Escaping the Poverty Trap: On the Chronic Poverty Report 2008-09 | IPS
The solutions to these 'poverty traps' include nets of social protection, particularly through cash transfers to households; public services for the hard to reach poor; anti-discrimination and gender empowerment measures; building individual and collective assets, and strategic urbanization and migration policies.
Perhaps the report's most interesting proposal is to expand welfare systems to guarantee the chronically poor a basic income, both as their right and as a way out of poverty. The experiences of Brazil, Chile, India and South Africa show that social transfers in cash or in kind reduce vulnerability, allow the poor to engage in more productive economic activities, and are generally judiciously spent.
According to the researchers, social protection is affordable and can be scaled up even in relatively poor countries, as Bangladesh and Uganda have shown.
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UK libel law discourages free speech: UN rights committee | JURIST (16.08.08)
The UN Committee on Human Rights has criticized British libel laws for stifling freedom of speech, according to Thursday media reports. In a report issued after its 93rd session in Geneva, the Committee said restrictive laws may encourage media agencies a
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Should claims based on African-American slavery be litigatedin the courts? How? | Anthony Sebok (04.12.00)
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A new dream team intends to seek reparations for slavery | Anthony Sebok (20.11.00)
Earlier this month, a group of lawyers and law professors announced the formation of the "Reparations Assessment Group." Its membership includes Professor Charles Ogletree of Harvard Law School, Johnnie Cochran, and some of the nation’s most respected and feared class action attorneys. Some are themselves African-American; some are not. What they share is that they are all members of the exclusive "100 million dollar" club—each has participated in cases that regularly yield settlements of at least $100 million.
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Reparations Now: A Check, An Apology, And We Are Done | Goldberg File (31.05.01)
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Ten Reasons Why Reparations for Blacks is a Bad Idea for Blacks - and Racist Too | David Horowitz (03.01.01)
Ten Reasons Why Reparations for Blacks is a Bad Idea for Blacks - and Racist Too
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Would Reparations for Slavery be Just? | The Claremont Institute (05.05.02)
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Civil Rights: Should Black Americans Receive Reparations Payments Because of Slavery? | What Conservatives Think (22.08.04)
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Reparations for slavery | Wikipedia
Reparations for slavery is a proposal by some in the United States that some type of compensation should be provided to the descendants of enslaved people, in consideration of the labor provided for free over several centuries, without which the United States would likely have never attained its wealth and global power. This compensation has been proposed in a variety of forms, from individual monetary payments to community-based improvement schemes related to health and education.
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Khulumani's Reparations Case and the Future of Human Rights | Global Policy Forum (06.01.05)
The Khulumani case is being taken on appeal in a process that will demand that the merits of its case are more carefully reviewed and discerned. The case is viewed in the international human rights movement as the strongest case yet in enforcing international norms in respect of the behaviours of foreign multinational companies.
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In The Face of Impunity, We Play Politics With International Criminal Tribunals | Godfrey M Musila, ISS (08.08.08)
The indictment of Sudanese President Omar al Bashir by the ICC triggered a flurry of comments. Joining the common, largely unsubstantiated claims about the ICC and international criminal tribunals in general, it has also been argued that 1) war crimes tribunals are a creation of Western powers and that they target African leaders and 2) the tribunals dispense a ‘Western’ form of justice that is grossly inadequate as a mechanism of pursuing peace and reconciliation in post-conflict societies.
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Do Not Underestimate Economic Intelligence | ISS (11.08.08)
In this highly competitive beginning of the 21st century, economic intelligence has become an important strategic tool. It is difficult to find an acceptable definition for economic intelligence because of the complexity of the issue and because so little has been written about it. Generally the term refers to coordinated research, analysis and distribution of information with the aim of using it to the benefit of economic actors. Economic intelligence is thus about studying the evolution of a specific market with the aim of collecting, analysing and using the best information about this market, as well as its environment, in a routine fashion. This information can be either public or confidential – in the latter case it was gathered without the knowledge of the owner. But the most important is that it must be correct, precise and up to date to be able to make decisions both economic and diplomatic. The aim is that the decision-maker can use the economic intelligence in order to anticipate emerging technological and economic needs, especially in the longer term.
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House Demolitions as Punishment | B'Tselem
Between 1967 and 2005, Israel has implemented a policy of demolishing and sealing houses in the West Bank and Gaza Strip as a punitive measure against the Palestinian population. Under the plan, about 670 homes were destroyed.
The practice was resumed in 2008: http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1215331211445&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
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Israel orders house demolition | Jerusalem Post (06.08.08)
Jerusalem Mayor: "The demolition will serve as clear message that the families of every terrorist who goes out to attack and murder Israelis will also be harmed."
Barak and Shin Bet chief Yuval Diskin have expressed support for demolishing homes of east Jerusalem Arab terrorists since they both said it was an effective tool for deterring attacks.
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Incorporating Responsibility 2008: An Olympics campaign by Human Rights in China
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U.S. Aid to Israel
1948-1997: $84,854,827,200
Total benefits per Israeli: $14,630
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France accused in Rwanda genocide | BBC (05.08.08)
Rwanda has accused France of playing an active role in the genocide of 1994, in which about 800,000 people were killed.
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Avaaz.org: The World in Action
Avaaz.org is a new global web movement with a simple democratic mission: to close the gap between the world we have, and the world most people everywhere want. Across the world, most people want stronger protections for the environment, greater respect for human rights, and concerted efforts to end poverty, corruption and war. Yet globalization faces a huge democratic deficit as international decisions are shaped by political elites and unaccountable corporations -- not the views and values of the world’s people.
Technology and the internet have allowed citizens to connect and mobilize like never before. The rise of a new model of internet-driven, people-powered politics is changing countries from Australia to the Philippines to the United States. Avaaz takes this model global, connecting people across borders to bring people powered politics to international decision-making.
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Poverty in Gaza Hits "Unprecedented" Level | IPS (25.07.08)
In both the West Bank and Gaza, young people aged 15 to 24 are the most likely of any group to be unemployed, while the number of households in Gaza below the poverty line has reached an historic high of nearly 52%, according to a new report by the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).
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