On the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Article / 13th December 2016The 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights retains its vigour six decades after its adoption. Yet, in this first decade of the twenty-first century, there still remains a long way to go in order to achieve the plenitude of the international protection of human rights. And there is great need to conceive new forms of protection of human beings, writes Antônio Augusto Cançado Trindade.
Home truths about the climate emergency
Article / 7th December 2016COP22 again highlighted the mismatch between illusive policymaking and the stark reality of global warming. As always, it was left to civil society groups to uphold a vision of global cooperation and economic sharing as the only path towards a sustainable future.
This is the most dangerous time for our planet
Article / 5th December 2016More than at any other time in history, our species needs to work together by breaking down, not building up, barriers within and between nations. With resources increasingly concentrated in the hands of a few, we are going to have to learn to share far more than at present, writes Stephen Hawking.
After Brexit and Trump: don’t demonise; localise!
Article / 30th November 2016Both Trump and Brexit can be explained by the failure of mainstream political elites to address the pain inflicted on ordinary citizens in the neoliberal ere. In the US and the UK, working class voters rightly rejected the corporate globalisation that has created so much poverty and insecurity. But the real solutions lie in relocalisation, not hatred, write Helena Norberg-Hodge and Rupert Read for the Ecologist.
Dear European leaders, your new plan for ending inequality will not work
Article / 30th November 2016Europe is not faring well on the challenges posed by the sustainable development goals. Rather than battening down the hatches and chasing economic growth at any cost, the European commission must place respect for human rights at the centre of their forthcoming plans, writes Tanya Cox, Jussi Kanner and Evert-Jan Brouwer.