK—The UN General Assembly’s Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) passed a draft that would have the Assembly adopt the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas. This vote assures that the Declaration will enter the next edition of Human Rights: More...
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Lebanon: Evicting Syrian Refugees |
By :Nora Stel and Anke van der Meijden, Lebanese Center for Policy Studies |
24 October 2018 |
This article is based on a forthcoming policy paper examining the causes, characteristics, and consequences of the eviction of Syrian migrants and refugees from Riyak, Lebanon in 2017, in light of recent developments encouraging Syrian refugees to return to their home country.
Lebanon’s Eviction of Syrian Refugees and the Threat of More...
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Germany: Refugee Housing Crisis & Black Market |
By :Morgan Meaker, Place |
22 October 2018 |
Germany`s housing crisis fuels black market for refugees. Activists are concerned that a shortage of housing in Germany is hindering refugee integration
MUNICH--Firas swapped civil war in Syria for a chaotic refugee camp in Germany. Now he wants a home.
Since January 2016, the 28-year-old graduate has lived in three different refugee More...
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HICtionary Newly Updated |
By :HIC-HLRN |
06 May 2018 |
HIC-HLRN has just updated the HICtionary: Key Habitat Terms from A to Z. This reference work is the result of deliberation and debate across multiple specializations, regions and cultures within the membership of Habitat International Coalition (HIC). The purpose of that debate—and this reference work—have been to consolidate and harmonize More...
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India: Land Rights for 1947 Partition Displaced |
By :Rina Chandran, place |
27 April 2018 |
The Indian State of Maharashtra grants land ownership rights to refugees who fled Pakistan 70 years ago. Refugees in Maharashtra were housed in about 30 government-owned "camps" or colonies across the state, with limited rights to sell or redevelop their homes
BANGKOK - Refugees in India`s western state of Maharashtra More...
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Right to the City in Greater Beirut |
By :HIC-HLRN and Amel Association |
14 April 2018 |
HLRN has just released its new publication Right to the City in Greater Beirut: Context Assessment in Light of the Refugee and Displacement Crisis. This assessment offers critical insight into municipal governance in Greater Beirut, a city largely formed and characterized by human migration through its history, while more recently More...
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Myanmar: Rohingyas’ 13 Demands for Return |
By :The Star (Petaling Jaya)/AP |
13 April 2018 |
Rohingya give Myanmar official list of demands for repatriation
DHAKA—A Myanmar Cabinet minister visited a sprawling refugee camp in Bangladesh for Rohingya Muslims, who described the violence that forced them to flee Myanmar and presented a list of demands for their repatriation.
Social Welfare Minister Win Myat Aye on Wednesday met More...
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DR Congo: Terror in Ituri |
By :Thijs Van Laer, Congo Research Group |
05 March 2018 |
Over sixty people killed, thousands of houses burned down and more than 100,000 displaced people, including 42,000 refugees in neighbouring Uganda. Those are the consequences so far of the violence in the northeastern Ituri province of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) since December 2017.
The violence marks a counterpoint to More...
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1st Arab Conference on Land Governance |
By :HIC-HLRN |
28 February 2018 |
Dubai Land Department announces the conclusion of the first Arab land governance conference
The conference, organized in partnership with the World Bank, the Global Land Tool Network, UN-HABITAT, the League of Arab States and the Arab Surveying Association, was attended by more than 300 participants, representing several regional and international bodies.
Dubai More...
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Belgium Supports UNRWA as USA Defunds |
By :Haaretz |
17 January 2018 |
Belgium has stepped in to help out the UN Agency assisting Palestinian refugees with an immediate disbursement of $23 million Wednesday a day after the Trump administration suspended $65 million in aid for the international organization.
Belgian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said Wednesday that "for a lot of More...
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Somalia: > 5K IDP Homes Evicted, Destroyed |
By :Xinhua and Somalia NGO Consortium |
11 January 2018 |
3,000 School Children Affected by Forced Evictions in Mogadishu
Somalia NGO Consortium Statement below
MOGADISHU—The UN Children`s Fund (UNICEF) and Save the Children said on Thursday that recent unannounced forced evictions of families and destruction of several informal settlements on the outskirts of Somali capital Mogadishu have impacted over 3,000 school More...
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Learning Journey on Agroecology in Lebanon |
By :HIC-HLRN |
28 November 2017 |
HIC-HLRN was invited to participate to the Learning Journey on Local Solidarity Partnerships for Agroecology in Lebanon from 22 to 25 November 2017, organized by Urgenci, the international network for community supported agriculture with the support of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
The Learning Journey More...
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Myanmar: At Least 800K Rohingya Flee |
By :Reuters |
17 November 2017 |
The following article series follows the Rohingya flight as it has grown since August 2017. According to UN OCHA, As of 4 October 2017, Bangladesh hosts more than 800,000 Rohingya refugees, and this number continues to increase daily. Before this crisis began, the country was already hosting a verified population More...
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Italy: Rome Police Evict, Beat Refugees |
By :Human Rights Watch |
25 August 2017 |
ROME—Police used violence and water cannons to evict a group of squatters, predominantly refugees, in Rome on August 24, 2017, Human Rights Watch said today. The Italian authorities should conduct a serious and transparent investigation into the use of force by police. Hundreds of people who had been living in More...
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UN Reports on Rakhine Living Conditions |
By :HIC-HLRN |
23 August 2017 |
After one year of consultations held across Rakhine State (Myanmar) and in other parts of the country and the region, the UN’s Advisory Commission on Rakhine State submitted its final report to national authorities on 23 August.
The Commission, chaired by Kofi Annan, has put forward recommendations to surmount the More...
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England: Race, Class and Grenfell Tower Fire |
By :Skylar Baker-Jordan, HuffPost |
15 June 2017 |
The flames hadn’t even been extinguished from Grenfell Tower before people started screaming that no one should “politicise” this tragedy. As I type this, though, at least 12 people are dead, and authorities expect that number to drastically climb. Most of those who perished, or who lost everything in the More...
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Land Haunts Germany`s Namibia Genocides |
By :Joe Brock, Reuters |
02 March 2017 |
Land haunts Germany`s effort to atone for Africa genocide
OKAHANDJA, Namibia—Namibia’s Herero people are heartened that Germany is keen to atone for the genocide of their ancestors, but they expect something Berlin says it is not in a position to give.
“What we want is our land,” said 74-year-old Alex Kaubtauuapela, whose More...
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Why Pope Francis Keeps Reaching out to Mayors |
By :Simone d`Antonio, Citiscope |
27 January 2017 |
VATICAN CITY—When the Pope calls you to Rome, you go.
Dozens of mayors from around the world heeded the call in 2015, when Pope Francis invited them to the Vatican to discuss actions their cities could take against climate change and human trafficking. And it happened again last month, when Francis More...
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“Sanctuary Cities” Defy Trump Threats |
By :Spencer Buell, Boston Daily |
25 January 2017 |
Boston, Somerville mayors defiant after trump’s sanctuary city orders. Marty Walsh and Joe Curtatone say they won’t back down amid threats of federal funding cuts.
Boston Mayor Marty Walsh and Somerville Mayor Joe Curatone took a stand against Donald Trump Wednesday after the president announced a blockbuster executive order to target so-called More...
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Trump Can’t Force Cities to Deport |
By :Erwin Chemerinsky, Annie Lai and Seth Davis, The Washington Post |
22 January 2017 |
Cities and public universities are exercising their constitutional authority when they declare themselves “sanctuaries” in response to Donald Trump’s vow to deport 2 million to 3 million immigrants upon taking office next month. Trump has threatened to force state and local governments to implement his deportation policies, including by taking More...
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Myanmar: AI Reports “crimes against humanity” |
By :HIC-HLRN |
19 December 2016 |
A new report by Amnesty International (AI) documents a campaign of violence by the Myanmar security forces against Rohingya since 9 October 2016. Soldiers and police have randomly fired on and killed civilians, raped women and girls, torched whole villages and arbitrarily arrested Rohingya men without any information about their More...
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Sanctuary Cities Steadfast Despite Trump Threats |
By :teleSUR |
11 November 2016 |
“We have to see what happens, but we’re not going to change our DNA because of politics,”
—San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee.
“Undocumented and unafraid!”
These were the defiant chants of protesters outside of San Francisco`s Department of Homeland Security – Immigration and Customs Enforcement (DHS-ICE) office.
“(But) there is fear. More...
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Refugees Fear Separation after Eviction |
By :Shafik Mandhai, Aljazeera |
26 October 2016 |
Refugees set Calais camp on fire in protest against its dismantling and their eviction by the French government.
Syrian refugees in France`s `jungle` refugee camp have said they fear long-term separation from their family members who have reached the UK as authorities continue to dismantle the settlement.
About 40 Syrians are holding More...
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UN Report on DPs and Refugees in Africa |
By :Relifeweb |
26 September 2016 |
Summary
The present report is submitted pursuant to General Assembly resolution 70/134 on assistance to refugees, returnees and displaced persons in Africa. It updates information contained in the report of the Secretary-General submitted to the Assembly at its seventieth session (A/70/337) and covers the period from 1 July 2015 to 30 More...
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UNHCR Condemns Attacks on S. Sudan Refugees |
By :Sudan Tribun |
22 September 2016 |
JUBA--The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has strongly denounced what it described as the spreading violence in South Sudan’s Greater Equatoria region in past weeks, including recent attacks at Lasu settlement.
The Equatoria region witnessed recently fierce fighting in different locations between the south Sudanese government army and SPLM-IO fighters loyal More...
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Calais/Dunkirk Refugee Eviction Risks |
By :Harriet King, IPF |
15 September 2016 |
Calais and Dunkirk: Demolition and forced evictions from refugee camps will make things worse
“They seem to believe if they make the Calais jungle ‘disappear’ this will all go away. They do not have the means to compensate for the destruction of ten thousand homes—there isn’t nearly enough alternative accommodation.”
Breakthrough research, More...
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Hunger a Weapon of War in Syria, Yemen, Nigeria |
By :Isabel Malsang, AFP, reliefweb.int |
07 August 2016 |
While grain silos in many Western countries may overflow this winter, tens of millions of people risk going without food as hunger is being used more than ever as a weapon of war.
More than 50 million people living in 17 conflict-ridden countries are in "severe food insecurity", two UN agencies More...
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HIC Addresses Habitat III PrepCom3 |
By :HIC-HLRN |
27 July 2016 |
The “New Urban Agenda,” from its inception, is inconsistent with historic agreements, today’s global priorities and the “world we need.” Particular interests have narrowed the Habitat Agenda to urban priorities, subordinated rural areas and ignored issues of forced migration, presuming that urbanization is “inevitable” and beyond human will or policy More...
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Obstacles to Development: Data on fragility, Conflict and Violence |
By :Edie Purdie, World Bank Blog |
13 July 2016 |
Latin America and the Caribbean have high homicide rates.
Over half a million people were killed by intentional homicide in 2012, while in 2014 there were more than one hundred thousand battle-related deaths. Episodes of such violence and unrest can reverse development efforts and rapidly dismantle achievements built over a long More...
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UN Experts Insist on HR-based Habitat III |
By :OHCHR |
29 June 2016 |
UN experts issue statement on Habitat III: new agenda must be based in human rights
NEW YORK/GENEVA—As independent human rights experts appointed by the Human Rights Council, we call for a New Urban Agenda that embraces the transformative potential of human rights as a necessary framework for inclusive, vibrant and sustainable cities. More...
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Apply for ECCHR Legal Scholarship |
By :ECCHR |
14 April 2016 |
Call for Applications: Scholarship for ECCHR`s Legal Training Program
Starting a career in international human rights work can require more than just having the requisite passion, motivation and skills. The European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR) and the Kreuzberger Kinderstiftung, the scholarship sponsor, recognize this. There continue to More...
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4 Tibetan Land Defenders Get Suspended Sentence |
By :Tibetan Center for Rights and Democracy |
14 April 2016 |
Four Tibetan men have been given suspended jail sentences for petitioning against government confiscation of their land in Ka Bharma nomadic camp in Thangkor (Ch: Tangke) Township in Dzoege (Ch: Ruoergai) County, Ngaba (Ch: Aba) Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province. The four Tibetans are identified as Phurkho, Rinchen More...
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Iranians Buying up Land in War-torn Syria |
By :Sirwan Kajjo and Mario Ritter, Voice of America |
27 March 2016 |
Iran’s government wants its builders to buy up property in Shi-ite majority neighborhoods of Syria’s capital, Damascus.
It is also asking construction workers to go to Syria.
This information comes from construction industry officials in Tehran and Iranian experts.
Iranian analyst Fariborz Saremi said owning real estate gives Iran more control over Syria More...
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Migration Meets Hamburg: Right to the City |
By :Plenums des Hamburger Recht auf Stadt-Netzwerks |
09 February 2016 |
As in many others cities of Europe, refugees meet both welcome and opposition. One such opposition militates against providing humane and decent housing for refugees in Hamburg. Local reports tell how the anti-refugee trend is voiced louder and louder every week, even in the middle class. A new alliance of More...
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HIC-critics on Habitat III Policy Papers |
By :HIC |
05 February 2016 |
Since the very early stages of the Habitat III preparations, Habitat International Coalition (HIC) has called for the integrity of the Habitat II (1996) commitments and modalities; this demand has three related aspects:
• Processes must uphold the Habitat II-established principle to be as inclusive as possible;
• Maintain the Habitat Agenda, More...
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Total Withdraws from Western Sahara |
By :WSRW |
21 December 2015 |
The French multinational oil company has announced that it is no longer pursuing oil search offshore Western. "More good news for the Saharawi people. We urge the remaining oil companies to follow suit," Western Sahara Resources Watch (WSRW) has stated.
"Total has informed the Moroccan authorities that it would not request More...
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HIC Takes on COP21 |
By :HIC-HLRN |
05 December 2015 |
HIC is participating in the current Conference of Parties, also known as COP21, which is gathering the 195 countries that have joined and ratified the UN Framework Climate Change Convention (UNFCCC) following the Rio Earth Summit in 1992. In an effort address climate change, the states and organizations convened are More...
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Confiscating Houses for the Greater Good |
By :Vijeta Uniyal |
29 September 2015 |
Governments across Europe are complying with European Union directives to accommodate tens of thousands of migrants arriving each day. Germany, which became the driving force behind the recent influx of migrants after it suspended Dublin convention, refuses to put any cap to the number of migrants it can absorb.
The rules of More...
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To All Europe Cities "Open Doors to Refugees" |
By :Ian Mount , fortune.com |
08 September 2015 |
The question now is how much city governments will be able to accomplish until there is a commitment at the national and EU levels.
As August rolled to a close, Barcelona’s new left-wing mayor Ada Colau posted an emotional plea on her Facebook feed. Decrying the hundreds of migrants drowned in More...
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The Refugees and Imaginative Urban Planning |
By :Jane Paulick, Deutsche Welle |
05 September 2015 |
Not only politicians are looking for solutions to ease the refugee crisis. Architects are also devising ways to integrate new arrivals that avoid ghettos arising on city limits while also fostering urban regeneration.
One fixture in the pictures that went round the world in the recent week of violent clashes outside More...
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New Extractionism in Occupied Western Sahara |
By :WSRW |
31 August 2015 |
Amid Saharawi protests, San Leon Energy has begun to drill an on-shore well in occupied Western Sahara on 21 August.
The El Aaiun-4 conventional well is located on the so-called Tarfaya licence, near Foum el Oued, just above Western Sahara`s capital city El Aaiun. The drilling rig, a Cabot 750 More...
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The Hungary Games: Abusing Refugees |
By :Kim Lane Scheppele, Politico |
30 August 2015 |
How Hungary evades its obligations on migrants and refugees
The Hungarian government is building a fence on the border with Serbia to keep out the ever-increasing flow of refugees to Europe. But just look at a map. Serbia represents a tiny slice of Hungary’s meandering southern border. If desperate asylum-seekers have More...
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HIC Reviews Habitat III Issue Papers |
By :HIC-HLRN |
31 July 2015 |
Habitat International Coalition has just issued its compilation of inputs from Members and officers following their review of the Habitat III Issue Papers. The 22 thematic contributions from technical experts selected by the UN-Habitat/Habitat III Secretariat have been drafted as a framework for the debate leading up to the Third More...
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World Bank Group’s Compliance & Land |
By :HIC-HLRN |
30 June 2015 |
Private sector investment affecting land in developing countries often leads to disputes between companies and local communities over land rights and land use. Since 1999, the private-sector arms of the World Bank Group (WBG)—the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA)—have had an accountability mechanism to More...
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Human Rights Cities Meet at Gwangju |
By :HIC-HLRN |
17 May 2015 |
Gwangju, Republic of Korea—The Human Rights City of Gwangju, Republic of Korea played host to the 5th World Human Rights Cities Forum 2015, 15–18 May 2015. The gathering convened under the theme “Toward a Global Alliance of Human Rights Cities for All,” showcased the Asian experience of democratic governance, while More...
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CFS Develops Protracted-crisis Policy |
By :HIC-HLRN |
01 May 2015 |
In October of this year, the Committee on Global Food Security is expected to adopt the new Framework of Action [to ensure] Food Security and Nutrition in Protracted Crises. That global policy promises to usher in a new approach that formally operationalizes humanitarian, development and human rights principles combined to More...
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The Right to the City: Jerusalem |
By :Joseph Schechla |
26 October 2014 |
HIC-HLRN has produced a new report from an ongoing study on the prospects of realizing the principles of the “right to the city” for specific cities in several regions.
This report finds that applying the "right to the city" in Jerusalem challenges the current governance grounded in discrimination against, and dispossession of More...
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