This paper discusses the reform of institutions of justice as a way to eradicate violence in society. The use of violence has long been the method by which numerous societies have resolved disputes. However, the resort to violence only tends to engender more violence. Democratic values and the...

This paper focuses on a rather unexplored dimension to date of the HIV/AIDS epidemic: the resulting stigma and discrimination and its impact on the effectiveness of HIV/AIDS programs. It presents a conceptual framework that explains the interplay between stigma, discrimination and human rights....

The International Covenant for Economic Social and Cultural Rights, ICESCR, commits states to progressively realize the economic and social rights enumerated in the Covenant. This poses a challenge to measurement. It is not enough to assess the extent to which rights are enjoyed in a country or...

This report examines the resource needs for mounting a comprehensive HIV/AIDS program in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) and provides information on estimated changes in the cost of selected prevention, treatment and care interventions. In addition, it gives an estimate of the annual...

Access to food is essential to human survival and the “right to food” is a fundamental human right whose fulfillment impinges on the realization of most other human rights. Yet the pervasiveness of human hunger worldwide starkly illustrates the ongoing failure to fulfill the "right to food."...

This paper adapts the economic and social rights index (ESRF) developed by Fukuda-Parr et. al. (2009) to assess the extent to which each of the 50 U.S. states fulfills the economic and social rights obligations set forth in the International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights. It...

Failure to register births and lack of legal identity are considered to have a direct effect on possibilities and opportunities for full participation in social, political, and economic life. In order to understand the characteristics, numbers, and location of the economically, culturally, and...

Analysis of the portfolio related to indigenous peoples in the context of the Indigenous Development Strategy (IDS) approved in 2006, shows that: (i) indigenous issues are less prevalent in Country Strategies from 2006 onward; (ii) the instrument most used to address indigenous issues is...

In response to an increasing demand for rigorous monitoring of state accountability in meeting their human rights obligations, a growing literature on human rights measurement has emerged. Yet there are no widely used indicators or indices of human rights obligations fulfillment. This paper...

The human rights community characterizes the relationships among the various human rights enumerated in the major international human rights instruments as indivisible, interdependent, and interrelated. This working paper raises issues on intellectual and operational grounds as to whether all...