Front page, World Report 2013, Human Rights Watch

 

In the World Report 2013, Human Rights Watch takes a glance at human rights issues worldwide from the end of 2011 until November 2012. The report is an important account of the human rights situation, both through introductory essays and keynote by executive director Kenneth Roth – drawing up the lines of some of the main challenges in regards of securing the respect of the Human rights, and through accounts of violations and challenges by country.

The report does not thematically discuss violations in regards of the right to adequate shelter, or issues related to inhabitants in marginalized urban areas and city dwellers affected by conflict and tensions. However, the report provides important reminders of the kind of grave violations that often harm those living in this kind of urban areas, depriving them a minimum of safety and possibilities for a better life. Underlining the fact that people living outside the formal city often find themselves outside the formal legal protection by the state, and often are deprived their rights by the state itself.

The report addresses among other things public security and police conduct in the larger cities in Brazil facing high crime rates, how already internally displaced people after the 2010 earthquake in Haiti now are threat by evictions from the camps they now live in, the Israeli governments severe restrictions on Palestinians’ right to freedom of movement and discriminatory home demolitions, attacks on civilian residential areas from both Palestinian and Israeli sides and the displacement crisis due to the Syrian uprising.

The report is recommended reading for anyone interested in cities and settlements issues in an international perspective. Full report is available for download here.