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Showing posts for "Rule of Law"

Emerging Voices: Ashok Sircar on Women’s Right to Inherit Land in India

by Development Channel Staff
A farmer harvests a rice paddy crop on the outskirts of the eastern Indian city of Siliguri on June 7, 2009 (Rupak De Chowdhuri/Courtesy Reuters). A farmer harvests a rice paddy crop on the outskirts of the eastern Indian city of Siliguri on June 7, 2009 (Rupak De Chowdhuri/Courtesy Reuters).

Emerging Voices features regular contributions from scholars and practitioners highlighting new research, thinking, and approaches to development challenges. This article is from
Dr. Ashok Sircar, India program director at Landesa, a global development nonprofit that works to secure land rights for the world’s poor. Here, he analyzes the obstacles preventing Indian women from exercising their right to inherit land and discusses potential policy solutions.

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Thoughts on the UN High-Level Panel’s Post-2015 Report

by Terra Lawson-Remer
Liberia President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (R) speaks to Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture at the African Union (AU) Rhoda Peace Tumusiime during a meeting on water, a prelude to a High Level Panel (HLP) for world development set up by the U.N. Secretary General, at City Hall in Monrovia January 30, 2013. Liberia President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (R) speaks to Rhoda Peace Tumusiime, commissioner for rural economy and agriculture at the African Union (AU), during a meeting on water, a prelude to a High Level Panel (HLP), at City Hall in Monrovia, Liberia on January 30, 2013.

Last week the UN High-Level Panel on the Post-2015 Development Agenda released its long anticipated report: A New Global Partnership: Eradicate Poverty and Transform Economies Through Sustainable Development. I’ve finally had time to give the long report a good read. It is an aspirational manifesto, reflecting a “new mainstream” in development thinking that departs substantially from the development thinking of the 80s, 90s, or even the 2000s.

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Human Rights and Access to Legal Representation

by Terra Lawson-Remer
The Arizona-Mexico border fence near Naco, Arizona on March 29, 2013 (Samantha Sais/Courtesy Reuters). The Arizona-Mexico border fence near Naco, Arizona on March 29, 2013 (Samantha Sais/Courtesy Reuters).

Last week a federal judge ruled that mentally disabled immigrants facing deportation have a right to representation in immigration proceedings, and ordered immigration courts in Arizona, California, and Washington to provide legal representation for mentally disabled immigrants if they cannot represent themselves.

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Effects of Investment Treaties in the Global South

by Terra Lawson-Remer
U.S. President George W. Bush shakes hands with Rwandan President Paul Kagame after signing a bilateral investment treaty during a news conference at the Presidency in Kigali February 19, 2008 (Jason Reed/Courtesy Reuters). U.S. President George W. Bush shakes hands with Rwandan President Paul Kagame after signing a bilateral investment treaty during a news conference at the Presidency in Kigali, Rwanda on February 19, 2008 (Jason Reed/Courtesy Reuters).

Last week Lori Wallach, Director of Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch, joined me at CFR for a rare on the record roundtable meeting. Living up to her reputation for incisive and provocative remarks, Wallach sparked a heated debate about the impacts of investment treaties in the global south. She argued that Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs), which aim to protect foreign investors from unfair and arbitrary treatment by governments, are themselves arbitrary and unfair.

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The U.S. Supreme Court and Global Human Rights

by Terra Lawson-Remer
Plaintiff Esther Kiobel (L) joins a protest against Royal Dutch Shell Petroleum in front of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington on October 1, 2012 (Gary Cameron/Courtesy Reuters). Plaintiff Esther Kiobel (L) joins a protest against Royal Dutch Shell Petroleum in front of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington on October 1, 2012 (Gary Cameron/Courtesy Reuters).

On Tuesday the Supreme Court ruled that victims of torture, arbitrary executions, and other human rights abuses in foreign countries could not seek justice in U.S. courts. The ruling in Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum halted a widely watched case brought by a group of Nigerians, which alleged that in the 1990s Shell Oil was complicit in the torture and murder of protesters at the company’s operations in the impoverished but oil rich Ogoni region. The Supreme Court held unanimously that the “presumption against extraterritoriality” applies to Alien Tort Statute cases, meaning that foreigners cannot use U.S. courts to seek justice against foreigners for crimes committed on the soil and in the territory of foreign nations.

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Global Goals for Human Rights and Governance After 2015: Part VIII

by Terra Lawson-Remer
A girl stands in a camp for internally displaced persons (IDP) on the outskirts of Belet Weyne, about 315 km (196 miles) from Somalia's capital Mogadishu on February 20, 2013, in this picture provided by the African Union-United Nations Information Support (AU-UN IST) team (Tobin Jones/Courtesy Reuters). A girl stands in a camp for internally displaced persons (IDP) on the outskirts of Belet Weyne, about 315 km (196 miles) from Somalia's capital Mogadishu on February 20, 2013, in this picture provided by the African Union-United Nations Information Support (AU-UN IST) team (Tobin Jones/Courtesy Reuters).

As discussed in previous blog posts in this series, good governance and human rights are central aspects of global development. Fundamental to human freedom, these objectives are both an end in themselves and a means to an end, and should be included in the post-2015 global development agenda. In this regard, guaranteeing Civil Rights, Political Rights, and Personal Security is a critical development goal.

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Global Goals for Human Rights and Governance After 2015: Part VII

by Terra Lawson-Remer
Nepalese women take part in a protest against what they say is an increase in violence against women, and demanding the government to implement stronger laws and to take firm action against violence on women, outside the Prime Minister's official residence in Kathmandu January 7, 2013 (Navesh Chitrakar/Courtesy Reuters). Nepalese women take part in a protest against what they say is an increase in violence against women, and demanding the government to implement stronger laws and to take firm action against violence on women, outside the Prime Minister's official residence in Kathmandu January 7, 2013 (Navesh Chitrakar/Courtesy Reuters).

As discussed in previous blog posts in this series, good governance and human rights are central aspects of global development.  Fundamental to human freedom, these objectives are both an end in themselves and a means to an end, and should be included in the post-2015 global development agenda. In this regard, guaranteeing Civil Rights, Political Rights, and Personal Security is a critical development goal.

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Global Goals for Human Rights and Governance After 2015: Part VI

by Terra Lawson-Remer
illagers pose with their identity cards as they stand in line to open a bank account at a camp organised by a private bank in a village at Ajmer in the desert Indian state of Rajasthan on January 10, 2013 (Courtesy Reuters). Villagers pose with their identity cards as they stand in line to open a bank account at a camp organized by a private bank in a village at Ajmer in the desert Indian state of Rajasthan on January 10, 2013 (Courtesy Reuters).

As discussed in previous blog posts in this series, good governance and human rights are essential to human well-being, and should be included in the post-2015 global development agenda. Rule of law and access to justice are linchpins of these concepts.

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Global Goals for Human Rights and Governance After 2015: Part V

by Terra Lawson-Remer
A general view of the opening plenary session of the G20 Summit in Seoul on November 12, 2010 (Eric Feferberg/Courtesy Reuters). A general view of the opening plenary session of the G20 Summit in Seoul on November 12, 2010 (Eric Feferberg/Courtesy Reuters).

Tuesday’s blog post discussed the importance of incorporating the goal of combating discrimination and inequality into the post-2015 global development agenda. This post discusses the significance of another goal: open and accountable government for all.

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Corruption, Transparency, and Somalia’s Future

by Terra Lawson-Remer
Somalia's newly elected President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud smiles upon arrival at a meeting with Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn at the National Palace in capital Addis Ababa, November 28, 2012 (Tiksa Negeri/Courtesy Reuters). Somalia's newly elected President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud smiles upon arrival at a meeting with Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn at the National Palace in capital Addis Ababa, November 28, 2012 (Tiksa Negeri/Courtesy Reuters).

Transparency International just released its 2012 country rankings of corruption in the public sector. The index is based on a variety of corruption-related data, including public opinion polls and assessments collected from experts living and working in the areas studied. It examines enforcement of anticorruption laws, prevalence of bribery, and government transparency, among other factors.

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