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Human rights

20 June – World Refugee Day

19 June 2017

In commemoration of World Refugee Day, Public Services International (PSI) calls for solidarity with the millions of refugees worldwide, underscoring that quality public services are vital in promoting their human rights, inclusion and integration in societies.

In the prison where the massacre took place, conditions are bad for the prisoners and precarious for the staff

21 February 2017

The company managing the prison has stated that it does not exercise police powers of enforcement inside the Manaus prison, however this task is stipulated in the contract signed with the government of the state of Amazonas and was observed during visits made by human rights advocates.

Why privatization simply aggravates the crisis in Brazilian prisons

21 February 2017

The mass slaughter that took place earlier this year in a prison in northern Brazil shows that when prisons are managed by private companies it does not solve the problem but rather contributes to their deterioration.

The United Nations General Assembly approves Declaration on the Right to Peace

09 February 2017
Paz

For some years now, the PSI, along with 50 other civil society organisations, has participated in an international campaign to persuade the UN to formally agree that “the right to peace is a condition for a democratic and equitable order”. On 19 December 2016, the United Nations General Assembly finally approved Resolution 71/189, adopting the Declaration on the Right to Peace proposed by the Human Rights Council.

American Federation of Teachers Resolutions - 2016

31 December 2016

Click the links bellow to see the 2016 AFT resolutions.

In Brazil, public spending will be frozen for 20 years

14 December 2016

"Unfortunately, if this measure is not reversed, the scenario for the next two decades is disastrous: chaos will be installed in the public health and education systems, while the privatization of the sector will be increased", says Jocelio Drummond, from Public Services International. Protests against the measure were severely repressed.

UN alert: freezing of public spending for 20 years in Brazil will violate human rights

09 December 2016

"This amendment would lock in inadequate and rapidly dwindling expenditure on health care, education and social security, thus putting an entire generation at risk of social protection standards well below those currently in place", says Philip Alston, United Nations Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights.

PSI at the Open-ended intergovernmental working group on transnational corporations and other business enterprises with respect to human rights

Date: 
24 October, 2016 to 28 October, 2016

From 24 to 28 October 2016, Public Services International, together with Governments, regional and political groups, intergovernmental organizations, civil society, NGOs and many other relevant stakeholders, will be participating in the 2nd public meetings of the Open-ended intergovernmental working group on transnational corporations and other business enterprises with respect to human rights (OEIWG), which could lead to the adoption of an international legally binding instrument on transnational corporations (TNCs or MNEs).

Guatemala: PSI mission to check progress on Roadmap

13 September 2016

A PSI mission headed by its General Secretary, Rosa Pavanelli, visited Guatemala from 28 August to 1 September to observe in situ the progress on the Roadmap agreed with the ILO.

Democracy demands more: repression and trials in South Korea

02 August 2016
Photos: ITF

The International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) concluded a week-long visit to South Korea and witnessed first-hand the ongoing criminalisation of labour union rights in the country. Here is the ITF president Paddy Crumlin's account of this trip.