HIGHLIGHTS OF RESULTS HIGHLIGHTS OF RESULTS Highlights of pillar results Development (D) PILLAR RESULTS / SHIFTS / SDGs RESULTS / SPOTLIGHTS D1 Following a series of technical support activities provided by UN Human Rights, Cameroon’s National Commission on Human Rights adopted an Action Plan on business and human rights. The Plan was presented at the Commission’s twenty-fifth ordinary session on 7 December 2018 and received a firm commitment from members to examine ways of ensuring that the necessary resources would be available for its implementation. UN Human Rights will continue to provide advisory support to the Commission to facilitate the successful implementation of the Plan. Judicial and non-judicial mechanisms hold business and other economic actors to account for rights abuses and provide remedies to victims. Spotlights: Youth Disabilities Women D4 Public health approaches, including sexual and reproductive health policies, comply with international human rights standards and provide non-discriminatory access, especially to children, adolescents, women and migrants. In Kenya, following advocacy efforts undertaken by UN Human Rights and the Special Rapporteur on human rights and the environment in May, three environmental human rights activists who had testified in a trial seeking compensation and remedial action for lead poisoning of a slum in Mombasa, were placed under Kenya’s witness protection programme. UN Human Rights paid a portion of their legal fees and supported the attendance of critical witnesses in the case. D2 Business actors implement the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights effectively. With support from UN Human Rights, progress was achieved in Cambodia with regard to solving land disputes through non-judicial mechanisms. UN Human Rights provided technical assistance and observed a mediation process between the SOCFIN Company and the Bunong Indigenous Peoples community regarding traditional land that was granted to the company in 2007 as an Economic Land Concession. The support from UN Human Rights contributed to solving most of the disputes related to collective land. Support for dispute resolution began in 2015. In 2017, the Independent Mediation Group launched a mediation process. To address the power imbalance between the company and the Bunong community, UN Human Rights provided financial support to the NGO Legal Aid of Cambodia to help train community representatives in mediation skills and provide legal advice during the mediation. UN Human Rights engagement with civil society in North Macedonia concentrated on technical advice and support for organizations working on sexual and reproductive health and rights so they could bring the concerns of those most excluded to the attention of the international human rights mechanisms. This strategy was particularly timely as two treaty bodies, namely, CEDAW and CRPD, were preparing to consider the State’s reports. With UN Human Rights guidance, several civil society organizations reached out to women farmers and Roma women living in substandard settlements, including by facilitating their participation in the civil society organizations’ oral presentation in front of the CEDAW Committee in November in Geneva. In Colombia, indigenous authorities and the Governor of Amazonas reached an agreement to advance the implementation of an Indigenous Intercultural Health System. UN Human Rights contributed by promoting the Permanent Round-table for Inter-Administrative Coordination in Leticia, during which it advised the departmental government and indigenous governments on the right to health and other economic and social rights of indigenous peoples. D5 Environmental and climate policies and plans increasingly respect, protect and fulfil human rights, guaranteeing those affected access to information, decision-making, public participation and remedies. The decision text agreed at the 2018 UN Climate Change Conference (COP24) includes a clear reference to the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. UN Human Rights consistently advocated for the inclusion of civil society in environmental decision-making processes and supported the successful operationalization of the Local Communities and Indigenous Peoples Platform. This is the first UN mechanism related to climate change to have equal participation from States and indigenous peoples. In Mexico, UN Human Rights advised Mexico’s largest mining company Grupo México which was responsible for a massive leak of toxic materials into the Sonora River - one of Mexico’s worst environmental disasters - on the incorporation of a human rights-based approach into their community involvement policies, on the development of a complaint and remedy system and on the possible future application of a due diligence policy. D3 State authorities adopt and implement laws, policies and strategies on land and housing that increasingly comply with human rights. 24 UN HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT 2018 Shifts: By the end of 2018, 15 cities had signed on to The Shift initiative that the Special Rapporteur on adequate housing established together with UN Human Rights and United Cities and Local Governments, an international umbrella organization of local governments. The Initiative calls for housing to be approached as a human right, not merely a commodity. The cities that joined in 2018 were Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin, Durban, Ghent, Lisbon, London, Madrid, Greater Manchester, Mexico City, Montevideo, Montreal, New York City, Paris and Seoul. Global Constituency Prevention Civic Space D6 Human rights assessments and impact analyses mitigate, prevent or redress the negative effects of economic, trade and development policies and projects. Shifts: Climate change Corruption UN Human Rights co-published a report, with the Heinrich Böll Foundation, entitled The Other Infrastructure Gap: Sustainability. This publication provides recommendations to policy and decision-makers on how, for the sake of sustainable development, human rights and environmental benefits can be maximized and risks avoided or mitigated. The recommendations call on States, relevant international organizations and private sector actors to examine the potential human rights and environmental impacts of mega-infrastructure projects. The publication highlights the positive economic and social benefits of efforts to avoid and mitigate human rights and environmental risks and of prioritizing the rights of women, indigenous peoples and other population groups who may lack access to affordable infrastructure services. Inequalities New technologies People on the move UN HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT 2018 25