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(A Monthly Publication of Manavadhikar Samajik Manch)

Volume XVII No. 4 April 2020
President :Dr. A. Shanker Advisors: Bejon Mishra
Editor :Dr. Girija B. Nanda Manoj Kar
Managing Editor :Dr. Srimoy Patra
UP Chapter
Editorial Team : Swarup N. Panigrahi
Dr. Narendra Kumar, State Convenor
Dr. Ashish Srivastava
6/348, Ramnath Deoria, Deoria - 274001
Dr. Arpita Verma
Uttar Pradesh - 274001
J. P. Pant Phone :0-9415320183
Dr. Virender Khatana
Operations Head :Maheswar Singh Odisha Chapter
Reporter :Sanjeevani Umakanta Nanda, Adv, State Convenor
Legal Advisors :Biswajit Swain Amit Mishra, Associate State Convenor
Malaya Kumar Chand Gandarpur, P.O. -College Square,
Jitendra Mahapatra Cuttack, Odisha - 753003
Manager - Phone : 0671-2441528, 09437041528
Publication & Editorial:Nimai C. Patra
Maharashtra Chapter
Layout Designer :Ravish Kumar
Victor Freitas, State Convenor
Cover Concept :Dr. Srimoy Patra
Room No. 318, Akash Wani, Aamdar Niwas,
Executive Assistant :Ganesh Malik
Mumbai - 400 032
Edited, Printed and
Phone :022-22022383, 09322735829
Published by :Dr. Girija B. Nanda

Human Touch
(A Monthly Publication of Manavadhikar Samajik Manch)

Human Touch is a platform for non-partisan portrayal of human rights issues in their different forms. Be it
the rights of the weaker sections of our population such as the women, the children, the aged and the
physically challenged, or the victims of some social customs, cultural traditions and economic & non-economic
policies, the publication brings out the issues objectively and in a manner that would give succour to the
people whose rights are either violated or put in jeopardy.

Human Touch acts as a forum for scholars, activists, concerned individuals and the common men &
women to ventilate their grievances, express their views and to highlight cases of human rights violations,
so that appropriate ameliorative actions can be taken by the concerned agencies. It is meant to help the
helpless and to speak for those whose voices are not heard. It engages in constructive and incisive debate
on issues that are not only of day-to-day concern but also on issues that are important for posterity. This
publication is a step forward in realising the vision of Manavadhikar Samajik Manch, i.e. creation of a
just and equitable society.

Owner : Manavadhikar Samajik Manch

Publisher/Printer/Editor : Dr. Girija B. Nanda
Printed at : Matha Offset Press, Y-16, Okhla Industrial Area, Phase-II, New Delhi
Published from: Manavadhikar Samajik Manch, 39, Sant Nagar, New Delhi - 110065
Tel.: 91-11-41621978, 46578478, Fax : 41621669
E-mail: officemail.masm@gmail.com, manavadhikar.india@indiatimes.com, masm@rediffmail.com
Website: www.manavadhikar.net, www.humanrightsnews.net
 In this issue...
World Day for Safety and Health at Work: 5
Stop the pandemic: Safety and health at work can save lives

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) Pandemic 7

Facts We Need to Know

International Mother Earth Day: 9

When Mother Earth sends us a message

International Day of Conscience: 11

Promoting a Culture of Peace with Love and Conscience

World Health Day 2020: 13

Support nurses and midwives

National News 15

News from the National Human Rights Commission 18

International News 23

The Transition To A Greener Economy: 26

Social Dimensions of Green Economy
 From the President’s Desk …
Economic growth has entailed a deterioration in global climate conditions which now threatens to
undermine prosperity. However, as countries grapple with persistent unemployment, rising fiscal
deficits and uncertainties in the global economic outlook, a window of opportunity has opened up to
reshape the patterns of growth. In particular, policy-makers have realized that promoting a transition
towards a green economy can not only help to address climate change but, if the right policies are
put in place, can also pave the way to a more inclusive and sustainable global economy.

The move towards a greener economy, i.e. one with lower CO2 emissions, is essential for environmental
sustainability. As part of this transition, the employment and income consequences need to be better
understood and adequately considered.

The vast majority of carbon emissions stems from the production of goods and services, rather than
household consumption of energy, and emissions are caused by a relatively small group of industries.
Approximately 80 per cent of all CO2 emissions occur in the production process and not from the
direct energy consumption of households. Among the emissions from production in the EU-25,
roughly 85 per cent come from the top 15 polluting industries. The top four polluting industries –
which remain unchanged over the past decade – include: electrical energy, gas, steam and hot water,
coal and lig­nite, products of agriculture, hunting and related services and other non­metallic mineral
products.

Lowering CO2 emissions is likely to be associated with significant change for firms and workers,
especially those concentrated in the high-carbon industries. Among the EU-25, close to 12 per cent
of total employment – or some 24 million workers – are concentrated in the top 15 high-carbon
industries. These industries also account for roughly a similar share of GDP in the EU-25, i.e. 12 per
cent. These shares are considerably higher among new EU Member States, i.e. the EU-10. In fact,
although the top 15 CO2-emitting sectors account for roughly 13 per cent of GDP – similar in
magnitude to the EU-25 – more than one-fifth of all jobs in the EU-10 are concentrated in these
industries.

Moving to a greener economy requires a major structural change, which broadly takes two forms.
First, new sources of clean energy need to be developed and widely disseminated. Second, the global
economy will need to emit less CO2, which will entail significant shifts of production and consumption
patterns across industries and enterprises as well as within them. In particular, energy and resource
efficiency of production processes need to increase considerably and consumption habits have to
become more sustainable. Significant reductions in CO2 emissions can also be obtained through
technological and opera­tional innovations within industries. In both instances, the shift to a greener
economy will necessarily mean a reallocation of some resources from higher to lower carbon intensive
sectors, which will entail considerable employment and income shifts.
Dr. A. Shanker

Vol. XVII No. 4 April 2020 4

World Day for Safety and Health at Work:
Stop the pandemic: Safety and health at work can save lives
Background
In 2003, the International Labour
Organization (ILO), began to observe
World Day in order to stress the
prevention of accidents and diseases
at work, capitalizing on the ILO's
traditional strengths of tripartism and
social dialogue.
This celebration is an integral part of
the Global Strategy on Occupational
Safety and Health of the ILO, as
documented in the Conclusions of
the International Labour Conference
in June 2003. One of the main pillars
of the Global Strategy is advocacy,
the World Day for Safety and Health
at Work is a significant tool to raise
awareness of how to make work
safe and healthy and of the need to
raise the political profile of
occupational safety and health.
28 April is also the International
Commemoration Day for Dead and
Injured Workers organized
worldwide by the trade union
movement since 1996.
Recognizing the great challenge that
governments, employers, workers
and whole societies are facing
worldwide to combat the COVID-
19 pandemic, the World Day for
Safety and Health at Work will focus
on addressing the outbreak of
infectious diseases at work, in
particular, on the COVID-19
pandemic.
Concern is growing over the
continuing rise in COVID-19
infections in some parts of the world
and the ability to sustain declining
rates in others. Governments,
Vol. XVII No. 4 April 2020
employers, workers and their
organizations face enormous
challenges as they try to combat the
COVID-19 pandemic and protect
safety and health at work. Beyond
the immediate crisis, there are also
concerns about resuming activity in
a manner that sustains progress made
in suppressing transmission.
The World Day for Safety and Health
at Work will aim to stimulate national
tripartite dialogue on safety and health
at work. The ILO is using this day
to raise awareness on the adoption
of safe practices in workplaces and
the role that occupational safety and
health (OSH) services play. It will
also focus on the medium to long-
term, including recovery and future
preparedness, in particular,
integrating measures into OSH
management systems and policies at
the national and enterprise levels.
Prevention of occupational
accidents and diseases
The annual World Day for Safety and
Health at Work on 28 April promotes
the prevention of occupational
accidents and diseases globally. It is
an awareness-raising campaign
intended to focus international
attention on the magnitude of the
problem and on how promoting and
creating a safety and health culture
can help reduce the number of work-
related deaths and injuries.
Each of us is responsible for stopping
deaths and injuries on the job. As
5
governments we are responsible for
providing the infrastructure — laws
and services — necessary to ensure
that workers remain employable and
that enterprises flourish; this includes
the development of a national policy
and programme and a system of
inspection to enforce compliance
with occupational safety and health
legislation and policy. As employers
we are responsible for ensuring that
the working environment is safe and
healthy. As workers we are
responsible to work safely and to
protect ourselves and not to
endanger others, to know our rights
and to participate in the
implementation of preventive
measures.
Emerging risks at work
New and emerging occupational
risks may be caused by technical
innovation or by social or
organizational change, such as:
- New technologies and production
processes, e.g. nanotechnology,
biotechnology
- New working conditions, e.g.
higher workloads, work
intensification from downsizing,
poor conditions associated with
migration for work, jobs in the
informal economy
- Emerging forms of employment,
e.g., self-employment,
outsourcing, temporary
contracts
They may be more widely recognized
through better scientific
understanding, e.g. the effects of
ergonomic risks on musculoskeletal
disorders.
They may be influenced by changes
in perceptions about the importance
of certain risk factors, e.g. the
effects of psychosocial factors on
work-related stress.
We have learned from past crisis that
workplaces can be of vital
importance to prevent and control
outbreaks. Adequate safety and
health measures at work can play a
crucial role in containing the spread
of the disease, while protecting
workers and society at large.
Governments, employers and
workers all have a role to play in
tackling COVID-19 crisis, and their
collaboration is key.
Contribute Articles
and Support Our
Cause in Creating a
Just and Equitable
Societyhuman rights
updates.
Vol. XVII No. 4 April 2020
Message from the Secretary-General, United Nations
Humanity is an inextricable part of the rich tapestry of life that makes up
our world’s biological diversity. All human civilizations have been and
continue to be built on the use of wild and cultivated species of flora and
fauna, from the food we eat to the air we breathe.
However, it seems that humanity has forgotten just how much we need
nature for our survival and well-being. As our population and our needs
continue to grow, we keep exploiting natural resources - including wild
plants and animals and their habitats - in an unsustainable manner.
In its 2019 Global Assessment, the Intergovernmental Panel for
Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) highlighted how the current
global rate of species extinction is rampant and accelerating - tens to
hundreds of times higher than before humans inhabited the planet.
By overexploiting wildlife, habitats and ecosystems, humanity is
endangering both itself and the survival of countless species of wild
plants and animals. Today, close to a quarter of all species on the planet
are in danger of becoming extinct in the next decades.
On this World Wildlife Day, let us remind ourselves of our duty to preserve
and sustainably use the vast variety of life on the planet. Let us push for
a more caring, thoughtful and sustainable relationship with nature. A
world of thriving biodiversity provides the foundation we need to achieve
our Sustainable Development Goals of a world of dignity and opportunity
for all people on a healthy planet.
- António Guterres
6
 Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) Pandemic:
C
oronavirus disease (COVID-
19) is an infectious disease
caused by a newly discovered
coronavirus.
Most people infected with the
COVID-19 virus will experience mild
to moderate respiratory illness and
recover without requiring special
treatment. Older people, and those
with underlying medical problems
like cardiovascular disease, diabetes,
chronic respiratory disease, and
cancer are more likely to develop
serious illness.
The best way to prevent and slow
down transmission is be well informed
about the COVID-19 virus, the disease
it causes and how it spreads. Protect
yourself and others from infection by
washing your hands or using an
alcohol based rub frequently and not
touching your face.
The COVID-19 virus spreads primarily
through droplets of saliva or discharge
from the nose when an infected person
coughs or sneezes, so it’s important
that you also practice respiratory
etiquette (for example, by coughing into
a flexed elbow). At this time, there
are no specific vaccines or
treatments for COVID-19. However,
there are many ongoing clinical trials
evaluating potential treatments. WHO
will continue to provide updated
information as soon as clinical
findings become available.
Protect yourself and others from
the spread COVID-19
You can reduce your chances of
being infected or spreading COVID-
Vol. XVII No. 4 April 2020
Facts We Need to Know
19 by taking some simple
precautions:
- Regularly and thoroughly clean
your hands with an alcohol-based
hand rub or wash them with soap
and water. Why? Washing your
hands with soap and water or
using alcohol-based hand rub kills
viruses that may be on your
hands.
- Maintain at least 1 metre (3 feet)
distance between yourself and
others. Why? When someone
coughs, sneezes, or speaks they
spray small liquid droplets from
their nose or mouth which may
contain virus. If you are too close,
you can breathe in the droplets,
including the COVID-19 virus if
the person has the disease.
- Avoid going to crowded places.
Why? Where people come
together in crowds, you are more
likely to come into close contact
with someone that has COVID-
19 and it is more difficult to
maintain physical distance of 1
metre (3 feet).
- Avoid touching eyes, nose and
mouth. Why? Hands touch many
surfaces and can pick up viruses.
Once contaminated, hands can
transfer the virus to your eyes,
nose or mouth. From there, the
virus can enter your body and
infect you.
- Make sure you, and the people
around you, follow good
respiratory hygiene. This means
covering your mouth and nose
7
with your bent elbow or tissue
when you cough or sneeze. Then
dispose of the used tissue
immediately and wash your
hands. Why? Droplets spread
virus. By following good
respiratory hygiene, you protect
the people around you from
viruses such as cold, flu and
COVID-19.
- Stay home and self-isolate even
with minor symptoms such as
cough, headache, mild fever, until
you recover. Have someone bring
you supplies. If you need to leave
your house, wear a mask to avoid
infecting others. Why? Avoiding
contact with others will protect
them from possible COVID-19
and other viruses.
- If you have a fever, cough and
difficulty brea thing, seek
medical attention, but call by
telephone in advance if possible
and follow the directions of your
local health authority. Why?
National and local authorities
will have the most up to date
information on the situation in
your area. Calling in advance
will allow your health care
provider to quickly direct you
to the right health facility. This
will also protect you and help
prevent spread of viruses and
other infections.
- Keep up to date on the latest
information from trusted sources,
such as WHO or your local and
national health authorities. Why?
Local and national authorities are
best placed to advise on what
people in your area should be
doing to protect themselves.
 - Apply a coin-sized amount on
Symptoms your hands. There is no need to
use a large amount of the product.
COVID-19 affects different people in different ways. Most infected people - Avoid touching your eyes, mouth
will develop mild to moderate illness and recover without hospitalization. and nose immediately after using
an alcohol-based hand sanitizer,
Most common symptoms: as it can cause irritation.
- fever - Hand sanitizers recommended to
- dry cough protect against COVID-19 are
- tiredness alcohol-based and therefore can
be flammable. Do not use before
Less common symptoms: handling fire or cooking.
- aches and pains - Under no circumstance, drink or
- sore throat let children swallow an alcohol-
- diarrhoea based hand sanitizer. It can be
- conjunctivitis poisonous.
- headache - Remember that washing your
- loss of taste or smell hands with soap and water is also
- a rash on skin, or discolouration of fingers or toes effective against COVID-19.

Serious symptoms:
- difficulty breathing or shortness of breath Please subscribe to
- chest pain or pressure Human Touch
- loss of speech or movement and support us for
Seek immediate medical attention if you have serious symptoms. Always creation of a just and
call before visiting your doctor or health facility. equitable society and
Contribute Articles and
People with mild symptoms who are otherwise healthy should manage
their symptoms at home. Support Our Cause in
Creating a Just and
On average it takes 5–6 days from when someone is infected with the Equitable Society
virus for symptoms to show, however it can take up to 14 days.

Safe use of alcohol-based hand
sanitizers
To protect yourself and others
against COVID-19, clean your hands
frequently and thoroughly. Use
alcohol-based hand sanitizer or wash
your hands with soap and water. If
you use an alcohol-based hand
sanitizer, make sure you use and store
it carefully.
- Keep alcohol-based hand
sanitizers out of children’s reach.
Teach them how to apply the
sanitizer and monitor its use.
Prevention
To prevent infection and to slow transmission of COVID-19, do the
following:
- Wash your hands regularly with soap and water, or clean them with
alcohol-based hand rub.
- Maintain at least 1 metre distance between you and people coughing
or sneezing.
- Avoid touching your face.
- Cover your mouth and nose when coughing or sneezing.
- Stay home if you feel unwell.
- Refrain from smoking and other activities that weaken the lungs.
- Practice physical distancing by avoiding unnecessary travel and staying
away from large groups of people.

Vol. XVII No. 4 April 2020 8

 International Mother Earth Day:
When Mother Earth sends us a message
M
other Earth is clearly urging
a call to action. Nature is
suffering. Australian fires,
heat records and the worst locust
invasion in Kenya. Now we face
COVID -19, a worldwide health
pandemic link to the health of our
ecosystem.
Cli ma te cha nge, ma n-ma de
cha nges to na tur e a s well a s
crimes that disrupt biodiversity,
such as deforestation, land-use
change, intensified agriculture and
li vest ock product ion or t he
growing illegal wildlife trade, can
inc rea s e conta ct a nd the
transmission of infectious diseases
from animals to humans (zoonotic
diseases) like COVID-19.
From one new infection disease that
emerges in humans every 4 months,
75% of these emerging diseases
come from animals, according to UN
Environment.
This shows the close relationships
between human, animal and
environmental health.
Visible, positive impact– whether
through improved air quality or
reduced greenhouse gas emissions
– are but temporary, because they
come on the back of tragic
economic slowdown and human
distress. Let’s remind more than
ever in this International Mother
Earth Day that we need a shift to a
more sustainable economy that
works for both people and the
planet. Let’s promote harmony with
nature and the Earth.
The importance of biodiversity for
Vol. XVII No. 4 April 2020
humans
Coronavirus outbreak poses huge
public health and global economy at
risk, but biological diversity as well.
However, biodiversity can be part of
the solution since this diversity of
species would make difficult to
pathogens to spread rapidly.
This Mother Earth Day, coinciding
with the Super Year of Biodiversity,
is focused in its role as an indicator
of the Earth’s health.
There is growing concern about the
health consequences of biodiversity
loss and change. Biodiversity
changes affect ecosystem
functioning and significant
disruptions of ecosystems can result
in life sustaining ecosystem goods
and services. Specific linkages
between health and biodiversity
include impact in nutrition, health
research or traditional medicine, new
infectious diseases and influencing
shifts in the distribution of plants,
pathogens, animals, and even human
settlements, most of them affected
by climate change.
Despite ongoing efforts, biodiversity
is deteriorating worldwide at rates
unprecedented in human history. It
is estimated that around one million
animal and plant species are now
threatened with extinction.
With this big picture, and the
coronavirus scenario, our immediate
9
priority is to prevent the spread of
COVID-19, but in long-term, it is
important to tackle habitat and
biodiversity loss.
We are in this fight together with our
Mother Earth.
Are we really taking care of the
Earth?
We are on the brink of missing the
opportunity to limit global warming
to 1.5°C. If we rely only on the
current climate commitments of the
Paris Agreement, temperatures can
be expected to rise to 3.2°C this
century. Temperatures have already
increased 1.1°C, leaving families,
homes and communities devastated.
We need to close the ‘commitment’
gap between what we say we will
do and what we need to do to prevent
dangerous levels of climate change.
Governments cannot afford to wait.
People and families cannot afford to
wait. Economies must shift to a
decarbonization pathway now.
Today our report card says we are
failing. These are the 4 numbers that
hold the fate of so many in balance:
- Today we still have the chance
to limit global temperatures to
1.5°C. While there will still be
climate impacts at 1.5°C, this is
the level scientists say is
associated with less devastating
impacts than higher levels of
global warming. Every fraction of
additional warming beyond 1.5°C
will result in increasingly severe
and expensive impacts.
- Scientists agree that to get on
 track to limit global temperature
rise to 1.5°C, emissions must
drop rapidly to 25 gigatons by
2030.
- Our challenge: based on today’s
commitments, emissions are on
track to reach 56 Gt CO2e by
2030, over twice what they
should be.
- This figure is our global solution.
Collectively, if commitments,
policies and action can deliver a
7.6% emissions reduction every
year between 2020 and 2030, we
CAN limit global warming to
1.5°C.
The 1.5°C goal is on the brink of
becoming impossible:
We are facing emissions reductions
so increasingly steep, it may soon be
impossible to achieve 1.5°C.
10 years ago, if countries had acted
on this science, governments would
have needed to reduce emissions by
3.3% each year.
Today, we need to reduce emissions
by 7.6% every year.
Today, even the most ambitious
national climate action plans are far
short of a 7.6% reduction.
Vol. XVII No. 4 April 2020
The world now needs a five-fold
increase in collective current
commitments. The cuts required are
ambitious, but still possible.
Every day we delay, the steeper and
more difficult the cuts become. By
just 2025 the cut needed would will
be 15.5% each year, making the
1.5°C target almost impossible.
Dela yed a ction dela ys the
inevitable. Delayed action sends the
Support us for the
eventua l price ta gs for sea creation of a just and
defenses; food security; equitable society
infra structure a da ptation ever
higher. While we wait, emissions
continue to be released into the
a tmosphere, a nd the cost a nd Visit our website at :
difficulty to reduce them only www.humantouch.org.in
becomes more challenging. for online human rights updates.
Did You Know?
- One new infectious disease emerges in humans every 4 months. 75%
of these emerging diseases come from animals.
- A healthy ecosystem helps to protect us from these diseases. Biologi-
cal diversity makes it difficult for pathogens to spread rapidly.
- It is estimated that around one million animal and plant species are
now threatened with extinction.
- If we fight climate change and biodiversity loss turning to sustainable
models will help not just nature, but human health
10
 International Day of Conscience:
Promoting a Culture of Peace with Love and Conscience
Promoting a Culture of Peace
with Love and Conscience
The preamble to the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights states
that "disregard and contempt for
human rights have resulted in
barbarous acts which have outraged
the conscience of humankind, and
the advent of a world in which
human beings shall enjoy freedom
of speech and belief and freedom
from fear and want has been
proclaimed as the highest aspiration
of the common people." Moreover,
article 1 of the Declaration states
that "all human beings are born free
and equal in dignity and rights and
are endowed with rea son a nd
conscience and should act towards
one a nother in a spirit of
brotherhood."
The task of the United Nations to
save future generations from the
scourge of war requires
transformation towards a culture of
peace, which consists of values,
attitudes and behaviours that reflect
and inspire social interaction and
sharing based on the principles of
freedom, justice and democracy, all
huma n rights, tolera nce a nd
solidarity, that reject violence and
endeavour to prevent conflicts by
tackling their root causes to solve
problems through dialogue and
negotiation and that guarantee the
full exercise of all rights and the
means to participate fully in the
development process of their
society.
Conscious of the need for the
creation of conditions of stability
Vol. XVII No. 4 April 2020
and well-being and peaceful and
friendly relations based on respect
for human rights and fundamental
freedoms for all without distinction
as to race, sex, language or religion,
the General Assembly declared 5
April the International Da y of
Conscience.
The General Assembly invited all
Member States, organizations of the
United Nations system and other
interna tional and regional
organizations, as well as the private
sector and civil society, including
non-governmental organizations and
individuals, to build the Culture of
Peace with Love and Conscience in
accordance with the culture and
other appropriate circumstances or
customs of their local, national and
regional communities, including
through quality education and public
awareness-raising activities, thereby
fostering sustainable development.
Origins of a Culture of Peace
The concept of a culture of peace
emerged from the International
Congress on Peace in the Minds of
Men, organized by the United
Nations Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in
Côte d'Ivoire in July 1989. Since
then the promotion of a culture of
peace has increasingly been seen as
a worthwhile objective of the
interna tional community. The
evolving concept ha s inspired
activities at so many levels and in
11
so ma ny regions with the full
participation of civil society that the
culture of peace is gradually taking
on the characteristics of a global
movement.
Within the United Nations system,
the concept dates back to the
Constitution of the United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO), adopted
more than 50 years ago, wherein
that organization is called upon to
construct the defences of peace in
the minds of men because "a peace
based exclusively upon the political
and economic arrangements of
Governments would not be a peace
which could secure the unanimous,
lasting and sincere support of the
peoples of the world, and ... the
peace must therefore be founded,
if it is not to fail, upon the intellectual
and moral solidarity of mankind".
Building a Culture of Peace
The task of constructing a culture
of peace requires comprehensive
educational, cultural, social and
civic action, in which each person
ha s something to learn a nd
something to give and share. It
addresses all ages and all groups; it
is an open-minded global strategy
with a specific purpose, namely, to
make a culture of peace inseparable
from culture per se and to take root
in people's hearts and minds. Peace
is not only the absence of
differences and conflicts. It is a
positive, dynamic, participatory
process linked intrinsically to
democracy, justice and development
for all by which differences are
respected, dialogue is encouraged
and conflicts a re constantly
transformed by non-violent means
into new avenues of cooperation.
Based on this broadest and most
positive meaning of peace, a culture
of peace is a set of values, attitudes,
traditions and customs, modes of
behaviour and ways of life that
reflect and are directed towards
respect for life, for human beings
and their rights, the rejection of
violence in all its forms, the
recognition of the equal rights of
men and women, the recognition of
the rights of everyone to freedom
of expression, opinion a nd
informa tion, attachment to the
principles of democracy, freedom,
justice, development for all,
tolerance, solidarity, pluralism and
acceptance of differences a nd
understanding between nations,
between ethnic, religious, cultural
and other groups a nd between
individuals.
Vol. XVII No. 4 April 2020
The UN and a Culture of Peace
The United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization Please subscribe to
and the United Nations Alliance of Human Touch
Civilizations play an important role
in fostering the intercultural
and support us for
dialogue. They conduct activities creation of a just and
related to the culture of peace and equitable society and
non-violence and make efforts in
promoting a culture of pea ce
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through a number of practical Support Our Cause in
projects in the areas of youth, Creating a Just and
education, media and migration, in
collaboration with governments,
Equitable Society
interna tional orga niz ations,
foundations a nd civil society
groups, as well as the media and the
private sector. Visit our website at :
www.humanrightsnews.net
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humantouchmagazine/ www.manavadhikar.net
for online
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human rights updates.
human rights updates.
12
 World Health Day 2020:
Support nurses and midwives
7
April 2020 is the da y to
celebrate the work of nurses
and midwives a nd remind
world leaders of the critical role they
play in keeping the world healthy.
Nurses and other health workers are
at the forefront of COVID-19
response - providing high quality,
respectful trea tment and care,
lea ding community dialogue to
address fears and questions and, in
some instances, collecting data for
clinica l studies. Quite simply,
without nurses, there would be no
response.
In this International Year of the
Nurse a nd the Midwife, World
Health Day will highlight the current
status of nursing and around the
world. WHO and its partners will
make a series of recommendations
to strengthen of the nursing and
midwifery workforce.
This will be vital if we are to achieve
national and global targets related to
universal health coverage, maternal
and child health, infectious and non-
communicable diseases including
menta l health, emergency
preparedness and response, patient
safety and the delivery of integrated,
people-centered care, amongst
others.
We are calling for your support on
World Health Day to ensure that the
nursing and midwifery workforces
are strong enough to ensure that
everyone, everywhere gets the
healthcare they need.
WHO and partners call for urgent
investment in nurses
Vol. XVII No. 4 April 2020
The Covid-19 pandemic underscores
the urgent need to strengthen the
global health workforce. A new
report, The State of the World’s
Nursing 2020, provides an in-depth
look at the largest component of the
health workforce. Findings identify
important gaps in the nursing
workforce and priority areas for
investment in nursing education,
jobs, and leadership to strengthen
nursing around the world and
improve health for all. Nurses
account for more than half of all the
world’s health workers, providing
vital services throughout the health
system. Historically, as well as today,
nurses are at the forefront of fighting
epidemics and pandemics that
threaten health across the globe.
Around the world they are
demonstrating their compassion,
bravery and courage as they respond
to the COVID-19 pandemic: never
before has their value been more
clearly demonstrated.
‘Nurses are the backbone of any
health system. Today, many nurses
find themselves on the frontline in
the battle against Covid-19,’ said Dr
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus,
WHO Director General. ‘This report
is a stark reminder of the unique role
they play, and a wakeup call to ensure
they get the support they need to keep
the world healthy.’
The report, by the World Health
Organization (WHO) in partnership
with the International Council of
13
Nurses (ICN) and Nursing Now,
reveals that today, there are just
under 28 million nurses worldwide.
Between 2013 and 2018, nursing
numbers increased by 4.7 million.
But this still leaves a global shortfall
of 5.9 million - with the greatest gaps
found in countries in Africa, South
East Asia and the WHO Eastern
Mediterranean region as well as some
parts of Latin America.
Revealingly, more than 80 per cent
of the world’s nurses work in
countries that are home to half of the
world’s population. And one in every
eight nurses practices in a country
other than the one where they were
born or trained. Ageing also threatens
the nursing workforce: one out of
six of the world’s nurses are expected
to retire in the next 10 years.
To avert the global shortage, the
report estimates that countries
experiencing shortages need to
increase the total number of nurse
graduates by on average 8% per year,
along with improved ability to be
employed and retained in the health
system. This would cost roughly
USD 10 per capita (population) per
year.
“Politicians understand the cost of
educating and maintaining a
professional nursing workforce, but
only now are many of them
recognizing their true value,” said
ICN President Annette Kennedy.
“Every penny invested in nursing
raises the wellbeing of people and
families in tangible ways that are clear
for everyone to see. This report
highlights the nursing contribution
and confirms that investment in the
nursing profession is a benefit to
society, not a cost. The world needs
millions more nurses, and we are
calling on governments to do the
right thing, invest in this wonderful
profession and watch their
populations benefit from the amazing
work that only nurses can do.”
About 90 per cent of all nurses are
female, yet few nurses are found in
senior health leadership positions--
the bulk of those positions are held
by men. But when countries enable
nurses to take a leadership role, for
example by having a government
chief nursing officer (or equivalent),
and nursing leadership programmes,
conditions for nurses improve.
“This report places much-needed
data and evidence behind calls to
strengthen nursing leadership,
advance nursing practice, and
educate the nursing workforce for
the future,” said Lord Nigel Crisp,
Co-Chair of Nursing Now. “The
policy options reflect actions we
believe all countries can take over the
next ten years to ensure there are
enough nurses in all countries, and
that nurses use of the full extent of
their education, training, and
professional scope to enhance
primary health care delivery and
respond to health emergencies such
as COVID-19. This must start with
broad and intersectoral dialogue
which positions the nursing evidence
in the context of a country’s health
system, health workforce, and health
priorities.”
To equip the world with the nursing
workforce it needs, WHO and its
partners recommend that all
countries:
- increase funding to educate and
employ more nurses;
Vol. XVII No. 4 April 2020
- strengthen capacity to collect, sectors (health, education,
analyze and act on data about the immigration, finance and labour)
health workforce; together with nursing
- monitor nurse mobility and stakeholders for policy dialogue
migration and manage it and workforce planning.
responsibly and ethically;
- educate and train nurses in the
scientific, technological and
sociological skills they need to
Support us
drive progress in primary health
care;
for the
- establish leadership positions
including a government chief
creation of
nurse and support leadership
development among young
a just and
nurses;
- ensure that nurses in primary
equitable
health care teams work to their
full potential, for example in
society
preventing and managing
noncommunicable diseases;
- improve working conditions
including through safe staffing Advertise with
levels, fair salaries, and
respecting rights to occupational us for
health and safety;
- implement gender-sensitive Strengthening
nursing workforce policies;
- modernize professional nursing our Hands in
regulation by harmonizing
education and practice standards
Promoting and
and using systems that can Protecting
recognize and process nurses’
credentials globally; and Human Rights
- strengthen the role of nurses in
care teams by bringing different
14
 National Human Rights Update
India Failing on Kashmiri
Human Rights
Kashmir has been under a lockdown
for five months. Fearing that
Kashmiris might protest the
revocation of autonomy provided to
Jammu and Kashmir state under
India’s constitution, the government
of Prime Minister Narendra Modi
clamped down.
Since the restrictions in August, the
government has taken slow, reluctant
steps to ease some of them, but is
still falling far short in upholding
Kashmiri rights.
Many of the thousands arbitrarily
arrested – lawyers, shop owners,
traders, students, rights activists –
have now been released, but
reportedly only after promising not
to criticize the government. Some
senior Kashmiri political leaders,
including former chief ministers,
remain in custody.
Police admitted at least 144 children
had been detained, and now the chief
of defense staff has spoken of putting
children in “deradicalization camps.”
The government had also blocked
phone lines and access to the internet.
The government was so fearful of
criticism and dissent that it curtailed
Kashmiris’ ability to share news of
births or deaths, call their doctors,
order supplies, research term papers,
file taxes, and trade apples and
walnuts.
While authorities started gradually
restoring landlines and some mobile
phone services, it denied internet
Vol. XVII No. 4 April 2020
services. After the Supreme Court
said on January 10 that access to the
internet was a fundamental right, the
authorities relented – only to set up
government-controlled internet
kiosks, with firewalls permitting only
some websites and forbidding social
media. This violates free expression
rights and hardly complies with the
principle laid down by the court that
“ the freedom of speech and
expression and the freedom to
practice any profession or carry on
any trade, business or occupation
over the medium of internet enjoys
constitutional protection.”
The costs of the government’s
policies have been staggering, and the
attempt to avoid criticism has not
worked. The United Nations has
expressed concern, as have
numerous foreign governments.
Some aspects of the government
crackdown, activists said, almost
appear reminiscent of abusive
Chinese government practices. Indian
authorities have sought to justify their
rights violations on the grounds of
national security. Maintaining law and
order is a critical state function, but
it’s necessary to protect civil liberties
as it is carried out. India needs to do
better in Kashmir.
Mounting Human Rights Abuses
in India
The Indian government’s unilateral
actions in Jammu and Kashmir in
August 2019 caused enormous
15
suffering and rights violations of the
Kashmiri population, Human Rights
Watch said today in its World Report
2020. The Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP)-led government revoked the
province’s special constitutional
status and split it into two separate
federally governed territories.
Indian authorities also failed to protect
religious minorities, used draconian
sedition and counterterrorism laws to
silence peaceful dissent, and invoked
foreign funding regulations and other
laws to discredit and muzzle
nongovernmental organizations
critical of government actions or
policies.
“The Indian government has tried to
shut down Kashmir, hiding the full
extent of the harm caused there,” said
Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia
director at Human Rights Watch.
“ Instead of addressing growing
attacks on minorities, Indian
authorities bolstered their efforts to
silence critical voices in 2019.”
In the 652-page World Report 2020,
its 30th edition, Human Rights Watch
reviews human rights practices in
nearly 100 countries. In his
introductory essay, Executive
Director Kenneth Roth says that the
Chinese government, which depends
on repression to stay in power, is
carrying out the most intense attack
on the global human rights system in
decades. He finds that Beijing’s
actions both encourage and gain
support from autocratic populists
around the globe, while Chinese
authorities use their economic clout
to deter criticism from other
governments. It is urgent to resist this
assault, which threatens decades of
progress on human rights and our
future.
Prior to its actions in Jammu and
Kashmir, the government deployed
additional troops to the province, shut
down the internet and phones, and
arbitrarily detained thousands of
Kashmiris, including political leaders,
activists, journalists, lawyers, and
potential protesters, including
children. Hundreds remain in
detention without charge or under
house arrest to prevent protests.
The government failed to properly
enforce Supreme Court directives to
prevent and investigate mob attacks,
often led by BJP supporters, on
religious minorities and other
vulnerable communities. Since May
2015, extremist Hindu groups have
killed 50 people and injured over 250
amid rumors that they traded or killed
cows for beef. Muslims were also
beaten and forced to chant Hindu
slogans. Police failed to properly
investigate the crimes, stalled
investigations, ignored procedures,
and filed criminal cases against
witnesses to harass and intimidate
them.
Nearly two million people from tribal
communities and forest-dwellers
remained at risk of forced
displacement and loss of livelihoods
after a Supreme Court ruling in
February 2019 to evict all those
whose claims under the Forest Rights
Act were rejected.
In the northeast state of Assam, the
government published the National
Register of Citizens, aimed at
identifying Indian citizens and lawful
residents following repeated protests
and violence over irregular migration
of ethnic Bengalis from Bangladesh.
Vol. XVII No. 4 April 2020
The list excluded nearly two million
people, many of them Muslims,
including many who have lived in
India for years, in some cases their
whole lives. There are serious
allegations that the verification
process was arbitrary and
discriminatory. While there is a right
to appeal, the government plans to
build detention centers for those
denied citizenship after appeal.
The government has also said that
citizenship verification will be
implemented across the country and
that the government will amend the
citizenship laws to include all irregular
migrants from neighboring countries,
but excludes Muslims from the list.
The Indian government’s actions in
Kashmir have led to loss of livelihood
and access to education. The
repression resulted in international
criticism including in the United
States’ Congress, the European
Parliament, and the United Nations
Human Rights Council. Throughout
the year, UN experts have raised
concerns over a series of issues in
India, including extrajudicial killings,
potential statelessness of millions in
Assam, possible eviction of tribal
communities and forest-dwellers,
and the communications blackout in
Kashmir.
Police Fail to Protect Students
Police in India failed to intervene
when alleged supporters of the ruling
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
assaulted university students in Delhi
on January 5, 2020, Human Rights
Watch said today. Witnesses reported
that dozens of masked men and
several women carrying sticks,
hammers, and bricks and shouting
pro-government Hindu nationalist
slogans entered Jawaharlal Nehru
University (JNU) and went on a
violent rampage inside the campus
16
for about three hours, injuring more
than 30 students and teachers.
The Delhi police filed a complaint
of rioting and assault against
unknown people. However, a video
shows the police allowing the
attackers, many still carrying iron
rods and sticks, to leave the campus
without trying to detain or question
them. The police also stood by and
failed to act as a mob chanting
nationalist slogans gathered at the
campus gates, and beat journalists
and a political activist. A mob also
attacked an ambulance attempting to
enter the campus to attend to injured
students.
“Students and teachers begged the
police to intervene during the attack
at Jawaharlal Nehru University, but
the police simply stood and watched
the attackers walk away,” said
Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia
director. “All too often police in India
use excessive force and arbitrarily
arrest peaceful critics of the
government, but are derelict in their
duty to maintain law and order when
violent ruling party supporters are
involved.”
Several students told Human Rights
Watch that the attackers were
members of the Akhil Bharatiya
Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), a student
group affiliated with the BJP.
A postgraduate research scholar at
the university who was injured
when the assailants threw stones at
students, said that she recognized
some attackers as ABVP members
accompanied by outsiders. “ The
police were present in the campus
when the violence broke out,” she
said. “We sought help from them
and then we ran to flee the attackers,
but the police never came to our
aid.”
Another graduate student who was
injured said: “They threw something
made of iron at us and it hit me near
my eye and it kept bleeding. It took
me two hours to get to the hospital
because the mob did not let the
ambulance come inside the campus.
I recognized some of the attackers
as JNU students from ABVP. Police
were supporting them. The campus
security guards also did nothing.”
The Indian Express reported that
many people carrying sticks who
were gathered outside the campus
said that they were affiliated with the
ABVP. Several news organizations
tracked down messages on
WhatsApp by ABVP members or BJP
supporters that appeared to plan the
violence.
Jawaharlal Nehru University, with its
history of progressive education, is
considered a bastion of liberalism in
the country. Hindu nationalist
supporters of the BJP have long
criticized, harassed, and even
accused students of sedition. Student
union elections are bitterly contested
between ABVP and student groups
affiliated with leftist political parties.
During the January 5 attack, assailants
beat Aishe Ghosh, the president of
the student union and a leader of the
leftist Student Federation of India.
Ghosh accused the police of failing
to intervene although she had
informed them about “ unknown
people gathering at the campus”
hours before the violence broke out.
A statement by the university’s
teachers association condemned the
violence, saying it was unleashed
“with the police standing by as mute
spectators.”
Students led demonstrations in
several parts of the country to protest
the violence against the JNU students.
Vol. XVII No. 4 April 2020
The Indian Medical Association also attack on Jawaharlal Nehru
condemned the “mindless violence on University, Human Rights Watch
doctors and nurses who rushed to said.
treat the injured” at JNU.
“ The Indian government has an
Students said they believed they were obligation to ensure that the police act
attacked because they were opposing in an impartial manner according to
a fee increase announced by the law,” Ganguly said. “Unchecked
government. Disagreement over the partisan behavior by the police will
matter had already led to growing only end up making the force more
tensions between student groups political, communal, and
opposing the increase and the ABVP, unaccountable.”
which backed the government
decision.
The ABVP has denied any role in the
violence, saying that 25 of its
members were injured in the attack,
and blamed the assault on student
groups affiliated with leftist
organizations. The BJP condemned
the violence, blaming opposition
political parties. Visit our website at:
www.humanrightsnews.net
The police inaction at JNU contrasted and
with their use of excessive force
against demonstrators, including www.manavadhikar.net
many students, protesting the for online
Citizenship Amendment Act in recent human rights updates.
weeks. On December 15, 2019,
police in Delhi entered the Jamia Millia
Islamia campus after anti-
government protests and struck and
injured students with lathis (long Support us for the
batons). creation of a just and
Article 1 of the United Nations Code equitable society
of Conduct for Law Enforcement
Officials states that, “Law
enforcement officials shall at all times
fulfil the duty imposed upon them by
law, by serving the community and Please subscribe to
by protecting all persons against
illegal acts, consistent with the high
Human Touch
degree of responsibility required by and support us for
their profession.”
creation of a just
The Indian authorities should and equitable
promptly and impartially investigate
all allegations of police abuse, society
including inaction during the mob
17
News From the National Human Rights Commission
NHRC dismisses the complaint
of the mother of Nirbhaya case
convict Mukesh Kumar seeking
its intervention to prevent his
execution
The National Human Rights
Commission, NHRC, India has
received a complaint from Smt. Ram
Bai, a resident of Ravidas Camp, R.K.
Puram, Delhi through her counsel Dr.
A.P. Singh seeking urgent intervention
by the Commission in the matter to
prevent alleged unlawful execution of
her son, Mukesh Kumar who is
presently confined at Jail No. 3, Tihar
in Delhi in case FIR No. 413/2012
registered at Police Station Vasant
Vihar, Delhi. The complainant has
stated that all the accused including
her son have been falsely implicated
in the case and their execution in
compliance of the court orders will
be a miscarriage of justice. The
complainant has stated that her son
is also a witness in the case of
custodial death of the co-accused
Ram Singh who died inside Tihar jail,
on 11.03.2013. The complainant has
alleged many flaws in the
investigation of the case registered in
connection with the custodial death
of the deceased prisoner, Ram Singh
and that no compensation has been
given to the NOK of the deceased
prisoner.
It is further mentioned by the
complainant that legal remedies/cases
are pending for disposal before
different courts/ constitutional bodies
on behalf of the death row convicts,
including her son but the authorities
are still planning to hang them, on
20.03.2020. The complainant has
also stated that due to various kind
Vol. XVII No. 4 April 2020
of viral infections, pollution and other
hazards, the life has become very
short in Delhi NCR region hence, the
death penalty and its execution is not
at all justifiable.
The complainant has requested the
Commission to stay the execution of
the death sentence imposed on the
convicts including her son which is
fixed for 20.03.2020.
The Commission has carefully
examined the contents of the
complaint. The son of the
complainant is one of the accused in
a case Crime No. 413/12 registered
at PS Vasant Vihar in which death
sentence has been awarded by the
competent court and upheld by the
Apex court. The case relating to the
death of one of the accused in this
criminal case, Ram Singh had come
before the Commission when an
intimation was received from the jail
authorities in accordance with the
guidelines issued by the Commission
directing the authorities to report all
the custodial deaths to it within 24
hours of the occurrence.
The case was registered vide No.
1543/30/9/2013-JCD. The matter
was taken up by the Investigation
Division of the Commission and the
requisite reports were obtained from
the authorities concerned. A
magisterial enquiry was also
conducted in the matter. There were
some allegations raised by the family
members that the deceased prisoner
18
had not committed suicide and he
was killed in the judicial custody. The
Inquiry Magistrate after examination
had held that there was no foul play
or negligence in this case of custodial
death and the Commission, upon
consideration of the reports and the
recommendations made by its
Investigation Division, had closed the
case, on merits. Since, there was no
negligence on the part of any of the
authorities, no compensation was
recommended by the Commission.
Upon perusal, the Commission has
not found any substance sufficient
for taking cognizance of the matter.
The case relating to custodial death
of the deceased co-prisoner Ram
Singh has been disposed of by the
Commission on merits, as explained
above. So far as the prayer made by
the complainant to stay execution of
the death sentence is concerned, it is
apparent that the said convict Mukesh
Kumar has already approached the
appropriate authorities and the
authorities have exercised their
jurisdiction judiciously. The matter is
outside the purview of the
Commission. The complaint is,
therefore, dismissed in limini.
NHRC Chairperson, Mr. Justice
H.L.Dattu calls upon all the
Commissions to join the process
of monitoring of the
recommendations of third
Universal Periodic Review
Mr. Justice H.L. Dattu, Chairperson,
NHRC, India today said that the
Commission wants to work closely
with all the Commisions during the
process of monitoring of the
recommendations of third Universal
Periodic Review, which is under way.
He was chairing the Statutory Full
Commission having onboard various
National Commissions, at Indian
International Centre, New Delhi. The
NHRC Members, Mr. Justice P.C.
Pant, Mrs. Jyotika Kalra, Dr. D.M.
Mulay, Secretary General, Mr.
Jaideep Govind besides
Chairpersons, Members and senior
officers of various National
Commissions were present.
Justice Dattu called upon all the
National Commissions to join HRNet
portal of NHRC to avoid duplication
of complaint registration on the same
issue. He also invited the various
Commissions to share their best
practices in order to build a strong
support mechanism for protection of
human rights. He gave an overview
of various rights issues being looked
into by the NHRC, India and
initiatives taken by it to expand its
outreach.
Chairperson of National Commission
for Backward Classes, Dr. Bhagwan
Lal Sahni, Chairperson of National
Commission Minorities, Mr. Syed
Ghayorul Hasan Rizvi, and Chief
Commissioner for Persons with
Disabilities, Ms Shakuntala Gamlin,
NCW Members, Ms Chandramukhi
Devi and Dr. Rajulben L. Desai were
among the other prominet speakers
dwelling upon the activities and
challenges related to the work of their
respective institutions.
Earlier, Mr. Jaideep Govind, Secretary
General, NHRC said that the NHRC
has expanded its outreach through
various means including linking its
online complaints filing system with
the Common Service portal of the
Government of India so that people
could easily file complaints of human
rights violations. It has also taken
several State Human Rights
Vol. XVII No. 4 April 2020
Commissions on board its HRCNet
portal to avoid duplication of
complaints and timely processing of
the same. The Commission has also
expanded its outreach through its
internship programmes, training
workshops, seminars, research
projects, open hearing and camp
sittings.
Many suggestions came up during the
discussions, some of which are as
follows:
• All the National Commissions
should explore how best they can
jointly expand the outreach of
human rights protection and
promotion mechanism;
• They need to share best practices
and also work on a mechanism
to cut short duplication of
multiple complaints in a matter by
joining HRC Net portal of the
NHRC;
• Organize a national seminar on a
subject and theme of common
areas of interests may be
organized having on borad all the
Member Commissions of
Statutory Full Commission;
• Need to collectively evolve a joint
strategy, particulary, to address
the issue of discrimination of
people suffering various
disabilities, which are now
manifesting with new types of
diseases;
• Need to work jointly to address
the problem of child labour in bidi,
polishing and other such
unorganized sectors;
The meeting was significant as it was
called for the first time since the
recent amendment in the PHR Act
adding Chairpersons of National
19
Commission for Backward Classes,
National Commission for Protection
of Child Rights and the Chief
Commissioner for Persons with
Disabilities as the new deemed
Members of the NHRC. The
Chairpersons for National
Commissions for Minorities,
Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes
and Women were already the deemed
Members of the Commission.
The NHRC has been holding the
Statutory Full Commission meetings
on time to time to explore new areas
of cooperation, share best practices
and activities of different National
Commissions to work towards
promotion and protection of human
rights in a more cohesive manner as
specified in the statutory clauses (b)
to (j) of Section 12 of the Protection
of Human Rights, PHR, Act.
NHRC Chairperson, Mr. Justice
H.L.Dattu to chair the meeting
of Statutory Full Commission
comprising Chairpersons of
other National Commissions as
deemed Members tomorrow in
New Delhi
The National Human Rights
Commission, NHRC, India is
organising a meeting of a Statutory
Full Commission at Indian
International Centre, New Delhi on
30th January, 2020. Mr. Justice
H.L.Dattu, Chairperson, NHRC will
chair it. This meeting has been called
for the discharge of functions
towards promotion and protection of
human rights as specified in the
statutory clauses (b) to (j) of Section
12 of the Protection of Human
Rights, PHR, Act.
The meeting gathers significance as
it is being called for the first time
since the recent amendment in the
PHR Act adding Chairpersons of
National Commission for Backward
Classes, National Commission for
Protection of Child Rights and the
Chief Commissioner for Persons with
Disabilities as the new deemed
Members of the NHRC. The
Chairpersons for National
Commissions for Minorities,
Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes
and Women were already the deemed
Members of the Commission.
The NHRC has been holding the
Statutory Full Commission meetings
on time to time to explore new areas
of cooperation, share best practices
and activities of different National
Commissions to work towards
promotion and protection of human
rights in a more cohesive manner. The
NHRC Members, Members of other
Commissions and senior officers will
also attend the meeting.
NHRC- NALSAR Conference on
“Integrating Women’s
Development with Nation’s
Development: Role of
Stakeholders” in Hyderabad on
17/1/2020
The National Human Rights
Commission, in collaboration with the
National Academy of Legal Studies
and Research, NALSAR, is organizing
a conference on ‘Integrating
Women’s development with nation’s
development: Role of stakeholders’ at
NALSAR, Hyderabad tomorrow on
17th January, 2020.
India’s year-on year progression over
the last two decades is ironically not
matched with trends in women’s
progression. Rather, the journey reveals
quite an inverse experience, as India
has witnessed a coinciding decline in
its female labour force participation rate
(“FLFPR”). While the foregoing makes
out a case for deliberating upon FLFPR,
the approach if confined to only the
labour force participation would be too
short-sighted.
To resolve the crisis of women
Vol. XVII No. 4 April 2020
absence, policy interventions at both,
supply and demand forces are
needed. All in all, the need is for
mainstreaming women participation
and development into the overarching
and all-encompassing national
growth. Hence, this conference aims
to address this need.
The objective of this Conference is,
if not to answer and resolve the crisis,
at least trigger our thoughts,
discussions and debates towards
investigating the expanse of, and
highlighting the underlying issues
with a critical approach. This will
involve brainstorming on potential
solutions; whilst appraising the
concern more holistically through
lens of varied domains. Given the
interplay involved, an only legal or
only economic or only social
perspective will not work. Hence, the
conference seeks to bring all of these
domains together on one platform, for
a more inclusive and diverse roadmap
ahead-to attain the ultimate mission
where women are reckoned as vital
stakeholders for India’s future.
Representation from National
Commission for Women, Telangana
State Commission for Women,
Ministry of Women and Child
Development & Department of
Women and Child Development,
Telangana reputed economists,
Journalists, educationists, legal
experts, etc., are expected to be
important participants of this
conference.
NHRC’s month long winter
internship programme concludes
The month long winter internship
programme of the National Human
Rights Commission, NHRC, India
concluded at its premises in New
Delhi today. The Commission
organizes month long winter and
summer internships every year. This
20
was the 34th internship. 62 post
graduate level students, mainly from
law and social sciences streams,
representing different colleges and
universities in the country attended it
and received certificates.
Addressing the valedictory session,
Dr. D.M.Mulay, NHRC congratulated
the interns for the successful
completion of their training and
expressed the hope that they would
use it for the promotion and protection
of human rights. He said that not
much jargon is required to understand
and explain the concept of human
rights. Sensitivity ensures protection
of human rights.
Earlier, Mr. Jaideep Govind, Secretary
General, NHRC described them as the
ambassadors of the Commission for
expanding its outreach for the cause
of human rights and wished them
good luck for their future careers. Mr.
Rajit Punhani, Additional Secretary
and Financial Advisor, Ministry of
Home Affairs also interacted with the
interns as a part of the valedictory
function on “How to increase the
outreach of human rights”. Director
General (Investigation), Mr. Prabhat
Singh, Registrar Law, Mr. Surajit Dey,
Joint Secretary (P & T), Mrs. Anita
Sinha and other senior officers were
present.
During the internship, the students
were exposed to various aspects
of huma n rights inc luding
interna tiona l covena nts a nd
domesti c la ws, ma nda te a nd
functioning of the NHRC, India.
Besides the NHRC Members, Mr.
Justice P.C. Pant and Mrs. Jyotika
Kalra and senior officers, many
renowned subject speci a lists,
experts , Secreta ries in key
Ministr ies a nd other senior
functionaries interacted with them.
They were a lso taken for field
visits to prisons, police stations and
NGOs for the first hand experience
of working there. They were also
guided to write dissertation on
some important issues of human
rights.
CBI takes care that the human
rights of the accused are not
violated during interrogation,
says agency Director, Mr. Rishi
Kumar Shukla
The CBI Director, Mr. Rishi Kumar
Shukla today said that the agency
investigates cases as per the
provisions of Law. It takes care that
the human rights of the accused are
not violated during interrogation.
He was addressing the interns of the
Winter Internship Programme of the
NHRC in New Delhi in the presence
of NHRC Member, Mrs. Jyotika
Kalra, Secretary General, Mr. Jaideep
Govind, Director General
(Investigation), Mr. Prabhat Singh
and other senior officers of the
Commission. The topic was
“Safeguards during investigation/
interrogation of the suspects so as to
not infringe their human rights”.
Mr. Shukla said that the expectations
from the CBI have only risen over
the years. The number of cases
being investigated by the agency
reflects this. Collecting evidence and
bringing the accused to justice is a
time taking arduous process and
requires a lot of manpower.
However, the CBI continues to
follow a nd process all the
investigations handed over to it.
The Commission, as part of its special
lecture series, has been inviting senior
officers in the Government to talk
about the functioning of their
Ministries/Departments with human
rights perspective and related issues
and challenges.
Vol. XVII No. 4 April 2020
NHRC notice to the Government
of Rajasthan over the reported
deaths of more than 100 children
at Kota Government hospital
The National Human Rights
Commission, NHRC, India has taken
suo motu cognizance of media reports
about the death of more than 100
children at a government run hospital
in Kota district of Rajasthan in the
month of December, 2019. Ten out
of hundred children died within 48
hours between December 23 and 24,
2019. Reportedly, over 50 per cent
of the gadgets installed in the hospital
are defunct and the hospital is lacking
cleanliness and basic infrastructure
including oxygen supply in the
Intensive Care Unit (ICU).
The Commission has issued a notice
to the Chief Secretary, Government
of Rajasthan to submit a detailed
report, within four weeks in the
matter including the steps being taken
to address the issue and to ensure that
such deaths of the children do not
recur in future due to lack of
infrastructure and health facilities at
the hospitals.
The Commission has observed that
the contents of the media reports, if
true, raise serious issue of violation
of human rights. The painful deaths
of children in such a large number is
a matter of concern for the
Commission. The state is duty bound
to provide basic necessary medical
care to its citizens.
According to the media report, the
state authorities have reportedly
stated that the number of deaths is
low in comparison with earlier years.
As per the statistics quoted by the
State authorities 963 children have
died in the year 2019 at J.K. Lon
government hospital while this figure
was above 1000 in the preceding
years.
21
Indian armed forces have
utmost respect for human
rights, says Army Chief General
Bipin Rawat: Human Rights Cell
upgraded to the level of a
Directorate in Army
Headquarters
The Chief of the Army Staff General
Bipin Rawat today said that Indian
Armed Forces are much disciplined
and have utmost respect for human
rights laws and International human
rights law. The Indian armed forces
not only ensure protection of human
rights of our own people but also of
adversaries and deal with the
prisoners of war as per the Geneva
Conventions. General Rawat was
addressing the interns and senior
officers of the National Human Rights
Commission on the topic “Preserving
Human Rights in times of War and
Prisioners of War” at Manav Adhikar
Bhawan, New Delhi.
The Army Chief said that the driving
ethos of the Indian armed forces is
“ Insaniyat”( Humanity) and
“Sharafat”( Decency). They are
extremely secular. The challenge is
the changing war fare tactics with
the advent of technology. Unlike the
attack by any armed forces, the
terror attacks remain unaccountable
in international law. Hence, the
counter terrorism and a nti
insurgency operations have to be
dealt in a manner of winning the
hearts of the people by identifying
and alienating the insurgents among
them without collateral damage,
which becomes very challenging and
difficult.
General Rawat said that the Army
Head Quarters had created a human
rights cell in 1993, which now is
being upgraded to the level of a
Directorate to be headed by an
Additional Director General. This will
also have police personnel to address
the complaints of human rights
violations against the armed forces
and facilitate related enquiries.
General Rawat said that a new
innitiavte has been taken in October
this year by recruiting women
Jawans in Military Police Force. He
said that the Army takes along with it
several police personnel in search
operations, but keeping in view the
concerns of women during such
operations, the army has now decided
to deploy its lady Jawans of its
Military Police Force also.
He said that keeping in view the
provisions of human rights law and
importance of the protection of
human rights, now a court of enquiry
is being held after every anti-
insurgency operation and all records
are maintaned realted to such
operations.
Referring to the Armed Force
Special Powers Act, AFSPA, the
Army Chief said that the Act gives
almost the same powers to the
Army, which are also exercised by
Police and CRPF in connection
with s ea rch a nd e nquiry
opera tions. However, over the
years the army itself has diluted its
application in its own way under
the ten commandments issued by
the Chief of Army Staff, which are
to be strictly adhered by every
soldier, a nd pa rticularly those
deployed for operations in anti-
insurgency areas. The Supreme
Court guidelines on this are also
being strictly followed by soldiers,
who are all given special training
before their deployment in counter
insurgency and counter terrorism
operations.
Earlier, NHRC Member, Mr. Justice
P.C. Pant addressing the gathering
gave an insight into various laws
Vol. XVII No. 4 April 2020
protecting human rights. He also
mentioned about some of the Please subscribe to
fundamental rights, which are not Human Touch
given to the armed forces in line of and support us for
their duty.
creation of a just and
NHRC Secretary General, Mr. equitable society and
Jaideep Govind welcomed General Contribute Articles and
Rawat and said that the Commission
through its internship programmes Support Our Cause in
has started a special lecture series of Creating a Just and
eminent persons and senior officers Equitable Society
to provide an interface between them
and the interns and officers of the
Commission on human rights and
related issues & challenges in their
respective fields.
NHRC Member, Dr. D. M. Mulay,
Director General (Investigation), Mr.
Prabhat Singh, Joint Secretary, Mrs.
Anita Sinha and other senior officers,
staff and interns were present.
NHRC deputes a fact finding
team to know whether incidents Visit our website at :
in Jamia Millia Islamia involved
violation of human rights
www.humantouch.org.in
The National Human Rights for online
Commission, NHRC, India has human rights updates
deputed a team led by its SSP, Ms.
Manzil Saini to conduct and on the
spot inquiry to know whether
incidents in Jamia Millia Islamia
involved violation of Human Rights.
The Commission has received Contribute Articles and
complaints in the matter and Support Our Cause in
registered a case.
Creating a Just and
The fact finding team will submit its Equitable Societyhuman
report, which will be analysed and rights updates.
placed before the Commission for
appropriate recommendations in the
matter.
The complaints received in the Support us for the
Commission include allegations of
illegal detention of students of Jamia creation of a just and
Millia Islamia by Police and denial of equitable society
legal and medical access to injured
students in the Police action.
22
 International Human Rights Update
China: Free Covid-19 Activists,
‘Citizen Journalists’
The Chinese authorities should
immediately and unconditionally
release five activists and citizen
journalists for publicly reporting on
the Covid-19 outbreak, Human Rights
Watch said today.
The government is arbitrarily
detaining three Beijing-based activists,
who operated a webpage to collect
censored Covid-19 articles and social
media posts, and citizen journalists
Chen Qiushi and Fang Bin, who were
forcibly disappeared in Wuhan in
February 2020 for reporting
independently on the pandemic.
“While Beijing is ramping up its global
propaganda extolling its ‘success’ in
containing Covid-19, it is also forcibly
disappearing those independently
reporting on the pandemic,” said
Yaqiu Wang, China researcher at
Human Rights Watch. “So much
about the coronavirus in China will
never become known because the
Chinese government has muzzled
those trying to share critical
information.”
On April 19, the Beijing police
detained Chen Mei, Cai Wei, and Cai’s
partner, a woman surnamed Tang.
Authorities accused Cai and Tang of
“picking quarrels and provoking
trouble” and placed them under
“ residential surveillance in a
designated location,” a form of
enforced disappearance in which
police can hold individuals in
undisclosed locations for up to six
months. Chen’s whereabouts or
condition are unclear.
Vol. XVII No. 4 April 2020
Cai Wei and Chen Mei, 27, are
volunteers for Terminus 2049, a
crowd-sourced project that archives
materials published on Chinese media
outlets and social media platforms
that have been removed by censors.
Since the Covid-19 outbreak, Cai and
Chen posted news articles,
interviews, and personal accounts
related to the coronavirus. Access to
Terminus 2049’s page appeared to
have been blocked in mainland China
after the three were detained.
Terminus 2049 is hosted on Github,
the world’s largest open-source code
sharing and publishing site. Github in
recent years has become a space
where Chinese netizens publish and
preserve information that is prohibited
on the Chinese internet, as it is not
blocked by China’s Great Firewall.
There are other archives on Github
that gather censored coronavirus-
related information. The Chinese
government briefly blocked Github in
2013, and the site suffered
cyberattacks in 2015 that later were
traced back to the Chinese state
telecom giant China Unicom.
Cai and Chen have been active in
volunteer groups providing social
services, and were members of Liren,
a group that provided summer camps
and libraries for rural youth.
Authorities shut down Liren in 2014,
and detained its founder, Li Yingqiang,
for eight months in 2019.
On February 7, authorities in Wuhan,
23
where Covid-19 was first identified,
took into custody lawyer and citizen
journalist Chen Qiushi. Chen, 34, had
gone to the city to report on the
coronavirus situation. Fang Bin, a 47-
year-old Wuhan businessman who
had been posting videos filming city
hospitals, was taken into custody by
authorities two days later. The two
have not been heard from since and
are considered to be forcibly
disappeared. Li Zehua, 25, another
citizen journalist who had gone to
report in Wuhan, reemerged in April
after going missing for almost two
months. Li said he had been taken by
the police to be “quarantined.” Under
international human rights law, a
forced disappearance occurs when
government officials take a person
into custody and the state refuses to
acknowledge the person’s fate or
whereabouts, placing them outside
the protection of the law.
“The lack of free flow of information
about Covid-19 in China has
contributed to a global pandemic,”
Wang said. “Governments around the
world should press Beijing to release
the wrongfully detained activists and
citizen journalists immediately.”
Autocrats’ Quandary: You Can’t
Arrest a Virus
When the virus hit, the strongmen
hit back as they know best.
For Egypt’s president, Abdel Fattah
el-Sisi, that meant deploying chemical
warfare troops, clad in protective
suits and armed with disinfectant, to
the streets of Cairo, in a theatrical
display of military muscle projected
via social media.
Russia’s leader, Vladimir V. Putin,
donned the plastic suit himself, in
canary yellow, for a visit to a Moscow
hospital for coronavirus patients.
Then he dispatched to Italy 15
military planes filled with medical
supplies and emblazoned with the
slogan “From Russia with Love.”
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of
Turkey, a prodigious jailer of
journalists, locked up a few reporters
who criticized his early efforts to
counter the virus, then sent a voice
message to the phone of every citizen
over 50, stressing that he had
everything under control.
And in Turkmenistan, one of the
world’s most repressive countries,
where not a single infection has been
officially declared, the president for
life, Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov,
promoted his book on medicinal
plants as a possible solution to the
pandemic.
In responding to the coronavirus
pandemic, the world’s autocrats are
turning to their tried-and-tested tool
kits, employing a mixture of
propaganda, repression and
ostentatious shows of strength to
exude an aura of total control over
an inherently chaotic situation.
In the immediate term, the crisis
offers autocrats an opportunity to
taunt rivals or entrench their already
vast powers with little risk of censure
from a distracted outside world,
where the scramble to contain the
pandemic has forced even liberal
democracies to consider harsh
measures, such as invasive cellphone
surveillance systems.
“Coronavirus is the new terrorism,”
said Kenneth Roth, executive director
of Human Rights Watch, who fears
that a sweeping expansion of
Vol. XVII No. 4 April 2020
draconian powers could become the
virus’s enduring legacy. “It’s the
latest pretext for rights violations that
I fear will persist long after the crisis
ends.”
Yet the virus also brings potential
perils for the strongmen. Countries
like Russia and Egypt are at the front
end of the virus curve, meaning the
worst is likely a matter of weeks
away.
Iran Says U.S. Sanctions Are
Taking Lives. U.S. Officials
Disagree.
Iran, devastated by the
coronavirus, is asking the U.S. to
lift sanctions on humanitarian
grounds. U.S. officials say
sanctions aren’t to blame; Iran is.
As Iran struggles with a devastating
coronavirus outbreak, a broken
economy and a severe shortage of
medical equipment, it says that
American trade sanctions are taking
Iranian lives and has called for the
United States to lift them on
humanitarian grounds.
Iran’s plea is gaining traction around
the globe, winning support from allies
like Russia and China, but also the
European Union, the United Nations
secretary general, rights groups and
nearly three dozen members of
Congress, who have appealed to the
Trump administration to suspend the
sanctions for as long as Iran is
battling the coronavirus.
Iran, a global epicenter of the virus,
has confirmed more than 47,000
cases and more than 3,000 deaths,
although public health experts
estimate the real toll to be several
times higher.
“We had always said the sanctions
are unjust but coronavirus revealed
24
this injustice to the world,” Foreign
Minister Javad Zarif said in a recent
video message, which he began by
removing a surgical mask from his
face with blue latex gloves. He
referred to the sanctions as
“economic terrorism.”
The issue has raised questions about
the collision of punishing American
sanctions with a deadly pandemic,
including whether Iran is trying to
exploit the crisis to achieve a long-
held goal of lifting sanctions, whether
the United States is using the virus to
squeeze Iran beyond what sanctions
alone could do, and what
responsibility the United States has
for a disaster caused at least partly
by Iran’s own inept response.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has
been unequivocal, saying in a tweet
on Saturday that Iran’s “concerted
effort to lift U.S. sanctions isn’t about
fighting the pandemic. It’s about cash
for the regime leaders.”
He has accused Iran’s leaders of
“trying to avoid responsibility for
their grossly incompetent and deadly
governance.”
When Mr. Zarif accused the United
States of waging “medical terror,” the
State Department spokeswoman
Morgan Ortagus tweeted “ Stop
lying,” adding, “It’s not the sanctions.
It’s the regime.”
If anything, the United States has
doubled down, imposing fresh
sanctions as recently as two weeks
ago, even as it offered Iran medical
aid to help combat the pandemic, aid
Iran has refused.
The United States frequently reiterates
that the sanctions exempt the sale of
medicine and medical devices.
However, American secondary
sanctions on financial institutions and
companies that do business with Iran
have made it nearly impossible for
Iran to buy items like ventilators to
treat coronavirus patients.
The sanctions “have largely deterred
international banks and firms from
participating in commercial or
financial transactions with Iran,
including for exempted humanitarian
transactions, due to the fear of
triggering U.S. secondary sanctions
on themselves,” Human Rights Watch
found in a report last year, months
before the coronavirus emerged.
Now the need for such equipment is
urgent.
“U.S. sanctions are stopping medical
equipment from being sent to Iran,”
Senator Chris Murphy, Democrat of
Connecticut, said in a tweet on
Tuesday. “ As a result, innocent
people are dying.”
Iran’s leadership also bears a share
of the blame for its fumbling
response to the crisis.
The virus was first detected in Iran
in late February, but the government,
ignoring the advice of its own health
experts, took no action to enforce
social distancing or lock down
affected areas until this week,
allowing the virus to spread
unchecked and turning Iran into a
regional hub for the outbreak.
The government came under fire for
underreporting the number of cases
and playing down the threat, while
rivalries between the government and
the military left the country
wondering who was in charge of
containing the pandemic.
On top of that, Iran’s supreme leader,
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, rejected the
Vol. XVII No. 4 April 2020
American offer of humanitarian
assistance, claiming that the virus
was “created by America.” Analysts
said that accepting American aid was
also seen as politically untenable —
it would not fix the economy or end
sanctions but would have the
undesirable effect of making the
United States look benevolent.
Turning the focus to American
sanctions diverts attention from
Iran’s own failings and aligns with
Iran’s policy objectives.
“Iran sees an opportunity to leverage
the coronavirus to pressure the U.S.
to ease its maximum pressure policy
because they are at a deadlock with
the economy,” said Siamak Ghasemi,
an Iran-based economist. “Of course
sanctions relief will give the
government more financial resources
to battle coronavirus, but they are
also thinking long term.”
But some analysts say that the Trump
administration also sees the virus as
an opportunity, an additional tool that
in tandem with sanctions could force
Iran to capitulate to American
demands, including a renegotiated,
tougher nuclear agreement and a curb
on its regional activities.
“The Trump administration believes
that the outbreak has succeeded
where sanctions failed to weaken the
economy even further,” said Ali Vaez,
Iran director for International Crisis
Group. “They think that the timeline
for bringing Iran to its knees has
shortened because of the
coronavirus.”
There’s no question that the virus has
slammed Iran’s already teetering
economy.
Most small businesses, restaurants
and hotels and other service industries
25
have been closed for over a month
during what is usually their most
lucrative season, around the Persian
new year. Factories have scaled down
production and unemployment has
spiked, with economists saying Iran
is losing at least a million jobs per
month.
Economists said the coronavirus
would shrink Iran’s GDP by a third
and create at least a $10 billion budget
deficit this year. Before the virus,
sanctions had already cost Iran about
$200 billion in revenue, mainly from
decimated oil sales, and devalued the
currency by half in the past two years.
And oil sales to the few countries that
still flout American sanctions, like
China, have plummeted as the price
of crude oil has plunged.
“When government has no access to
its resources, it can’t bail out
businesses, it can’t quarantine and it
can’t provide economic support for
people to not work,” said Pooria
Asteraky, a tech entrepreneur who
occasionally consults for Iran’s M
Telecommunications Ministry.
In a sign of desperation, Iran
requested a $5 billion loan from the
International Monetary Fund, the first
time it has applied for such a loan
since the 1960s. The European Union
has said it would support the loan,
but the United States is expected to
block it.
Economic distress brought Iranians
to the streets in November, and the
government is aware that it could do
so again now that the economy is
even worse. Blaming the United
States could deflect some of that
anger.
Support us for the creation of
a just and equitable society
The Transition To A Greener Economy:
Social Dimensions of Green Economy
The purpose of this chapter is to look
in more detail at the characteristics
and structure of the “green” and
“non-green” economy and give an
overview of a number of policy
considerations related to the green
economy, notably as regards the
implications on employment and
income. In particular,
Section A will begin briefly by
defining the green economy, taking
into consideration the diversity with
which various international
organizations have attempted to define
“ green” and highlighting the
importance of being able to
empirically measure the size of the
green economy in order to better
understand the impli­cations of
climate change. And while the
process of greening the economy is
in the first place an attempt to react
to climate change and other
environmental challenges, it will
inevitably bring about a restructuring
of the economy, affecting
employment and income in many
sectors.
With this in mind, Section B discusses
the potential labour market
consequences associated with shifts
towards a greener economy. In
particular, it examines in detail the
industries that would be most
affected by such a transition,
including their employment and
growth content. Finally, Section C
concludes by introducing the
different mechanisms that can trigger
and drive the transition towards a
green economy and the important
role of policy in facilitating and
managing change.
Vol. XVII No. 4 April 2020
A. A green economy is one where
CO2 emissions are low
Several definitions of green have been
suggested by various organizations
but no commonly accepted definition
exists currently. It is, however,
important to find working definitions
of “ green policies”, the “ green
economy” and “green jobs” so that
comparability of different studies
over time is possible and the impacts
of environmental policies are
measurable. As such, indicators and
statistics are needed. Against the
background of the existing definitions
and taking into account the various
considerations and limitations, this
report equates the term “green” to
the environmental function of a stable
global cli­mate and uses CO2
intensity and CO2 emissions as
indicators for greenness.1 Thus, a
green economy is one where CO2
emissions are consistent with
envi­ronmental sustainability.
It is important to note that one can
think of a green economy in terms
of other criteria of sustainability, but
in the case of the European Union
(EU), many economic aspects
relating to the environment, such as
greater efficiency of sewage systems
and improved water quality have
already been adequately addressed at
the policy level. Additionally, in the
context of the EU, levels of CO2
emissions pose one of the most
serious environmental challenges to
the 27/ Member States: although
emissions fell by 5 per cent between
1990 and 2008,
26
Identifying high-carbon-intensive
industries
Accurate determination of industry-
specific CO2 intensity, that is, the
carbon emissions per unit of value,
requires summing-up both direct and
indirect CO2 emissions from
industrial activity. Direct emissions
refer to those emis­sions that stem
from production processes within a
given industry and indirect emissions
refer to the emissions from the
production of inputs used in those
production processes (in other
words, emissions from other
industries). Determining total CO2
intensities on an industry level,
however, is quite data intensive and
as such is not available for most
countries. This report uses direct or
production CO2 intensities which are
in fact a good proxy for total CO2
intensities if used to determine a
relative ranking of industries
In terms of CO2 emissions, it is
important to highlight that most
emissions (about 80 per cent) stem
from the production process and not
from the direct energy consumption
of households (figure 1.1, left). In
this regard, production has the
largest impact on CO2 emissions and
thus, the largest potential for
emissions reduction. This ratio is also
remarkably stable over time and
remains little changed since 1995. In
addition, the high-carbon-intensive
sector (HCIS) – which includes all
industries above the median of CO2
intensity – accounts for roughly 90
per cent of the emissions from
production
Moreover, a select few industries
within the HCIS account for the bulk
of these emissions. In fact, the top
15 emitting industries (among
36 high­carbon industries) account
for approximately 85 per cent of all
emissions arising from production.7
Among these 15 industries, topping
Vol. XVII No. 4 April 2020
the list is the electrical energy, gas,
steam and hot water industry,
followed by coal, with air transport
services ranking fifteenth. Moreover,
these rankings appear very stable
over time – the top four industries
27
have actually remained the same
since 2001 and only minor
adjustments in the ranking of the
others have occurred over this
period.
B. Employment and social aspects
of a greener economy
The move towards an economy
associated with lower CO2 emissions
is likely to bring forth a number of
challenges and opportunities, notably
regarding em­ployment and income
effects and also productivity and
growth. At the outset, the net effect
of these challenges – much like
previous shifts in production, e.g. the
impact of information and
communication technologies during
the 1990s – is ambiguous. In the first
instance, it is likely to be associated
with significant change for industries
and workers concentrated in the
HCIS, especially in the top 15
emitting industries. However, there
Vol. XVII No. 4 April 2020
may be employment gains (above and
beyond the environmental gains) in
industries that contribute directly to
achieving a sustainable economy, that
is, industries that primarily seek to
re­duce CO2 emissions and
industries that operate at a low-
carbon-intensive level.
B. Employment and social
aspects of a greener economy
The move towards an economy
associated with lower CO2 emissions
is likely to bring forth a number of
challenges and opportunities, notably
regarding em­ployment and income
effects and also productivity and
growth. At the outset, the net effect
28
of these challenges – much like
previous shifts in production, e.g. the
impact of information and
communication technologies during
the 1990s – is ambiguous. In the first
instance, it is likely to be associated
with significant change for industries
and workers concentrated in the
HCIS, especially in the top 15
emitting industries. However, there
may be employment gains (above and
beyond the environmental gains) in
industries that contribute directly to
achieving a sustainable economy, that
is, industries that primarily seek to
re­duce CO2 emissions and
industries that operate at a low-
carbon-intensive level.
The environment and employment:
key considerations
One of the main concerns for policy-
makers is the overall employment
ef­fects of greening the economy. In
this respect, categorizing
employment into “ green”, “ less
green” and “not green” will help to
better understand the main
characteristics of the transition
process and the related challenges
and oppor­tunities. In particular,
Vol. XVII No. 4 April 2020
employment can be grouped into
four main categories that take into
consideration carbon output and the
intended purpose of the activity.
• Category I: Enterprises or
industries that produce low-carbon
intensive output which directly
serves to reducing CO2 emissions.
• Category II: Enterprises or
industries that produce low-carbon
intensive output which does not
29
serve the direct purpose of reducing
CO2 emissions.
• Category III: Enterprises or
industries that produce high-carbon
intensive output which serves the
direct purpose of reducing CO2
emissions.
• Category IV: Enterprises or
industries that produce high-carbon
intensive output which does not
serve the direct purpose of reducing
CO2 emissions.
Within these employment categories,
I and II are considered to be strictly
green jobs as they are associated with
output that is low-carbon intensive
and therefore sustainable. Jobs in
category I are the greenest in that
they adhere to both the environmental
impact of the output and the nature
of the activity, i.e. both are directed
to reducing CO2 emissions. Jobs
from category II are included as
green since they are not associated
with any negative long-term impacts
on the global climate.
Categories III and IV are considered
to be “brown” given that they are
associ­ated with high­carbon
output. However, it is important to
Vol. XVII No. 4 April 2020
note that jobs in category III – albeit
within the HCIS – are related to
activities which are in­tended to
reduce CO2 emissions and could
thus be in included into a broader
definition of green jobs. In fact, the
environmental goods and services
sector as defined by Eurostat (2009)
includes enterprises that supply
green products and services,
independent of CO2 emitted in the
process, thus categories I and III.
More generally, jobs in category III
could be viewed as necessa ry
intermediate solutions or steps
towards promoting structural
change. In the long run, how­ever,
a shift of ca tegory III jobs to
category I is desirable.
30
Employment and income content
of high-carbon-intensive sectors
The size of these categories of jobs
is important in determining the
potential employment effects of
green policies. However, detailed
breakdowns of em­ployment by
each employment category are not
readily available. Estimates from
the United States and Germany
indicate that only 2 to 3 per cent
of total employment is related to
activities to reduce CO2 emissions
(categories I and III)
(s ee U.S. Depa rtment of
Commerce, 2010 and ECOTEC
Research & Consulting Limited,
2002).
However, in terms of jobs in the
HCIS – of which category IV
accounts for the vast majority –
more detailed country-level estimates
of employment and GDP are possible
through the relative CO2 ranking
discussed above. According to figure
1.3, the HCIS accounts for roughly
43 per cent of total employment (or
87 million workers) in the EU-25.
However, in examining only the top
15 in­dustries which, as discussed
above, contribute to the vast majority
of emissions, approximately 12 per
cent of total employment in the EU-
25 – or some 24 mil­lion workers –
are employed in these top polluting
industries.
Vol. XVII No. 4 April 2020
Similarly, among EU-25 countries,
the top 15 emitting industries
account for close to 12 per cent
of GDP as measured by value-
a dded. This represe nts
ap­proximately 1,250 billion euros
in terms of GDP. For new EU
Member States, i.e. EU-10, the
shares are considerably higher,
especia lly in t erms of
employ­ment. In fact, in the EU­
10, a lthough the top 15 CO 2-
emitting industries ac­count for
roughly 13 per cent of GDP –
similar in magnitude to the EU-25
– more than one-fifth of all jobs
a re concent ra te d in the se
industries.
31
Ne t e m ploy m ent and incom e
effects
It is important for policy-makers
to understa nd the overa ll
employment and income effects in
the economy. In fact, greening the
economy is likely to lead to shifts
in employment and income, i.e.
changes within some sectors and
gains and losses in others. All
aspects of this transition – both
positive and negative – need to be
taken into consideration. However,
well-designed policies will be key
to smoothing these transitions and
ensuring overall job growth and the
a chievement of a low-ca rbon
economy.

In particular, promoting the
environmental sector will continue to
play an in­strumental role as an
engine for this structural change, but
policies should not focus on this
sector alone, since it would neglect
many of the expected employ­ment
and income effects. In the first
instance, policies need to be oriented
more generally towards jobs that are
low-carbon intensive since the need
for green jobs arises from the need
for greater environmental
sustainability in the economy.
Secondly, there is a need to address
the employment and income effects
in sec­tors where no environmentally
related output is generated, since
reallocation of labour and income
among these sectors is expected (i.e.
from the brown sector, HCIS, to the
green sector, LCIS). Indeed, the
purpose of Chapter 3 is to explore
these issues in greater detail. It will
be first important to understand
better the potential factors underlining
the shift to a greener economy and
the potential role of policies to ease
this transition.
C. Forces behind the transition
towards a green economy
A transition towards a green
Vol. XVII No. 4 April 2020
economy can be triggered and driven
by several factors. Currently, few
incentives exist in the market system
to initiate such a transition, making
an exogenous shock necessary for a
structural change. Such a shock
could mainly come from the
following four areas.
Energy prices
One possible driver of a transition is
a supply shock on fossil energy
markets. Under favourable
32
circumstances, markets anticipate
long-term shortages and smooth
price increases, allowing for a
controlled adjustment by firms and
con­sumers to higher energy prices.
However, past experience has shown
that en­ergy markets tend to go
through periods of erratic price
movements and are prone to
speculation and price bubbles.
Commodity markets tend to be even
more volatile than the stock market.
Therefore, a more likely scenario
would include abrupt price shocks,
as already experienced before the
2008 crisis and has since resumed.
An adjustment to such a cost shock
would ultimately force the economy
to higher resource productivity and
increased investments into green
technology. But a transition caused
through sudden price shocks would
cause painful short-term impacts on
GDP and employment.
New technology
Another trigger for a green transition
could be a major technological
break­through, for example the
invention of a low-cost renewable
energy source that is applicable on a
large scale. In this case, fossil energy
would become less com­petitive and
firms and consumers would have an
incentive to switch to the re­newable
energy source. Of course, discovery
of a new technology could happen at
any time without government support.
However, a breakthrough in terms of
a green technology is likely to require
government incentives for research
and development – especially given the
importance of spreading any new
tech­nology as quickly and widely as
possible, which weakens private
incentives to invest.
Shifts in preferences and demand
Changing consumption patterns can
also play an importa nt role in
triggering a transition towards a
green economy. Increased
awareness and environmental
responsibility can lead consumers to
shift their average consumption
bundle to more sustainable
products. These cha nged
preferences can lead to a higher
will­ingness to pay and encourage
profit-seeking firms to invest in
green production facilities and to
offer sustainable products a nd
services.
Role of policies
In many instances, government
policy can affect and facilitate these
transi­tions. Indeed, there exist a
number of green instruments that if
carefully de­signed and implemented
could promote greener technologies
and encourage a reduction in
emissions.
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