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News (119)
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Palestine: Israel Escalates Home Demolitions (again) |
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By :Maureen Murphy, The Electronic Intifada |
| 08 July 2020 |
Home Demolitions Spike Ahead of Annexation
Israel’s formal annexation of occupied land may be put on hold, but the forced displacement of Palestinians in the West Bank marches on.
Israeli demolitions of Palestinian homes in the territory spiked last month, according to the human rights group B’Tselem.
Nearly 45 homes were destroyed in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem
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USA: Evictions Soon to Hit Black Renters Hardest |
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By :Renae Merle, The Washington Post |
| 06 July 2020 |
Evictions are likely to skyrocket this summer as jobs remain scarce. Black renters will be hard hit
Eviction moratoriums and unemployment benefits are expiring, which will have a bigger effect on minority neighborhoods, experts say.
A backlog of eviction cases is beginning to move through the court system as millions of Americans
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USA: Coronavirus Evictions |
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By :John Oliver, HBO |
| 02 July 2020 |
With evictions on the rise due to COVID-19, comedic actor and TV host John Oliver uses irony to discuss the long struggle to obtain and sustain adequate housing in the United States, why it’s gotten worse in recent months and how to prevent an impending crisis.
View the broadcast on YouTube:
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USA: A Coming ‘Avalanche of Evictions’ |
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By :Sarah Mervosh, The New York Times |
| 27 May 2020 |
An ‘Avalanche of Evictions’ Could Be Bearing Down on America’s Renters [i.e., in USA]
The economic downturn is shaping up to be particularly devastating for renters, who are more likely to be lower-income and work hourly jobs cut during the pandemic.
EUCLID, Ohio — The United States, already wrestling with an economic
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USA: The Coming Eviction Crisis |
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By :Megh Wright, New York magazine |
| 18 May 2020 |
Patriot Act Returns to Terrify You About an Eviction Crisis
Hasan Minhaj’s Netflix series, Patriot Act, returned last night with its first new episode since the pandemic began, and Minhaj wasted no time addressing the show’s new remote format: “Don’t think of this as a Netflix show compromising. Think of this as a YouTube video overachieving.”
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World Distracted, Amazon Keeps Burning |
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By :Agence France-Presse |
| 09 May 2020 |
With world distracted, the Amazon rainforest continues to burn
Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon hit a new high in the first four months of this year, with 1,202 square kilometres of forest wiped out
That was a 55 per cent increase from the same period last year, and the highest figure for
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USA: Which States Protect from Eviction? |
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By :Dan Keating and Lauren Tierney, The Washington Post |
| 29 April 2020 |
Which states are doing a better job protecting renters from being evicted during the coronavirus pandemic
For millions of renters who have lost income, rent day on May 1 is a looming disaster.
A majority of the country’s 43.8 million renting households have lost at least some of their income in the coronavirus shutdown,
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Kashmir: Broken Supply Chains |
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By :Nazir Masoodi, NDTV |
| 27 April 2020 |
Amid Lockdown, 3 Million Cartons Of Apples Lying In Kashmir Cold Storage
Kashmir produces 22 lakh (2,200,000) metric ton of apple every year which is over 70 per cent of the country`s total production.
SRINAGAR—The nationwide coronavirus lockdown has badly hit apple farmers in Jammu and Kashmir. As the farmers are not
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One Species Responsible for COVID-19 - Us |
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By :Josef Settele, Sandra Díaz, Eduardo Brondizio[1] and Peter Daszak[2] |
| 27 April 2020 |
The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES)
COVID-19 stimulus measures must save lives, protect livelihoods, and safeguard nature to reduce the risk of future pandemics
There is a single species that is responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic - us. As with the climate and biodiversity crises, recent pandemics are
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South Africa: Hsg Crisis, Eviction amid Lockdown |
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By :Kim Harrisberg, Thomon Reuters Foundation |
| 24 April 2020 |
Evictions, power cuts heighten South Africa housing crisis amid lockdown
JOHANNESBURG—From demolished shacks to water and electricity shutoffs, South Africa’s coronavirus lockdown is worsening the country’s housing crisis, despite government orders to suspend evictions, residents and activists warned.
With many unable to work or pay rent since stay-at-home orders went into effect
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Kashmir: Indian Residency Law Triggers Fury |
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By :Deutsche Welle |
| 04 April 2020 |
New Delhi has announced a controversial new domicile law for the highly disputed Himalayan region. Experts and rights activists warn the move could renew tensions in the already restive Muslim-majority territory.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi`s Hindu nationalist government has introduced a new set of laws for India-administered Kashmir, including a controversial
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Palestine: Land Day (joint statement) |
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By :NGOs |
| 30 March 2020 |
On Land Day, Civil Society Urges Accountability and the End to Israel’s Illegal Closure of Gaza
For the past two years,[1] Palestinians in the occupied Gaza Strip have gathered on a near-weekly basis to participate in the Great Return March demonstrations at the Gaza perimeter fence, calling for an end to
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Liberia: New Land Law Partial Victory |
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By :Jennifer O’Mahony, Mongabay Series: Global Forests, Global Palm Oil |
| 22 March 2020 |
New Land Law hailed as victory, but critics say it’s not enough
Areas allocated to rubber, oil palm and logging concessions cover around a quarter of Liberia’s total land mass.
Liberian activists and the international community have warned that land disputes on oil palm concessions were becoming a time bomb for conflict
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US Aid to Israel Razing Palestinian Homes |
| 16 March 2020 |
House Democrats ask if Israel violating US aid restriction by using resources to demolish Palestinian homes.
More than 60 Democratic lawmakers are pushing the Donald Trump administration to clarify whether Israel uses American military equipment to demolish Palestinian homes in the West Bank, hinting that doing so could trigger military aid
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USA: New SWATs Pursue Sanctuary City Migrants |
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By :Caitlin Dickerson and Zolan Kanno-Youngs, The New York Times |
| 14 February 2020 |
Border patrol will deploy elite tactical agents to sanctuary cities.Agents from a special tactical team that normally confronts smugglers on the border are being sent to sanctuary cities across the country.
The Trump administration is deploying law enforcement tactical units from the southern border as part of a supercharged arrest operation
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Bolsonaro`s Ambiguous Amazon Plan |
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By :Luciana Coelho and Gustavo Uribe, Folha de São Paulo |
| 10 February 2020 |
Bolsonaro`s Proposed Amazon Plan Is Vague and Uncertain. Officials improvised the proposed project on eve of Davos event to appease critics.
SÃO PAULO and BRASÍLIA—Bolsonaro`s finalized his plan for the Amazon right before the World Economic Forum in Davis, Switzerland. The government wanted to alleviate investor doubts about the government`s inaction in forest
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HIC-HLRN: New Ways to Work with UN Habitat |
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By :HIC-HLRN |
| 09 February 2020 |
ABU DHABI—At a networking event in the 10th World Urban Forum (WUF) to consider a new UN Habitat “Stakeholder Engagement Mechanism for Sustainable Development,” HIC-HLRN presented its contribution to the current discussion about the eventual methods and functions of UN Habitat’s partnership with civil society, local governments and authorities, and
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Brazil: President Opens Indigenous Land to Mining |
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By :Amazon Watch |
| 06 February 2020 |
Illegal Bill to Permit Mining on Indigenous Territories Proposed by Bolsonaro to Brazil`s Congress
Yesterday, marking his 400th day in office, Brazil`s extreme-right President Jair Bolsonaro proposed new legislation that would permit industrial mining, oil and gas projects, and hydroelectric dams on protected indigenous lands. The bill – which brazenly violates Brazil`s constitution
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How Chevron Crushes an Environment Defender |
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By :Sharon Lerner, The Intercept |
| 29 January 2020 |
How the Environmental Lawyer Who Won a Massive Judgment against Chevron Lost Everything
Last August, during the second-hottest year on record, while the fires in the Amazon rainforest were raging, the ice sheet in Greenland was melting, and Greta Thunberg was being greeted by adoring crowds across the U.S., something else happened
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Criminal Conspiracy of the Century |
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By :HLRN |
| 28 January 2020 |
In joint presentations, US President Donald Trump and pro tem Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu revealed the long-anticipated/-dreaded “deal of the century” today in a White House ceremony. The entitled “Peace to Prosperity” document is now available for scrutiny. The plan, echoing the South African vision of Grand Apartheid, seeks
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Wealth Inequality, not Over-population Causes Climate Crisis |
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By :The Conversation |
| 28 January 2020 |
Stop blaming population growth for climate change. The real culprit is wealth inequality. Consumption by the world’s richest 10% makes up half of the planet’s consumption-based CO₂ emissions. Why we should be wary of blaming ‘overpopulation’ for the climate crisis
The annual World Economic Forum in Davos brought together representatives from government and
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Remunicipalizing Our Cities |
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By :Dan Hancox, The Guardian |
| 19 January 2020 |
From sparkling water fountains to better waste services and lower drug prices, cities are showing the benefits of remunicipalisation In 2015, a strident editorial appeared in Global Water Intelligence, a trade magazine for the water industry, under the title: Exorcising the “R” word. “It would be a travesty,”
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CSOs Blast UN’s Corporate Take-over |
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By :FIAN and various CSOs |
| 16 January 2020 |
WEF takeover of UN strongly condemned. With the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos around the corner, hundreds of CSOs reiterate condemnation of the partnership between the corporate world with the UN.
As corporate executives fly into Davos for the annual meetings of the World Economic Forum (WEF),
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USA: ½ Million Homeless at Christmas |
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By :Alan Macleod, Mint Press News |
| 23 December 2019 |
This Christmas, over half a million persons in the United States will struggle with homelessness. The U.S. government estimates ending homelessness would cost around $20 billion, less than the amount spent on Christmas decorations that people in the U.S., who appears to have little appetite to address the growing social
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Canada: Town Dies amid Environmental Changes |
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By :Chris Arsenault, Thomson Reuters Foundation |
| 10 December 2019 |
Closing down: aging residents, falling fish stocks spell end for Canadian town. A tiny town in Canada is closing down, with residents in the tight-knit community packing their belongings and making the final preparations to shutter their homes
TORONTO—Perched along Canada`s windswept North Atlantic coast, the town of Little Bay Islands
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‘Amazon Completely Lawless’: Bolsonaro’s 1st Year |
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By :Matt Sandy. The New York Times |
| 05 December 2019 |
Deforestation in the world’s largest rainforest, an important buffer against climate change, has soared under President Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil.
RIO DE JANEIRO—When the smoke cleared, the Amazon could breathe easy again.
For months, black clouds had hung over the rainforest as work crews burned and chain-sawed through it. Now the rainy
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Framing the Inquiry into Land Inequality |
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By :Arantxa Guereña and Marc Wegerif |
| 30 October 2019 |
The International Land Coalition (ILC) has launched a research project on land inequality in the world, beginning with an exercise of framing the approach the many related complexities of land inequality. The result of that initial effort is a coherent framework for research and action with suggested themes and questions for
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Canada: Alberta’s Oil, Gas and Coal Scandal |
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By :Andrew Nikiforuk. TheTyee.ca |
| 08 October 2019 |
Alberta’s energy regulator blasted for conflicts, mismanagement and misusing millions. It’s no surprise, say critics of agency responsible for regulating oil, gas and coal production.
Critics of the energy regulator’s performance on issues like cleanup of abandoned well say that reports the agency was mismanaged are no surprise.
Three separate Alberta government
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USA: New Rule to Make Residents Homeless |
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By :Carey L. Biron, City |
| 13 August 2019 |
`We will become homeless`: U.S. residents fear housing rule change could force them out of homes. The rule change could make an entire household ineligible for social housing if a single member is undocumented, say experts.
WASHINGTON - Fears are mounting across the United States over a proposal by President Donald
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PHROC Rebukes Donor States over UNRWA Cuts |
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By :Palestinian Human Rights Organizations Council (PHROC) |
| 04 August 2019 |
Palestinian Refugees must not suffer the consequences of alleged misconduct. Palestinian Human Rights Organizations Council (PHROC) criticizes funding cuts to UNRWA over ethics evaluation.
PHROC: Support UNRWA and Ensure Refugee Rights under International Law
A ten-page report was issued by the ethics office of United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA)
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EU Now Funds Israel’s Destruction of Palestine |
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By :David Cronin, Rights and Accountability |
| 02 August 2019 |
The European Union is financing Israeli bodies that oversee home demolitions and other crimes against the Palestinian people.
Two years ago, Benjamin Netanyahu was heard complaining that the European Union was “crazy” for attaching “political conditions” to its relations with Israel. By the prime minister’s yardstick, matters have become less “crazy” since then:
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Most South Africa Municipalities Don’t Deliver |
| 02 July 2019 |
Most South African municipalities not delivering for citizens
If the South African public were ever in doubt at the reasons for service delivery protests in townships and municipalities, a closer look should be taken at the municipal audit report released by Auditor-General Kimi Makwetu who expressed concern at the financial mismanagement
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HIConcern over Treaty System Neglect |
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By :HIC-HLRN |
| 21 June 2019 |
The Human Rights Treaty System has long been an island of depoliticized truth seeking within the UN Organization. However, over the years, participants in the UN’s Human Rights Treaty Bodies have grown accustomed to the scarcity of resources and capacity needed to maintain the robust monitoring of the treaty performance
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USA: 36,000 Homeless in Los Angeles |
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By :Sam Levin, The Guardian |
| 04 June 2019 |
Los Angeles homeless population hits 36,000 in dramatic rise
More than 59,000 people are homeless across county as housing crisis plagues California
Los Angeles has experienced a 16% increase in the homeless population over the last year, the latest sign of severe income inequality and a worsening housing crisis plaguing California.
There
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A New UN Habitat Stakeholder Compact |
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By :HIC-HLRN |
| 30 May 2019 |
A group of stakeholder organizations in cooperation with UN Habitat have issued a vision statement for what they are calling a “new stakeholder compact” for implementing the New Urban Agenda (2016) in line with the global Sustainable Development Goals. On 30 May 2019, the stakeholders issued their declaration in a
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Zimbabwe Farmers Hawking to Survive |
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By :Jeffrey Moyo, IPS |
| 28 May 2019 |
Zimbabwe’s Resettled Farmers Hawking Cigarettes to Survive
MARONDERA, Zimbabwe—Subsistence farmer Rogers Hove proudly brandishes a worn-out letter for his five-hectare piece of land he obtained from government following the chaotic land seizures from white commercial farmers over two decades ago. What matters most to him, he says, “is to see my
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USA: HUD Discriminates against Transgender Homeless |
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By :Katy O`Donnell, Politico |
| 22 May 2019 |
HUD moves to allow discrimination against homeless transgender people. The proposal, included in the department’s spring rule list out Wednesday, contradicts a pledge that HUD Secretary Ben Carson made to lawmakers just yesterday.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development is moving to roll back protections for homeless transgender people by
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EU Partners with Israeli War-crime Financier |
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By :Ali Abunimah, Electronic Intifada |
| 21 May 2019 |
The European Union is expanding its partnership with Bank Leumi, a major financier of Israeli settler colonies on Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank.
The EU claims to oppose Israel’s construction of settlements in the occupied territories, a war crime.
However, on Monday, Emanuele Giaufret, the EU ambassador in Tel Aviv,
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USA: Seattle, Insurgent Sanctuary |
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By :Samantha Michaels, Mother Jones |
| 15 April 2019 |
Seattle’s Mayor Had the Perfect Response to Trump’s Threat to Send Immigrants to Sanctuary Cities: “The president’s threats won’t intimidate me.”
On Friday, President Donald Trump said his administration was seriously considering sending undocumented immigrants caught along the border to sanctuary cities around the country as a way to punish Democrats
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India’s Unrelenting Forced-eviction Crisis |
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By :HLRN-India |
| 09 April 2019 |
New report highlights the unrelenting crisis of forced evictions, finds over 200,000 persons evicted in India in 2018. Over 114 houses demolished every day, 23 people evicted every hour.
On the eve of India’s General Elections, Housing and Land Rights Network India (HLRN) held a press conference in New Delhi today
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Human Right to Adequate Housing v. Blackstone L.P. |
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By :HLRN |
| 26 March 2019 |
Today, UN Special Rapporteur on to Adequate Housing Leilani Farha held a press conference in Copenhagen to speak about letters that she and Surya Deva, Chair-Rapporteur of the UN Working Group on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises jointly released to governments and corporations
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United Nations` Land and Conflict Guidance |
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By :HIC-HLRN |
| 15 March 2019 |
Competition and control over land are among the common root causes and subjects of conflict, as well as the underlying factors hindering recovery and durable peace. Meanwhile, land has not been adequately treated in conflict management and resolution. At the same, the land and conflict nexus is only becoming more
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Crimea: Destroying Built Heritage, Erasing the Past |
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By :Halya Coynash, Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group |
| 13 March 2019 |
“Closed for Destruction”: Russia is digging up 16th Century Crimean Tatar Khan’s Palace
Video footage has shown new details of Russia’s wanton destruction of the Khan’s Palace in Bakhchysarai, with ordinary workers carrying out ‘excavation’ work, without any attempt to record and preserve artefacts found.
Edem Dudakov, the former head of the
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USA: Household Net Worth Plummets |
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By :Christopher Ingraham, Associate Press |
| 10 March 2019 |
Household net worth falls by largest amount since the Great Recession, new Fed data shows
In this Tuesday, 6 March 2018, photo homes stack up in a neighborhood in San Jose, Calif. NerdWallet calculated affordability for 173 metropolitan areas by comparing the median annual household income and the monthly principal-and-interest
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USA: Court Rules IFC Not Immune |
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By :Diane Desierto, European Journal of International Law blog |
| 28 February 2019 |
SCOTUS decision in Jam et al v. International Finance Corporation (IFC) denies absolute immunity to IFC…with caveats
When it rains, it somehow pours.
February 2019 ended up being such a landmark month for international law adjudication. A day after the International Court of Justice released its landmark Chagos Advisory Opinion (finely discussed by
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USA: Providing Homes Cheaper than Homelessness |
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By :Matthew Iglesias, Vox |
| 20 February 2019 |
The most cost-effective way to help the homeless is to give them homes. Addressing housing directly is cheaper than relying on cops and emergency rooms.
Even as the national economy continues its slow-but-steady pace of improvement, data released by the Department of Housing and Urban Development in December revealed a small
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Post-capitalism: Life within Environmental Limits |
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By :Dr Samuel Alexander and Professor Brendan Gleeson, University of Melbourne |
| 19 February 2019 |
Capitalism’s limitless growth on a finite planet means the economic system we take for granted could end soon. If so, transformative and sustainable change must come from grassroots action
It may seem as though capitalism has always been a part of the Western world, but that’s not true. Although the
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AU Summit on Displacement Crisis |
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By :HIC-HLRN |
| 09 February 2019 |
Already 55 years ago, the Organization of African States was born with the purpose of peace and unity in what is now the African Union (AU), the largest regional organization on earth. This year, the 32nd regular annual AU summit at Addis Ababa (10–11 February 2019) focuses on another distinguishing
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South Africa: Militarizing Repression in Durban |
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By :Abahlali baseMjondolo |
| 03 February 2019 |
Statement of Abahlali baseMjondolo
Last week, the news was full of reports on the arrival of three of the four Casspirs (mine-resistant ambush protected vehicles) that have been ordered by the eThekwini Municipality. We first heard about the order of the Casspirs in 2017, when it was reported that the
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Eating within Planetary Proportions |
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By :HLRN |
| 30 January 2019 |
The EAT-Lancet Commission on Food, Planet, Health has convened 37 of the worlds’ leading scientists to reach a scientific consensus that defines a healthy and sustainable diet within the limits of our global ecosystem. Their conclusions contribute to the specificity needed to align human behavior with the goal of sustaining the human
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World Bank Schemes to Privatize the Commons |
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By :Oakland Institute |
| 24 January 2019 |
The Highest Bidder Takes It All: The World Bank’s Scheme to Privatize the Commons details how the Bank’s prescribes reforms, via a new land indicator in the Enabling the Business of Agriculture (EBA) project, promotes large-scale land acquisitions and the expansion of agribusinesses in the developing world. This new indicator is
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USA: Homelessness Rising, Even in Utah |
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By :Gregory Scruggs, Place |
| 10 January 2019 |
Once a national model, Utah struggles with homelessness. Homelessness is on the rise in the United States for the second year in a row, the increase has been particularly noticeable in Utah
SALT LAKE CITY—Once lauded as a leader among U.S. cities struggling to relieve homelessness, the number of people sleeping
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USA: Gov`t. Shutdown Could Evict Millions |
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By :Jeff Andrews, Curbed |
| 07 January 2019 |
Funding for HUD’s rental assistance programs would lapse if shutdown drags on
Entering its third week, and with no end in sight, the partial federal government shutdown is putting millions of low-income tenants who depend on funding from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) at risk.
On January 4, HUD
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USA: More HUD Tenants Now Living in Squalor |
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By :Suzy Khimm, Laura Strickler, Hannah Rappleye and Stephanie Gosk. NBC News |
| 15 November 2018 |
Under Ben Carson, more families live in HUD housing that fails health and safety inspections
While HUD Secretary Ben Carson pledged to fix low-income housing, the number of properties cited for health and safety violations has been on the rise.
HARTFORD CT—The mold started in the basement. But it soon spread to
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Canada: Mass Eviction in Ottawa! |
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By :Jillian Kestler-D`Amours, AlJazeera |
| 21 September 2018 |
Heron Gate mass eviction: `We never expected this in Canada`
About 150 homes in one of Ottawa`s most diverse and affordable communities are expected to be torn down in coming months
OTTAWA—Binto Mohamed hasn`t had a good night`s sleep since May. That`s when she received a letter telling her that her family
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India: Questioning “Smart-city” Wisdom |
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By :Rina Chandran, place |
| 03 September 2018 |
As India adds 100 Smart Cities, one tells a cautionary tale
India`s $7.5 bln plan to turn 100 urban centres into Smart Cities by 2020 does not address structural issues and ignores the needs of low-income and marginalised groups, experts say
LAVASA, India—When David Cooper and his wife were looking for somewhere
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Kenya: Inhabitants Seek Protection from Evictions |
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By :Jillo Kadida, The Star |
| 01 August 2018 |
Residents of more than six Nairobi estates yesterday sought to stop their eviction by the government.
Houses are to be demolished today in Kaloleni, Makongeni, Mbotela, Mutindwa, Dandora and Kenyatta University villages, Lang’ata and Wilson-South C link road reserve.
Moses Nyakiongora served residents with the notice on July 19. He is the
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Progress in Land Indicators |
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By :Oumar Sylla and Everlyne Nairesiae |
| 30 July 2018 |
This July is the first time the United Nations will review the progress made towards meeting Sustainable Development Goal 15, which is about Life on Land. Each goal will be reviewed about every four years until 2030.
The reviews will be based on the 10 indicators countries agreed on, that assess change in
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Puerto Rico: Parasites in Paradise |
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By :Democracy Now |
| 06 June 2018 |
Puerto Rico continues to recover from Hurricane Maria as it commemorates 120 years of US occupation (since 1898). In the ongoing post-disaster phase, the island Is becoming a “playground for the privileged,” where disaster-capitalist investors move in as homes foreclose and schools close.
While healthcare, the public school system and infrastructure
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CA: World’s 5th Economy, Homeless No. 1 USA |
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By :Sal Rodriguez, Orange County Register |
| 04 May 2018 |
California has the 5th largest economy in the world yet leads the USA in poverty and homelessness.
California’s gross domestic product surpassed $2.7 trillion in 2017, reports the Associated Press, an output with places California’s economy ahead of the United Kingdom’s.
California now has the distinction of having the world’s fifth largest economy,
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Unearthing Truths: Israel, Nakba and JNF |
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By :The Editors of Moving Forward |
| 01 May 2018 |
The monthly Moving Forward is published with support from Jews Say No! That organization engages in community education, street theatre, and organizing to make their members’ voices heard in Jewish communities and as partners in the broader movement for justice in Palestine/Israel. The following article is the editorial to Moving
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USA: Forgotten Hurricane Harvey Devastation |
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By :Daniel J. McGraw, Next City |
| 30 April 2018 |
Houston got the press (and most of the funds), but the Category 4 storm made first, devastating landfall in coastal Port Aransas and Rockport. How rebuilding has forced these beach towns to confront a housing crisis.
The smallish, three-bedroom, blue-green house in the middle of Port Aransas is rather ordinary. Built
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USA: Trump Orders Air-quality Rules Degraded |
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By :Ledyard King, USA TODAY |
| 20 April 2018 |
President Trump directs EPA to ease air quality rules he says suffocates industry. EPA director Scott Pruitt confirmed that President Donald Trump will sign an executive order to roll back Obama-era power-plant environmental-protection regulations.
WASHINGTON—President Trump`s latest effort to boost the nation`s manufacturing sector is an industry-friendly rewrite of air quality
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Right to the City in Greater Beirut |
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By :HIC-HLRN and Amel Association |
| 14 April 2018 |
HLRN has just released its new publication Right to the City in Greater Beirut: Context Assessment in Light of the Refugee and Displacement Crisis. This assessment offers critical insight into municipal governance in Greater Beirut, a city largely formed and characterized by human migration through its history, while more recently
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USA: Time for Change - Race & Homelessness |
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By :Jeffrey Olivet and Marc Dones, SPARC and National Alliance to End Homelessness |
| 11 April 2018 |
In recent years, an increasingly urgent dialogue has emerged around race and equity in [the United States of] America. But that dialogue has generally overlooked one of the most visible manifestations of racial inequity: homelessness.
Homelessness is not colorblind. People of color are dramatically more likely than their White counterparts to
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1st Arab Conference on Land Governance |
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By :HIC-HLRN |
| 28 February 2018 |
Dubai Land Department announces the conclusion of the first Arab land governance conference
The conference, organized in partnership with the World Bank, the Global Land Tool Network, UN-HABITAT, the League of Arab States and the Arab Surveying Association, was attended by more than 300 participants, representing several regional and international bodies.
Dubai
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Homeless and Hungry in Paris |
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By :Sevenbilliontoday |
| 17 February 2018 |
Of Emmanuel Macron`s many bold promises since sweeping to power last year, his pledge to completely banish homelessness from the streets of France was perhaps the boldest.
The president gave himself until the close of 2017 to end rough-sleeping once and for all - but a midnight stroll through Paris shows
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USA: Tenants Say Trump Budget "Dead on arrival" |
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By :NAHT |
| 13 February 2018 |
HUD Tenant Leaders Demand Congress Declare Trump’s 2019 Budget “Dead on Arrival”
Elected leaders of the national US tenant union today demanded immediate rejection by Congress of President Donald Trump’s 2019 budget request, released on February 12.
“Trump’s budget will push millions of people from their homes; starve seniors, children and
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Pakistan: Empowering Sindh’s Landless Farmers |
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By :Amin Ahmed, Dawn |
| 05 February 2018 |
$5m project aims to empower Sindh’s landless farmers
An internationally funded project was launched in Sindh last week in an attempt to improve land tenancy for landless farmers.
Landless farmers (or haris) in the province usually have access to land as tenants through paperless agreements between them and landlords. Without having any
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Germany: Coalition Talks Focus on Housing Crisis |
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By :Michelle Martin, Andreas Rinke, Reuters |
| 04 February 2018 |
German coalition talks to continue on Monday and focus on health and labor
More than four months after a national election, Europe’s largest economy and pre-eminent power-broker is in political paralysis, causing concern among investors and partner countries that policymaking on issues such as Britain’s looming departure from the European Union
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China’s OBOR Project Dispossesses, Displaces Tibetans |
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By :David Brewster, Inside Policy |
| 24 January 2018 |
China’s Belt and Road Initiative will result in important strategic consequence for the countries of South Asia, writes David Brewster. But its impact on China itself should not be ignored.
In geopolitical terms, South Asia has long functioned like an island, nominally attached to Eurasia but not really part of it.
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Extreme Poverty Growing in USA |
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By :Premilla Nadasen, The Washington Post Perspective |
| 21 December 2017 |
The U.N. finds growing numbers of Americans are living in the most impoverished circumstances. How did we get here?
“Finish all your food,” my mother used to tell me. “There’s a child in Africa who would love to have that food on your plate.” It was an effective disciplinary approach, especially
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Canada: New 10-year $40B Housing Strategy |
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By :Peter Zimonjic, CBC News |
| 22 November 2017 |
Liberals detail $40B for 10-year national housing strategy, introduce Canada Housing Benefit. New strategy aims to build 100,000 new units, repair 300,000 and cut homelessness by 50%.
The federal government has announced the details of its ten-year national housing strategy, which includes the introduction of a housing benefit for families that
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Germany: Merkel`s Housing Crisis |
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By :Rebecca Pinnington, Express (London) |
| 14 November 2017 |
Germany is facing a shocking housing crisis with 1.2 million people expected to be living in homeless shelters by 2018.
The Federal Homeless Association estimates the current number of homeless people in the country totals around 860,000.
That figure is expected to rise another 40 per cent to 1.2 million by the
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EPA: Puerto Ricans Resorts to Toxic Water |
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By :MSN News |
| 15 October 2017 |
EPA says Puerto Rico residents resorted to contaminated water at Dorado Superfund site
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UN Finance-for-development Reform |
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By :Jomo Kwame Sundaram, IPS |
| 30 August 2017 |
KUALA LUMPUR—Growing global interdependence poses greater challenges to policy makers on a wide range of issues and for countries at all levels of development. Yet, the new mechanisms and arrangements put in place over the past four decades have not been adequate to the growing challenges of coherence and coordination
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Houston Drowning—in Its Freedom from Regulations |
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By :Steve Russell, Newsweek |
| 28 August 2017 |
We do value our freedom here in Texas. As I write from soggy Central Texas, the cable news is showing people floating down Buffalo Bayou on their principles, proud residents of the largest city in these United States that did not grow in accordance with zoning ordinances.
The feeling there was
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No SDGs without Major Progress on Land |
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By :Luca Chinotti, International Land Coalition |
| 28 July 2017 |
Land and the SDGs: Key takeaways from the 2017 HLPF and what we need to do next
This was the clear and strong message that was brought by the land community into the major global forum on the SDGs, the High Level Political Forum (HLPF), which is the central platform for
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“Spotlight” on UN High-Level Forum, SDGs |
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By :HIC-HLRN |
| 10 July 2017 |
As the UN High-Level Forum opens in New York, a global civil society report spotlights the role of big business in hindering development and deepening economic and social disparity.
Unbridled privatization, corporate capture and mass-scale tax abuse are blocking progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals, argues a new report by a
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CSOs Denounce Brazil Urban Policy Regression |
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By :GPR2C |
| 27 June 2017 |
Since the 1980s, Brazil has been developing its legal frameworks and structuring policies progressively to reflect the international agreements that protect human rights and address the inequalities of cities, which exclude millions of people from accessing adequate standards of living. All the steps forward, closely related to the organization and
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USA: Rep. Bill to Make Disabled Homeless |
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By :Updated by Dylan Matthews, Vox |
| 22 June 2017 |
These are all the people the Senate health care bill will hurt
The actual policies contained in the Better Care Reconciliation Act, the Senate Republican plan introduced on Thursday to repeal and replace Obamacare, would help some Americans a lot. The biggest winners are households making $250,000 a year or more,
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England: Race, Class and Grenfell Tower Fire |
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By :Skylar Baker-Jordan, HuffPost |
| 15 June 2017 |
The flames hadn’t even been extinguished from Grenfell Tower before people started screaming that no one should “politicise” this tragedy. As I type this, though, at least 12 people are dead, and authorities expect that number to drastically climb. Most of those who perished, or who lost everything in the
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India: Landless Women Attacked in Odisha |
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By :Ranjana Padhi, The Wire |
| 02 May 2017 |
The powers that be in Sipasarubali, Odisha work to take over forest land to build a beach resort, villagers who are trying to fight them are under attack.
Puri, Odisha: On April 28, a friend and I went to Gola and Gopinathpur villages in Odisha to meet activists who, in the early 1990s, had
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USA: Tenants Mobilize for 2018 People`s Budget |
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By :HIC-HLRN |
| 20 February 2017 |
In the United States, the 2016 Democratic Party Platform featured stronger-than-ever language that seemed to embrace most of the substantive recommendations that the National Alliance of HUD Tenants (NAHT) proposed that year: increased funding for vouchers, public housing repairs, fair housing, although without specific dollar recommendations. In preparing for the
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EU’s Biggest Pension Funds Invest Big in Colonies |
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By :Mikkel Bahl, Hanan Chemlali & Kristoffer Marslev, Danwatch |
| 31 January 2017 |
Europe’s largest pension funds heavily invested in illegal Israeli settler colonies.
Europe’s five largest pension funds have €7.5 billion invested in companies with business activities in and around illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories. This is at odds with United Nations guidelines, clear warnings from 18 European countries, and undermines
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Why Pope Francis Keeps Reaching out to Mayors |
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By :Simone d`Antonio, Citiscope |
| 27 January 2017 |
VATICAN CITY—When the Pope calls you to Rome, you go.
Dozens of mayors from around the world heeded the call in 2015, when Pope Francis invited them to the Vatican to discuss actions their cities could take against climate change and human trafficking. And it happened again last month, when Francis
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“Sanctuary Cities” Defy Trump Threats |
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By :Spencer Buell, Boston Daily |
| 25 January 2017 |
Boston, Somerville mayors defiant after trump’s sanctuary city orders. Marty Walsh and Joe Curtatone say they won’t back down amid threats of federal funding cuts.
Boston Mayor Marty Walsh and Somerville Mayor Joe Curatone took a stand against Donald Trump Wednesday after the president announced a blockbuster executive order to target so-called
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Trump Can’t Force Cities to Deport |
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By :Erwin Chemerinsky, Annie Lai and Seth Davis, The Washington Post |
| 22 January 2017 |
Cities and public universities are exercising their constitutional authority when they declare themselves “sanctuaries” in response to Donald Trump’s vow to deport 2 million to 3 million immigrants upon taking office next month. Trump has threatened to force state and local governments to implement his deportation policies, including by taking
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USA: 1st Trump Act Violates Housing Rights |
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By :Tom Cahill, U.S.Uncut |
| 20 January 2017 |
In First Act as President, Trump Raises Mortgage Rates on Struggling Homeowners
After Donald Trump was sworn in as president, he delivered his inaugural address. Then he went to the White House, whereupon he stuck it to homeowners.
One of President Obama’s last acts as head of the executive branch was to
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World Bank’s Agriculture Initiative Criticized |
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By :Brettonwoods Project |
| 18 January 2017 |
Civil society has called on the World Bank to terminate its Enabling the Business of Agriculture initiative.
In mid-January, 157 organisations and individuals sent a letter to World Bank president Jim Yong Kim calling for the termination of the Bank’s Enabling the Business of Agriculture initiative (EBA, see Bulletin May 2014,
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USA: Will HUD Benefit Trump? |
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By :Allan Smith, businessinsider |
| 12 January 2017 |
At the Senate hearings vetting US President-elect Donald Trump’s Cabinet appointees, Sen. Elizabeth Warren questioned proposed Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Dr. Ben Carson over whether he could guarantee that money distributed by HUD will not enrich President-elect Donald Trump. He failed that fundamental ethical test, apparently unable to
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Sri Lanka: Clashes over Land in China Port Deal |
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By :abc.net.au |
| 07 January 2017 |
Sri Lankan police used water cannons to try to break up violent clashes between government supporters and villagers marching against what they say is a plan to take over private land for an industrial zone in which China will have a major stake.
Key points:
Clash takes place as Prime Minister attends
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India: Over 33K Homes Demolished in 2015–16 |
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By :HIC-HLRN |
| 22 December 2016 |
Over 33,000 homes demolished in urban India between 2015 and 2016
New Delhi—Data collected by Housing and Land Rights Network (HLRN) reveals that public authorities in India, in both the central and state spheres of government, forcibly have evicted at least 33,257 families across urban centers between January 2015 and December
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USA: Albuquerque Helps Homeless & Saves Money |
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By :Colin Woodard, Politico |
| 18 December 2016 |
How Albuquerque figured out how to really help its homeless population. And save money in the process.
ALBUQUERQUE—Under a cloudless desert sky, David Kelhoyoma, a Marine veteran who help liberate Kuwait City during the first Gulf War, roamed the top of a city landfill, stuffing stray bits of plastic into a
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Brazil: Social Rights under Siege |
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By :CESR, CONECTAS and INESC |
| 10 December 2016 |
Brazil is on the cusp of adopting a constitutional amendment that will undermine fundamental human rights for generations to come. The Proposed Constitutional Amendment 55 (or PEC 55 in its Portuguese acronym), which is currently being debated in the Senate, will freeze public spending in real terms for the next
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EU Aid Rewards Western Sahara Occupation |
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By :WSRW |
| 24 November 2016 |
For the second year in a row, the Moroccan government has spent most of the EU`s fish sector support on the development of the fishing industry in occupied Western Sahara. And the EU was fully aware of it.
Under the EU-Morocco Fisheries Partnership Agreement, entered into force in July 2014, Morocco
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Resisting Reed: Atlanta’s Peoplestown v. Mayor |
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By :Atlanta Progressive News |
| 24 November 2016 |
This Thanksgiving Day, Mayor Kasim Reed is thankful for eminent domain. Meanwhile, Peoplestown residents fight back.
ATLANTA—On Monday, November 21, 2016, the Housing Justice League, along with twenty residents from Atlanta’s Peoplestown community, tried to hand deliver a petition with over 6,000 signatures to Mayor Kasim Reed, asking him to stop
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Vancouver Mayor’s “Intense” Housing Crisis |
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By :Ashifa Kassam, The Guardian |
| 21 November 2016 |
Vancouver mayor on housing crisis: “I never dreamed it would get this intense.”
Gregor Robertson’s platform in 2008 vowed affordable housing and an end to homelessness. Eight years and three terms later, the city’s housing market is in a perilous place – and has forced the mayor to get creative
His first
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Public Payment for Royal Renovations Opposed |
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By :HIC-HLRN and Metro.uk |
| 19 November 2016 |
Britain is experiencing a national crisis in housing and the National Health Service, while austerity is forcing cuts in many social services. Yesterday, the press announced a decision by the British prime minister and chancellor to pay an additional £369m from the public purse for a major 10-year refurbishment to
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Sanctuary Cities Steadfast Despite Trump Threats |
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By :teleSUR |
| 11 November 2016 |
“We have to see what happens, but we’re not going to change our DNA because of politics,”
—San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee.
“Undocumented and unafraid!”
These were the defiant chants of protesters outside of San Francisco`s Department of Homeland Security – Immigration and Customs Enforcement (DHS-ICE) office.
“(But) there is fear.
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USA: Homeless Camps Offering Democracy Lesson |
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By :Patrick Strickland, Al Jazeera |
| 04 November 2016 |
Overlooked in the elections, Portland’s homeless are organising their own camps on their own terms, but fear evictions.
PORTLAND, Oregon—When Marge Pettitt`s seven-year-old daughter broke down in tears in a homeless shelter in 2009, she made one of the hardest decisions of her life: Sending the child to live with her
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Colombia: Land Conflict to Civil War to Peace? |
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By :VoA and others |
| 24 September 2016 |
Land conflicts feared in wake of Colombia peace accord
BOGOTÁ—Conflicts over land in Colombia are likely to increase following a peace deal to end half a century of war as once no-go areas in the Andean country open up for business and development projects, land rights experts said.
The government and rebel
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Boston USA: Campaigning to Save Public Housing |
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By :NAHT |
| 22 August 2016 |
Mass Alliance of HUD Tenants (MAHT) spearheads campaign for City Vouchers to save our homes!
In response to Boston’s growing housing and homelessness crisis, MAHT is spearheading a broad coalition of housing and community groups to propose a city-funded voucher program. The program would provide “Housing First” for people experiencing homelessness in
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USA`s Hidden Homeless: Life in the Starlight Motel |
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By :Carolyn Bick, Al Jazeera |
| 30 July 2016 |
Residents of a motel in Massachusetts share their stories to reveal the extent of the U.S. hidden homelessness problem.
Massachusetts, USA—It is the fourth time that Tiffany Drew has lived in the Starlight Motel, and the third time she has been pregnant here.
Today, like every time she is pregnant, she has
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U.S. Congress Mulls Lifting Protection of Commons |
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By :Matt Lee-Ashley and Jenny Rowland, ThinkProgress |
| 10 July 2016 |
Congressional proposal would create a Texas-sized “Republic of Cliven Bundy”
Cliven Bundy may be in jail, but he still has friends in Congress.
The U.S. House of Representatives next week is expected to vote on a proposal that would exempt 48 counties, primarily in the West, from the law that has been
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MEQ Issues New Report, Maintains Old Inertia |
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By :HIC-HLRN |
| 01 July 2016 |
In line with their decision announced in Munich on 12 February 2016 and underlining their commitment to support a comprehensive, just, and lasting resolution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the representatives of the Middle East Quartet (MEQ) has issued its 2016 report today. The report issued by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey
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Zimbabwe Diamond-displaced Villagers Seek Help |
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By :Reuters |
| 13 June 2016 |
Zimbabwe Villagers Displaced by Diamond Mining Seek Government Help. More than 1,000 families were moved from their village in 2009.
MUTARE, Zimbabwe—Villagers relocated to a sprawling government-owned farm complex in eastern Zimbabwe to make way for the nation’s biggest diamond field are hoping that President Robert Mugabe’s move to take control
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Brazil: Guarani & Kaiowá Face Forced Eviction |
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By :FIAN International |
| 12 June 2016 |
With no access to their legitimate territory, the members of the Guarani and Kaiowá Apyka`i community will be prevented from exercising their fundamental rights as indigenous peoples, including feeding themselves adequately.
Despite intensive and coordinated international action, the sentence by the 1st Federal Court of Dourados, Mato Grosso do Sul has followed
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Struggle in the City for Tibetan Nomads |
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By :Benjamin Haas, AFP |
| 23 March 2016 |
ABA (OCCUPIED TIBET)—By mid-morning, Lobsang’s leather cowboy hat is askew, his black robes dishevelled, and his breath stinks of booze. Once a nomad herder roaming the high Tibetan plateau, instead he stumbles around his sparse new concrete house.
For decades he and his wife grazed yaks and sheep, living a life
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Kochs Funding Bundy Land-seizure Agenda |
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By :Jenny Rowland and Matt Lee-Ashley, ThinkProgress |
| 13 February 2016 |
The ultra-conservative billionaire Koch brothers are now funding the Bundy land-seizure agenda
The political network of the conservative billionaires Charles and David Koch signalled last week that it is expanding its financial and organizational support for a coalition of anti-government activists and militants who are working to seize and sell America’s
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HLRN-India Launches Habitat III Status Report |
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By :HLRN-India |
| 05 February 2016 |
New Delhi—On Friday, Housing and Land Rights Network (HLRN) launched its first Habitat III country report titled, Housing and Land Rights in India: Status Report for Habitat III. The United Nations (UN) Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat III)—the third bidecennial international conference on habitat issues—will be held
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HIC-critics on Habitat III Policy Papers |
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By :HIC |
| 05 February 2016 |
Since the very early stages of the Habitat III preparations, Habitat International Coalition (HIC) has called for the integrity of the Habitat II (1996) commitments and modalities; this demand has three related aspects:
• Processes must uphold the Habitat II-established principle to be as inclusive as possible;
• Maintain the Habitat Agenda,
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USA: Ten Facts about Flint |
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By :Michael Moore, MichaelMoore |
| 30 January 2016 |
On his site, U.S. filmmaker Michael Moore writes a public letter "10 Things They Won’t Tell You About the Flint Water Tragedy. But I Will." Read his letter below and follow the link to sign and share the accompanying petition.
FLINT MI—News of the poisoned water crisis in Flint has reached
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Ethiopia`s Development Crackdown on Dissent |
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By :Charles Stratford, Al Jazeera |
| 10 January 2016 |
Rights groups say 140 people killed in recent weeks as government moves forward with controversial development plans.
Wolonkomi, Ethiopia—Security forces have killed at least 140 people during a crackdown on anti-government demonstrations in Ethiopia in recent weeks, activists and rights groups say.
The protests by members of the country`s largest ethnic group,
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HIC Takes on COP21 |
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By :HIC-HLRN |
| 05 December 2015 |
HIC is participating in the current Conference of Parties, also known as COP21, which is gathering the 195 countries that have joined and ratified the UN Framework Climate Change Convention (UNFCCC) following the Rio Earth Summit in 1992. In an effort address climate change, the states and organizations convened are
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NYC Coop Plan for Affordable Real Estate |
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By :Cat Johnson, Shareable |
| 24 September 2015 |
Faced with the rising rents of commercial properties in cities, one New York organization is modeling a way for people to invest in permanently affordable, commercial real estate. The New York City Real Estate Investment Cooperative (REIC) leverages patient crowdfunding—small investments by a large number of people over time—to turn
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HIC Reviews Habitat III Issue Papers |
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By :HIC-HLRN |
| 31 July 2015 |
Habitat International Coalition has just issued its compilation of inputs from Members and officers following their review of the Habitat III Issue Papers. The 22 thematic contributions from technical experts selected by the UN-Habitat/Habitat III Secretariat have been drafted as a framework for the debate leading up to the Third
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Saudi Arabia Bulldozes Its Heritage |
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By :Carla Power, Time |
| 14 November 2014 |
For centuries, the Kaaba, the black cube in the center of Mecca, Saudi Arabia that is Islam`s holiest point, has been encircled by arched porticos erected some three centuries ago by the Ottomans, above dozens of carved marble columns dating back to the 8th Century. But earlier this month, any
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The Right to the City: Jerusalem |
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By :Joseph Schechla |
| 26 October 2014 |
HIC-HLRN has produced a new report from an ongoing study on the prospects of realizing the principles of the “right to the city” for specific cities in several regions.
This report finds that applying the "right to the city" in Jerusalem challenges the current governance grounded in discrimination against, and dispossession of
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