Promoting Palestinian Economic Regeneration and Development
On the 19th February 2008, Rights and Humanity was invited to participate in a meeting on ‘Supporting Palestinian Economic Regeneration and Development’ hosted by Lord Ahmed of Rothermere at the House of Lords.

Our President was a keynote speaker with a presentation entitled “Economic Factors in Promoting Justice: A Human Rights Approach”. She stressed the importance of international human rights law as an objective non-partisan framework for ensuring economic justice, peace and justice for all people affected by the conflict.

Her theme became the key point of discussion in the meeting and participants decided to invite Rights and Humanity to co-host the next meeting to look at this issue in more depth. Discussions are currently under way with the Scottish Parliament to organise a similar meeting there.

• H.E. Professor Manuel Hassassian (Palestinian General Delegation, Ambassador to the UK),
• His Grace The Right Revd Bishop Riah Abu El-Assal, (former Anglican Bishop In Jerusalem) (speech read on his behalf)
• Julia Häusermann, MBE, Founder and President, Rights and Humanity
• Muddassar Ahmed (General Secretary, Muslim Labour Movement; Stephen O’Brien (Chair, International Business Leaders Forum)
• Husam Zomlot (Political Advisor to the Palestinian General delegation to the UK)
• Mr Iqbal Khan (former CEO HSBC)
• Clive Hambidge (Abstract Artist; event co-convener)
• Soraya Boyd(Human Rights Campaigner event co-convener)

The meeting marked the launch of the Muslim Labour Movement.

Guatemala -The spirit of Water Conference Nov/Dec 2007
In late November/early December 2007, Rights and Humanity was invited to bring our expertise to the Fifth Forum on the Spirituality of the Indigenous Peoples of America - “The Spirit of the Water” with a keynote presentation on the right to water.

The conference was held on the shores of Lake Atitlán in Santiago Atitlán, Guatemala. It brought together the scientific, academic, and legal communities with the spiritual circles of Maya Elders and other indigenous peoples of the Americas.

The gathering strengthened the links between the scientific and ancestral wisdom of the Waters, and established a link between indigenous tradition and those who are responsible for creating environmental policy. Rights and Humanity’s participation ensured that the human rights dimension was integrated into the discussions and brought a multi-faith approach to the discussions around the spirit of water.

Rights and Humanity has been invited to take our Programme of Thought Leadership and Innovation to Guatemala and several participants at the Conference agreed to be involved.

The conference was co-sponsored by Tinamit Junan Uleu – Earth Peoples United, the Inter-American Council for Indigenous Spirituality, CISEI, and the Great Confederation of Main Councils “Ajq’ijab” from the Mayan community of Guatemala.

Sir Mark Moody-Stuart and Jon Snow feature in Video
Rights and Humanity has produced a film in which Sir Mark Moody-Stuart (Chair of The UN Global Compact Foundation and Anglo American) is interviewed by Jon Snow (Channel 4 News) on the effectiveness of the UN Global Compact in encouraging corporate responsibility and respect for human rights.

This film was first shown at our conference at Central Hall Westminster, London, in November 2007.

The Sky’s the Limit – Conference in London November 2007
15-17 November 2007, Rights and Humanity cooperated in hosting an international conference entitled “The Sky’s the Limit” together with Be The Change, the World Future Council, The Converging World, and The New Economics Foundation.

The unprecedented challenge of climate change requires a fundamental shift in our thinking and action. We need a holistic and integrated approach to ensuring environmental protection, human rights, social inclusion and poverty elimination. These challenges demand a transformation of political, economic and social dynamics.

In three days of presentations, debates, world cafes – and films and music – participants combined their creative energies identifying new, solution-oriented responses to these fundamental questions and the actions we need to take – in our homes, our communities, our companies and our governments

Our President’s speech, “Living Human Rights and Responsibilities” received a standing ovation for its inspiration and practical advice on using a human rights and responsibilities approach to tackling climate change. This prompted us to make a commitment to bringing the environmental, development and human rights communities together, which is vital in order to bring about global lasting change. As a result, Rights and Humanity is convening the Human Rights and Environment Forum© in order to bridge the gap between these fields.

The conference was dedicated to Dame Anita Roddick, who died on September 10, 2007. She inspires us all to intensify our work in the spirit and determination she personified.
We were joined by some truly inspiring individuals – amongst them:

• Maude Barlow (Canadian author, on water rights)
• Drew Dellinger (poet, USA)
• Nicky Gavron (London’s Deputy Mayor)
• Herbert Girardet (World Future Council)
• Julia Hausermann (Rights and Humanity)
• Rob Hopkins (Transition Towns)
• Bianca Jagger (World Future Council)
• Prof. C.S. Kiang (China’s great environmentalist)
• Frances Moore Lappé (US author, on democracy)
• George Monbiot (author, on climate change)
• Jonathon Porritt (UK Sustainable Development Commission)
• Richard Reed (Innocent Drinks)
• Hermann Scheer (German renewable energy pioneer)
• Vandana Shiva (Indian scientist and campaigner)
• Stewart Wallis (new economics foundation)
• John Whitmore (leading business coach)
• and others - entrepreneurs, activists, scientists, film-makers, poets and musicians.

Participation in Hearing on the Right to Health, South Africa
In June 2007, Rights and Humanity was invited by the South African Human Rights Commission to participate in public hearings on the right to access to health care services. The enquiry took place in Johannesburg, South Africa. The right to access to health care is one of the rights protected in the South African Constitution to which Rights and Humanity contributed.

The public hearing was attended by the Minister of health of showing how seriously the government viewed the hearings. The public had been invited to make written submissions to the SAHRC and key stakeholders were invited to make oral submissions over three days. These revealed significant problems in the public health sector and obstacles faced in accessing health by poor and vulnerable people.

Our President Julia Häusermann was the only invited international participant. She was unexpectedly invited to speak at the end of the hearing to give her opinion. She acknowledged the progress made since the overthrow of apartheid and racial divisions of the past, but considered that priority should now be to ensuring equality of access to everyone, including poor people and those suffering marginalisation -e.g. disabled people and those with mental ill health.

Ms Häusermann reminded the SAHRC that the international obligation to overcome discrimination was an immediate obligation, rather than one that could be realised progressively. She stressed the importance of viewing the right to access to health care services within the wider remit of the socioeconomic determinates of health and stressed the urgency of overcoming discrimination against women which is a major cause of preventable morbidity and mortality.

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