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News (58)
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New from HIC-HLRN: “A Pandemic of Violations” |
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By :HIC-HLRN |
| 05 October 2020 |
On the occasion of World Habitat Day (5 October 2020) and “Urban October,” HIC-HLRN has produced its annual report from the HLRN Violation Database.
This year’s review of patterns and trends in housing and land rights violation around the world is dedicated to the theme: A Pandemic of Violations: Forced Evictions
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New from HIC-HLRN: "A Pandemic of Violations" |
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By :HIC-HLRN |
| 05 October 2020 |
On the occasion of World Habitat Day (5 October 2020) and “Urban October,” HIC-HLRN has produced its annual report from the HLRN Violation Database.
This year’s review of patterns and trends in housing and land rights violation around the world is dedicated to the theme: A Pandemic of Violations: Forced Evictions
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CSOs Urge UNGA to End Apartheid in Palestine |
| 22 September 2020 |
Global Response to Israeli Apartheid: A Call to the UNGA
Apartheid is a crime against humanity, giving rise to individual criminal responsibility and State responsibility to bring the illegal situation to an end. In May 2020, a large number of Palestinian civil society organisations called on all States to adopt “effective countermeasures,
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US War on Terror Displaced 37 million+ |
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By :John Ismay, The New York Times Magazine |
| 08 September 2020 |
A new report calculates the number of people who fled because of wars fought by the United States since
At least 37 million people have been displaced as a direct result of the wars fought by the United States since Sept. 11, 2001, according to a new report from Brown
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Land Times issue 20 |
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By :HIC-HLRN |
| 08 August 2020 |
HIC’s Housing and Land Rights Network (HIC-HLRN) welcomes you to its 20th issue of Land Times. This milestone edition emphasizes the role of civil society in identifying and remedying housing and land rights problems in the context of a global pandemic.
Amid this protracted crisis, events and developments in the Middle
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USA: Mass Evictions to Hit People of Color Hardest |
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By :Camilo Maldonado, Forbes |
| 29 July 2020 |
Update: mass evictions set to begin - communities of color to be hardest hit
NEW YORK, NEW YORK—During a Monday interview on Fox Business, White House chief economic adviser Larry Kudlow backtracked his comments made Sunday and clarified that the eviction moratorium extension would be for mortgages in forbearance.
With regards
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Palestine/Israel: JNF Trees Dispossess Bedouin |
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By :Zafrir Rinat and Almog Ben Zikri, Haaretz |
| 14 July 2020 |
Israel pushing large tree planting in Naqab to disclaim lands to Bedouin
Israel is pushing through a plan to plant trees across a significant swath of the Negev in a bid to deny Bedouin residents from accessing the lands.
The plan is described as “agricultural planting” but local activists and human
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USA: Judge Shuts Down Dakota Access Pipeline |
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By :Amy R. Sisk, Bismarck Tribune |
| 06 July 2020 |
A federal judge has ordered the shutdown of the Dakota Access Pipeline while a lengthy environmental review is conducted of the project opposed by environmentalists and the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe.
The move was requested earlier this year by Standing Rock and three other Sioux tribes in the Dakotas who fear environmental harm from
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USA: Coronavirus Evictions |
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By :John Oliver, HBO |
| 02 July 2020 |
With evictions on the rise due to COVID-19, comedic actor and TV host John Oliver uses irony to discuss the long struggle to obtain and sustain adequate housing in the United States, why it’s gotten worse in recent months and how to prevent an impending crisis.
View the broadcast on YouTube:
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Call for Inputs: Food and Protracted Crises |
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By :Civil Society and Indigenous People`s Mechanism of the UN Committee on World Food Security |
| 27 May 2020 |
The UN Committee on World Food Security (CFS) endorsed the Framework for Action for Food Security and Nutrition in Protracted Crises (FFA) in October 2015 after a three-year preparation and negotiation process with CFS actors. Civil society actors, via the Civil Society and Indigenous Peoples’ Mechanism (CSM) for relations with
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USA: The Coming Eviction Crisis |
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By :Megh Wright, New York magazine |
| 18 May 2020 |
Patriot Act Returns to Terrify You About an Eviction Crisis
Hasan Minhaj’s Netflix series, Patriot Act, returned last night with its first new episode since the pandemic began, and Minhaj wasted no time addressing the show’s new remote format: “Don’t think of this as a Netflix show compromising. Think of this as a YouTube video overachieving.”
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USA: Which States Protect from Eviction? |
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By :Dan Keating and Lauren Tierney, The Washington Post |
| 29 April 2020 |
Which states are doing a better job protecting renters from being evicted during the coronavirus pandemic
For millions of renters who have lost income, rent day on May 1 is a looming disaster.
A majority of the country’s 43.8 million renting households have lost at least some of their income in the coronavirus shutdown,
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One Species Responsible for COVID-19 - Us |
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By :Josef Settele, Sandra Díaz, Eduardo Brondizio[1] and Peter Daszak[2] |
| 27 April 2020 |
The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES)
COVID-19 stimulus measures must save lives, protect livelihoods, and safeguard nature to reduce the risk of future pandemics
There is a single species that is responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic - us. As with the climate and biodiversity crises, recent pandemics are
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South Africa: Hsg Crisis, Eviction amid Lockdown |
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By :Kim Harrisberg, Thomon Reuters Foundation |
| 24 April 2020 |
Evictions, power cuts heighten South Africa housing crisis amid lockdown
JOHANNESBURG—From demolished shacks to water and electricity shutoffs, South Africa’s coronavirus lockdown is worsening the country’s housing crisis, despite government orders to suspend evictions, residents and activists warned.
With many unable to work or pay rent since stay-at-home orders went into effect
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Guatemala: Evicting Maya Q’eqchi` amid COVID-19 |
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By :Minority Rights Group International |
| 21 April 2020 |
Violent attempt to evict Maya Q’eqchi villagers despite COVID-19 crisis in Guatemala
On 13 April 2020, private security forces suspected of working for Industria Chiquibul, S.A., an agribusiness engaged in the harvesting and extraction of palm oil, attempted to evict 200 indigenous peasant families from their homes in Tierra Blanca, municipality
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COVID-19: Solidarity with Food Producers |
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By :HIC-HLRN, IPC |
| 07 April 2020 |
The COVID19 crisis is rapidly expanding and deepening, highlighting and exacerbating existing inequalities including wealth, health, race and gender. In many countries it will develop into a deep social and economic crisis where the most vulnerable will again suffer the most – with no access to healthcare, losing their jobs
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South Africa: Evictions Despite Moratorium |
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By :Abahlali baseMjondolo |
| 29 March 2020 |
Evictions continue in Durban despite the national moratorium
The national government made a clear promise that there would be no evictions during the national shutdown implemented to slow the spread of the coronavirus. However, today, at around 12:30, Calvin Security returned to the Ekuphumeleleni settlement in Mariannhill, which falls under
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India: Migrants Marched Further to Margins |
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By :Aajeevika Bureau |
| 29 March 2020 |
How the Lockdown Drove a Workforce on the Margins to Further Alienation
An incisive report highlights how a substantial workforce of 139 million internal migrant workers, invisible to the system, has been the hardest hit post-lockdown. Further, it lists the urgent measures needed to ensure a safe and dignified existence for
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South Africa: Call for Solidarity amid Crisis |
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By :Abahlali baseMjondolo |
| 22 March 2020 |
Coronavirus: A Call for Solidarity in a Time of Crisis
Abahlali baseMjondolo has held small meetings with elected leaders in all the provinces where we have members to discuss the coronavirus crisis. The best available scientific information has been shared with our members. We have decided to suspend our entire programme
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UN: New Study on Climate-change Impacts |
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By :Chinedum Uwaegbulam, The Guardian |
| 16 March 2020 |
A wide-ranging UN climate report, released on last week, shows that climate change is having a major effect on all aspects of the environment, as well as on the health and wellbeing of the global population.
The report, The WMO Statement on the State of the Global Climate in 2019, which
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New Tool: "Lo—TEK" Indigenous Technologies |
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By :Sala Elise Patterson, Harvard University Graduate School of Design |
| 03 March 2020 |
First-ever compendium of indigenous technologies provides a powerful toolkit for climate-resilient design
The design field is at an inflection point. It must challenge its repertoire, rethink technology, and begin to see biodiversity as a building block of urban environments. Julia Watson’s lush and meticulous new book, Lo—TEK: Design by Radical Indigenism, provides
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Bolsonaro`s Ambiguous Amazon Plan |
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By :Luciana Coelho and Gustavo Uribe, Folha de São Paulo |
| 10 February 2020 |
Bolsonaro`s Proposed Amazon Plan Is Vague and Uncertain. Officials improvised the proposed project on eve of Davos event to appease critics.
SÃO PAULO and BRASÍLIA—Bolsonaro`s finalized his plan for the Amazon right before the World Economic Forum in Davis, Switzerland. The government wanted to alleviate investor doubts about the government`s inaction in forest
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CSOs Blast UN’s Corporate Take-over |
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By :FIAN and various CSOs |
| 16 January 2020 |
WEF takeover of UN strongly condemned. With the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos around the corner, hundreds of CSOs reiterate condemnation of the partnership between the corporate world with the UN.
As corporate executives fly into Davos for the annual meetings of the World Economic Forum (WEF),
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Netherlands: The Right to Climate Protection! |
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By :Lukas Schulze, Buzzfeed News |
| 20 December 2019 |
People have a fundamental right to be protected from climate change, a landmark court ruling says. The Dutch Supreme Court`s decision could have huge repercussions for how other countries tackle rising emissions.
The Supreme Court of the Netherlands ruled Friday that the government must take urgent action on climate change to
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20 Firms Emit a Third of All Carbon |
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By :Matthew Taylor and Jonathan Watts, The Guardian |
| 09 October 2019 |
New data show how fossil fuel companies have driven climate crisis despite industry knowing dangers
The Guardian today reveals the 20 fossil fuel companies whose relentless exploitation of the world’s oil, gas and coal reserves can be directly linked to more than one-third of all greenhouse gas emissions in the modern
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#StandTogetherNow |
| 12 August 2019 |
In 2015 world leaders signed historic agreements – the Paris Agreement, the Sustainable Development Goals and the broader 2030 Agenda to push for a more just and sustainable world by 2030. These inter-linked agendas promised to transform the world, to end poverty, to reduce inequality, ensure peace and combat climate
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IPCC Report on Land Use: Seven Things to Know |
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By :Frances Seymour, World Resources Institute |
| 08 August 2019 |
Frances Seymour of World Resources Institute explains how the UN report confirms the importance of protecting forests in global strategies to fight climate change
The IPCC’s Special Report on Climate Change, Desertification, Land Degradation, Sustainable Land Management, Food Security, and Greenhouse Gas Fluxes in Terrestrial Ecosystems has just been released. One thing you
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PHROC Rebukes Donor States over UNRWA Cuts |
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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)
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Global Risks of Oil and Gas Overinvestment |
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By :Global Witness |
| 24 April 2019 |
Overinvestment in oil and gas creates risks for investors, regardless of whether the world is effective in tackling climate change. Either investors face assets being stranded as demand for fossil fuels falls in a transition to a low carbon economy, or the overinvestment contributes to excess emissions from fossil fuels,
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Mozambique & Zimbabwe: Idai "Massive disaster" |
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By :BBC News |
| 20 March 2019 |
Cyclone Idai has triggered a "massive disaster" in southern Africa affecting hundreds of thousands if not millions of people, the UN has said.
The region has been hit by widespread flooding and devastation affecting Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi.
Mozambique`s President Filipe Nyusi called it "a humanitarian disaster of great proportion."
He said more
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Post-capitalism: Life within Environmental Limits |
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By :Dr Samuel Alexander and Professor Brendan Gleeson, University of Melbourne |
| 19 February 2019 |
Capitalism’s limitless growth on a finite planet means the economic system we take for granted could end soon. If so, transformative and sustainable change must come from grassroots action
It may seem as though capitalism has always been a part of the Western world, but that’s not true. Although the
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Ireland: Gas Terminal Project Goes to EU Court |
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By :Ann O`Loughlin, Irish Examiner |
| 15 February 2019 |
Shannon Estuary gas terminal project referred to European Court of Justice by the Irish High Court as it triggers the EU Habitats Directive.
The High Court has referred to Europe a number of questions relating to a five-year extension of planning permission for a liquid gas terminal on the Shannon Estuary.
Mr
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AU Summit on Displacement Crisis |
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By :HIC-HLRN |
| 09 February 2019 |
Already 55 years ago, the Organization of African States was born with the purpose of peace and unity in what is now the African Union (AU), the largest regional organization on earth. This year, the 32nd regular annual AU summit at Addis Ababa (10–11 February 2019) focuses on another distinguishing
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Brazil: Another Mining Dam Disaster |
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By :Associated Press |
| 28 January 2019 |
Search for Brazil dam survivors renews as death toll hits 58
BRUMADINHO, Brazil—Brazilian rescue crews returned to mud-covered flats Sunday to resume the search for hundreds of people missing in the wake of a dam collapse after the operation was suspended for several hours over fears that a second dam was
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Haiti: Social Production in Canaan |
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By :Jacob Kushner, Place |
| 07 January 2019 |
In Haiti`s city-without-a-government, residents want land titles, taxation. Without titles, residents risk losing any investment they make and cannot use their property as collateral.
CANAAN, Haiti—On a street of rocks and white dust in the centre of one of the world`s newest cities, Alisma Robert pointed to an array of electric
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UN Peasants’ Rights Declaration Adopted in GA |
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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:
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Laos: “Substandard construction” Causes Dam Collapse |
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By :Kocha Olarn, Sandi Sidhu and Ben Westcott, CNN |
| 27 July 2018 |
Minister says “substandard construction” caused Laos dam to collapse. 25,000 people evacuated.
The collapse of Laos dam that triggered massive flooding and devastation was due to "substandard construction," the country`s Minister of Energy and Mines said Thursday.
According to the state-run Laos News Agency, Minister Khammany Inthirath told reporters at a news
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Puerto Rico: Parasites in Paradise |
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By :Democracy Now |
| 06 June 2018 |
Puerto Rico continues to recover from Hurricane Maria as it commemorates 120 years of US occupation (since 1898). In the ongoing post-disaster phase, the island Is becoming a “playground for the privileged,” where disaster-capitalist investors move in as homes foreclose and schools close.
While healthcare, the public school system and infrastructure
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Right to the City in Greater Beirut |
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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
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1st Arab Conference on Land Governance |
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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
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Belgium Supports UNRWA as USA Defunds |
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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
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USA: Water Security v. Energy Independence |
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By :Jennifer Veilleux, Center for Humans and Nature |
| 04 January 2018 |
In late 2016, I attended government-to-government meetings in Rapid City, South Dakota, between several Plains Tribal Government representatives and US Federal Government officials. I listened to a tribal elder testify that her young grandson was hospitalized with an E. coli infection caused by hydraulic fracturing water contamination in her community
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Out of Africa: Human Rights Habitat Struggles |
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By :Marie Huchzermeyer, CUBES/Wits Univ. and Joseph Schechla, HLRN |
| 07 November 2017 |
From Africa to the World: Struggling for Human Rights to Housing, Land and the City
Mid-October 2017, Nairobi was host to an intense engagement on housing rights, social justice and the right to the city. This was amid political turmoil in Kenyan towns and cities, and unrelated to this but largely
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Turkey: Environmentalists Murdered |
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By :Jonathan Watts. The Guardian |
| 18 October 2017 |
`The threats continue’: murder of retired couple chills fellow activists in Turkey. The killing of two activists who successfully campaigned to shut down a mine has shocked environmentalists in Turkey who fear their deaths will embolden others to kill to protect their profits.
Cedar branches whisper in the Anatolian breeze. Twigs
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EPA: Puerto Ricans Resorts to Toxic Water |
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By :MSN News |
| 15 October 2017 |
EPA says Puerto Rico residents resorted to contaminated water at Dorado Superfund site
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Algeria Eliminates Last Antipersonnel Landmines |
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By :Algeria Eliminates Last Antipersonnel Landmines (ICBL) |
| 19 September 2017 |
On 18 September 2017, Algeria celebrated the 20th anniversary of the Mine Ban Treaty by destroying its last antipersonnel landmines. The International Campaign to Ban Landmines congratulates Algeria for fulfilling treaty obligation.
Algeria had reported retaining 5,970 antipersonnel landmines for training purposes, permitted under Article 3 of the Mine Ban Treaty. After
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Houston Drowning—in Its Freedom from Regulations |
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By :Steve Russell, Newsweek |
| 28 August 2017 |
We do value our freedom here in Texas. As I write from soggy Central Texas, the cable news is showing people floating down Buffalo Bayou on their principles, proud residents of the largest city in these United States that did not grow in accordance with zoning ordinances.
The feeling there was
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NUA Reporting in 2018 Crucial |
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By :Gregory Scruggs, Citiscope |
| 11 May 2017 |
2018 reporting period will prove critical for New Urban Agenda, advocates say
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NAIROBI—Although 2017 is not yet halfway over, advocates for the New Urban Agenda on sustainable cities already are looking to next year as critical for embedding the agreement aims among national governments.
That’s because the recent Habitat III conference set
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Haiti Aid Betrayal: Gifting the Trojan Peanut |
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By :Al Jazeera News and agencies |
| 29 August 2016 |
Over 50 groups of farmers and aid workers seek to stop planned 500-tonne shipment that US officials term a donation.
Peanut producers in Haiti have united to block the delivery of a 500-tonne shipment of nuts from the US.
They say the shipment threatens to undermine the livelihood of thousands of people
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HIC Addresses Habitat III PrepCom3 |
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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
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Brazil: Fundão Dam Devastation |
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By :Ingrid Fadnes, Al Jazeera |
| 14 June 2016 |
MARIANA, Brazil—On November 5, 2015, the Fundao dam burst in the inland municipality of Mariana in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. The Brazilian mining company Samarco, owned by two of the world`s biggest mining corporations, Vale SA and BHP Billiton, operated the dam.
Tcharly do Barmo Batista, a 23-year-old father,
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HIC-critics on Habitat III Policy Papers |
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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,
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COP21: Land & Water Convergence Speaks |
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By :Global Convergence of Land and Water Struggles |
| 08 December 2015 |
Parallel to the climate conference in Paris, social movements and allies within the “Global Convergence of Land and Water Struggles” stand up for climate justice and real solutions to the climate crisis. This alliance of struggles has delivered its message to the COP21 currently meeting at Paris. Their statement follows.
The
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HIC Takes on COP21 |
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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
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Philippines: 2 Yrs. after Haiyan, Still Waiting |
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By :Astrid Zweynert, Thomson Reuters Foundation |
| 08 November 2015 |
Nearly 2 Years After Typhoon Haiyan, Many Still Waiting for Rehousing in Safer Areas. Experts are calling for a closer monitoring system of how aid funds are being spent.
TACLOBAN, Philippines—Arsenjo Francisco has lived near the sea all his life, but the retired Filipino fisherman lost his love of the ocean
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Developing Nations Outdo Big Powers in Climate Pledges |
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By :Renee Lewis, Al Jazeera |
| 10 September 2015 |
Scientists find poorer nations more ambitious in plans to reduce global warming emissions ahead of UN summit
Developed countries “ought to be embarrassed” by less-wealthy nations’ pledges to fight global warming by changing agriculture, forestry and other land use practices, as the developing countries’ promises go much further and are more
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HIC Reviews Habitat III Issue Papers |
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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
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CFS Develops Protracted-crisis Policy |
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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
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