Resources for:

Français

November 2022

Mainstreaming the Informal Waste Sector Towards an Inclusive Circular Economy in African Cities

QUNO contributed to the substantive finalization of a comprehensive report carried out by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF South Africa), which makes a case for mainstreaming the informal waste sector towards an inclusive circular economy across African cities. The focus was on the work reclaimers and waste pickers do in cities of Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, and Uganda.

Languages: 

Countries / Regions: 

Related Links

Related Files

Tags: 

March 2020

Children of Incarcerated Parents - International Standards and Guidelines

Children of incarcerated parents continue to face a range of challenges to the full respect for and enjoyment of their rights. This Briefing Paper provides an update to QUNO’s previous publication, offering an overview of the international legal standards applicable to these children. The paper incorporates information from legal instruments, treaty bodies, and other guidance from the United Nations and regional systems in both human rights and criminal justice fields.

Author: 

Languages: 

Related Files

Tags: 

June 2016

Policy brief: The relationship between intellectual property rights and small-scale farmer innovation

The relationship between intellectual property (IP) and small-scale farmer innovation is far from straightforward. The majority of innovation in agriculture is not driven by the promise of exclusionary rights that some IP tools afford — it takes place on the farm and is a collaborative and incremental process, the outcomes of which cannot be attributed to individual rights holders.

Languages: 

Related Files

December 2015

Policy Brief: The relationship between food security policy measures and WTO trade rules

This report first provides a historical overview of both the concept of food security and the incorporation of agriculture into international trade negotiations. It then turns to the relationship between food security policy options and the WTO’s trade rules, and highlights opportunities for governments to implement policies that support food security while meeting their international obligations. It concludes by laying out a range of policy measures to enhance food security, assessing the compatibility of each with WTO regulations. 

Languages: 

Related Links

Related Files

December 2015

Policy Brief: Small-scale farmer innovation

This policy brief consolidates lessons learned from an in-depth literature review on small-scale farmer (SSF) innovation systems and a two-day expert consultation on the same topic that QUNO hosted in May 2015. 

The key message here is that small-scale farmer innovation systems are unique relative to more ‘formal’ agricultural innovation systems. For this reason, the types of policies that are put in place to encourage innovation in agriculture require a fundamental reconsideration.

Languages: 

Related Files

August 2015

Realizing the right to food in an era of climate change

Agriculture is a major contributor to anthropogenic climate change, and in turn climate change threatens the viability of food production around the world. The spread of capital- and technology-intensive 'industrial' agriculture in the modern era has been accompanied by an erosion of on-farm genetic diversity, a loss of local knowledge, and the abandonment of traditional farming practices. This undermines our capacity to
adapt to already-changing climatic conditions.

Author: 

Languages: 

Related Files

December 2014

Trade Liberalization and Food Security: Examining the Linkages

The paper is released as part of our project working towards a New Framework for Trade & Investment in Agriculture, in which we are exploring some of the questions at the heart of defining the purpose, structure and direction of governance of trade and investment in agriculture, in order to place livelihoods, dignity, sustainability, resilience and food security at the heart of the rules governing these areas.

The analysis presented in the paper highlights three points:

Author: 

Languages: 

Related Files

September 2013

Children of Parents Sentenced to Death or Executed: How are they affected? How can they be supported?

This document highlights the experiences of children with a parent(s) accused of a capital crime. From the point of arrest, to sentencing, to release or execution of the sentence, the study points out the devastating effects on these children’s physical and mental well-being. Unfortunately, these consequences are not paid much attention in criminal justice systems. The study concludes with recommendations for States.

See also

Author: 

Languages: 

Related Files

June 2013

Lightening the Load of the Parental Death Sentence on Children

This is a very detailed study exploring the situations of children whose parents have been sentenced with capital punishment. It looks first at the commonalities between their experiences and those of children whose parents have been incarcerated, and then at the differences between these groups of children. It also sets out recommendations.

See also:

Author: 

Languages: 

Related Files

September 2012

TRIPS-Related Patent Flexibilities and Food Security: Options For Developing Countries - Policy Guide

Food security is  as a pressing global challenge. Agricultural innovation is critical to addressing it. Equally important is ensuring that the benefits of such innovation are widely diffused, especially in developing countries.

How should countries design their intellectual property (IP) system to encourage and support agricultural innovation?  

The TRIPS Agreement provides WTO Members with flexibility to implement IP provisions in a way consistent with their agriculture and food security objectives. Yet these flexibilities have received little attention so far.

Author: 

Languages: 

Related Files

March 2012

Collateral Convicts: Recommendations and Good Practice from the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child Day of General Discussion 2011

The first time a UN body considered the question children with parents in prison was in September 2011, in a Committee on the Rights of the Child day of general discussion on the topic. This paper details the issues, good practice and recommendations relating to children of prisoners that emerged from that day of general discussion.

See also the related Briefing Paper and Exhibition.

Author: 

Languages: 

Related Files

February 2012

Children of Parents Sentenced to Death

One of the first QUNO publications to deal exclusively with the question of children whose parents are sentenced to death, paving the way for other documents in the same series. This paper raises awareness of some of the issues facing such children. It considers and elaborates on these issues in as much detail as the literature available at the time permitted, and highlights directions for future study.

See also:

Author: 

Languages: 

Related Files

November 2011

International Standards on Conscientious Objection to Military Service

Conscientious objection to military service is now clearly protected as a human right under international law, even if the term "conscientious objection" does not appear in the international human rights treaties per se.

Author: 

Languages: 

Related Files

November 2011

International Standards on Conscientious Objection to Military Service

This document lays out the ways in which conscientious objection has been recognized and is protected under human rights treaties and mechanisms. In this way, it responds to those who claim that, as conscientious objection to military service is not explicitly recognized by international human rights treaties, it is not protected by them.

Author: 

Languages: 

Related Files

September 2011

Collateral Convicts: If my parents go to prison, what happens to me? Exhibition on children of incarcerated parents

An exhibition by the NGO Group for the Committee on the Rights of the Child, focusing on “the often neglected issue of children of incarcerated parents. It includes drawings and quotes by children from across the world and highlights local initiatives that address the issue and seek to fulfill the rights of children whose parents are incarcerated.”

See also:

Languages: 

Related Files

February 2011

Food, Biological Diversity and Intellectual Property

The International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) influences global policy relating to agricultural research, as it is the only international organisation with responsibility for plant variety protection.

This report seeks to raise awareness about UPOV’s role and way of working. It aims to provide a point of reference around which key actors – both supportive and critical of current approaches to intellectual property (IP) protection of plants – can engage in discussions and exchange of ideas.

Author: 

Languages: 

Related Files

February 2011

Briefing on the UN Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners and Non-custodial Measures for Women Offenders (Bangkok Rules)

The Bangkok Rules supplement a set of international standards on the treatment of prisoners – The UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners and the UN Standard Minimum Rules for Non-custodial Measures (‘Tokyo Rules’). The Bangkok Rules address the needs and characteristics of women in the criminal justice system. QUNO and Penal Reform International participated in the development of the Bangkok Rules, and issued this Briefing to encourage their dissemination and implementation.

 

Languages: 

Related Files

August 2009

Orphans of Justice - In search of the best interests of the child when a parent is imprisoned: A Legal Analysis

This paper is part of a series of publications looking at the different aspects of the impact of parental imprisonment on children. Jean Tomkin, an Irish trainee solicitor had written her Masters’ dissertation on the issue of children of imprisoned parents, and re-worked and updated it for publication under QUNO’s series. The publication explores the legal issues concerning the rights of the child in these circumstances, and studies case law from several contexts.

Author: 

Languages: 

Related Files

Pages