The Aarhus Convention, which is open for global accession, offers powerful twin protections for the environment and human rights. It provides an effective model for ensuring public input in defining and implementing green economy programmes, in choosing the most appropriate road maps to sustainability and for increasing transparency and...

This is a toolkit for trade unions, voluntary organisations, community groups and others who want to assess the human rights and equality impact of the spending cuts on women in their communities. Although the toolkit focuses on women and the cuts, much of the information it contains can be...

The eGov4women is a public resource on the design and implementation of gender-responsive e-government institutional ecosystems. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development adopted by UN Member States in 2015 affirms that “the spread of information and communication technology and global interconnectedness has great potential to accelerate human progress, to...

This policy guide, developed by ESCAP together with Development Pathways, explains how to design inclusive and robust social protection systems and focuses on tax-financed income security. It explains why universal schemes are better at reaching the poor than targeted schemes, and what policy options to consider when designing inclusive...

This policy guide, developed by ESCAP together with Development Pathways, explains the basic principles of social protection and the impact it can have on poverty reduction, social cohesion, economic growth and the environment. It shows how investing in inclusive social protection can accelerate progress toward achieving the Sustainable Development...

In the decade since the 2008 global economic crisis, fiscal austerity has become the new normal. In the name of fiscal discipline, governments in more than two-thirds of countries throughout the world have enacted drastic austerity measures like severe public expenditure cuts, regressive tax changes, and labor market and...

The right to education appears in more than 40 standards —declarations and conventions— of the international system, under the aegises of the United Nations, UNESCO, and the International Labour Organization. The principle norms on the right to education are set by the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural...

The Asia Pacific Forum of National Human Rights Institutions (APF) and the Center for Economic and Social Rights (CESR) are pleased to present Defending Dignity: A Manual for National Human Rights Institutions on Monitoring Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Despite significant economic growth in recent decades, poverty levels in...

To increase accountability for failures to fulfill economic, social and cultural rights (ESC rights), it is necessary to uncover the shortcomings in a state’s social and economic policies that lead to large scale deprivations. This serves to expose as a preventable injustice what may otherwise be seen as an...

This tool describes how services can be designed and implemented to be acceptable and accessible to transgender women. To accomplish this, respectful and ongoing engagement with them is essential. This tool gives particular attention to programmes run by transgender people themselves, in contexts where this is possible. It is...

This compendium contains a selection of the most relevant international instruments that establish the human right to social security and provide guidance for comprehensive social security systems at national level. These include the standards and conclusions adopted by the International Labour Organization (hereinafter referred to as ILO) in the...

The HIV and social protection assessment tool is used for a quick scan of existing social protection programmes and their sensitivity (or lack of) to the HIV response in a given country and location. Additional follow-up and research that engages the different critical actors, including HIV programme managers, social...

The Civil Society Guide for National Social Protection Floors (SPFs) was developed by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, in close collaboration with the Global Coalition for Social Protection Floors. The guide is available in English, Spanish, French and Arabic.  ...

This guide is a unique resource package that aims to provide the necessary knowledge and expertise for conducting assessment based national dialogue (ABND) exercises, which are the first steps towards the implementation of nationally defined social protection floors. Designed by practitioners for practitioners, it is based on real country...

Social protection is now recognized as an integral part of the development and anti-poverty agenda in many countries. Among the highest priorities are policies and initiatives aimed at extending social protection to those who are not covered by existing systems – mainly workers in the informal economy and the...

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), more than one billion people are undernourished. Over two billion suffer from a lack of essential vitamins and minerals in their food. Nearly six million children die every year from malnutrition or related diseases, that is about...

This handbook is intended as a practical guide for members of governing boards of social security organizations in Africa. While the structure and mandate of social security boards varies from country to country, they all have important responsibilities: ensuring that social security contributions are used judiciously for intended purposes,...

Many governments have introduced one-stop shops as part of their reform of the business registration process. But what is a one-stop shop? Is it like any other shop? Can it really involve just one stop? The International Finance Corporation has commissioned this study to provide some background and possibly...