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Although Sweden is a role model for women’s and girls’ rights worldwide, in the country itself gender equality has not yet been fully achieved. 13. (...) For this purpose, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs regularly monitors the situation of democracy, human rights and the rule of law worldwide. It published 135 country reports on these issues in 2017. (...) It is a global partnership and the first social dialogue initiative to promote good relations in the labour market with the aim to ensure that everyone can benefit from globalization.

The Netherlands will continue to improve the position of women and girls worldwide and to attain gender equality. Gender equality contributes to the achievement of a number of Sustainable Development Goals. (...) Certain groups, however, may need support in finding their place in the labour market. These include elderly persons, those with a disability, families on low income, ethnic and other minorities, homeless persons and those with addiction problems. 55. (...) A number of areas of concern were mentioned, such as greenhouse gas emissions, the gender pay gap and the alignment between education and the labour market. 64. In addition to the 2030 Agenda, the Dutch Government vowed to contribute actively to support and promote the implementation of the Paris Agreement and the Addis Ababa Action Agenda of the Third International Conference on Financing for Development.

In 2008 the production of these two countries represented 92% of worldwide quinoa production. Following them are: United States, Ecuador, Argentina and Canada, totaling about 8% of global production volumes. (...) A/67/553 912-57613 (C) Vision and Aims Vision Quinoa is recognized and accepted worldwide as a natural food resource of Andean origin with high nutritional value, constituting a quality food for the health and food security of present and future generations. (...) The private sector is involved with many research activities and the development of new products and market niches. Academia and research is one of the most extensive networks of cooperation for the promotion of global culture, as it has the technical knowledge of the latest developments, including cutting-edge research and traditional knowledge.

They are not accidental or a by-product of the market; rather they often appear to be the result of State-sanctioned practices and high levels of impunity, insufficient regulations, and the misuse of complex financial vehicles to avoid accountability and traceability. (...) Similarly, significant public expenditures are required to ensure 12 A/HRC/28/60 and Corr.1. 13 Trade misinvoicing and tax loss due to misinvoicing are important components of illicit financial flows worldwide and contribute to inequality around the world, especially in developing countries. (...) The overall involvement of financial institutions in abusive tax planning strategies for transnational corporations worldwide is confirmed by the increasing number of cases in which individual financial institutions have been investigated or have received penalties for a host of infractions, the most widespread of which was helping wealthy clients and corporations engage in tax fraud.42 Many of the cases revealed by the “Panama Papers” point in that direction. 53.

Relevant concerns include: land and property speculation and the unwillingness of States to intervene in the market to ensure that low-income persons can access rental and owner-occupied housing; land occupation/grabbing; land confiscation and expropriation; destruction and deterioration of land; inequality in land ownership; agrarian reform; housing and property restitution in the context of the return of refugees, evicted persons, and E/CN.4/2006/41 page 10 internally displaced persons; and the inability of States to control the growth and power of land mafias and cartels; • Natural disasters and humanitarian emergencies. (...) The Special Rapporteur has continuously pointed out the worldwide failure to finance and ensure adequate housing for the poor who comprise the bottom 20 per cent of national populations. (...) They offer several new prescriptions, based on experiences gathered worldwide since 1997, which render more clear the obligations of States within this context.

• Inclusive education should be geared towards belonging and active citizenship and not just active labour market participation. • The principle and need for ‘universal design’ applies to learning systems as well school buildings (...) Economic Empowerment The Need for more inclusive Labour Market Policies and Laws. o More can be done to ensure labour markets are accommodating and welcoming to employees with disabilities. o The current trend toward supported employment in the open labour market, where needed, is broadly welcomed. o More needs to be done to support entrepreneurship and the formation of small businesses by persons with disabilities as well as to encourage social enterprise.

Both the Independent Authority for Fiscal Responsibility and Oxfam have made such a proposal.35 It should have at least the following characteristics: full portability between autonomous communities; compatibility with the existing labour market so that people do not lose support for accepting low-paid or temporary work; an adequate amount that tracks the cost of living to ensure that people are not living in poverty; an individualized and flexible approach to administration that minimizes burdensome paperwork; availability to people aged under 25; and a lack of excessive conditions linked to job searching that bureaucratize the system and depress uptake. 26. (...) The affordability of the private rental market is amongst the lowest in the OECD and more than 38 per cent of private tenants paying market rates are overburdened by the cost of rent.52 The Bank of Spain found that the price of rental housing increased by more than 50 per cent from 2013 to 2019,53 while salaries have lost 7.8 per cent of their purchasing power in the last decade. (...) Despite the clear need, low cost rental housing is almost non-existent: just 2.7 per cent of the population was renting below the market rate as of 2018.56 Housing Europe estimates that social housing in Spain comprises 2.5 per cent of the national occupied housing stock, compared with 30 per cent in the Netherlands, 24 per cent in Austria, 17.6 per cent in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and 16.8 per cent in France.57 In addition, new construction of public housing has plummeted from 63,900 new units in 2008 to 2,737 in 2018.58 Meanwhile, the most recent national housing census in 2011 found 3.4 million vacant homes, while Housing Europe estimates that there were 3.8 million in 2017.59 39.

Part of the mandate of the Working Group is to examine the situation regarding the activities of private military and private security companies (PMSCs) on the international market and its effects on the enjoyment of human rights. (...) The example of the arms trade, where the FCO and embassies and special agencies of the United Kingdom worldwide are overseeing the legality of the license, could be a good starting point for putting in place such a mechanism. The BERR compliance inspectorate, centrally, and British embassies and High Commissions worldwide could monitor the compliance of the implementation of licensed contracts, in a similar way to what they are mandated to do under the Export Control Act (2002). 46.

The Policy also provides a number of market measures and other elements to facilitate organic production and better labelling. 27. (...) It should be noted, however, that statistics usually refer to products that are sold on the market and not specifically pesticides used in agriculture. (...) Illegality is economically motivated, thus inevitably linked with attempts to reduce costs, increase prices, destroy environment and social practices, and discourage smallholders from entering the market. In this context, the Government and the local authorities have achieved significant success and seized valuable assets and goods.37 The continued efforts by the competent Italian authorities (the Central Inspectorate for Fraud Prevention and others) to move towards having a worldwide-acknowledged national control system in the agrifood sector are commendable.

The right to food is acknowledged and affirmed in a range of international human rights instruments, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,9 the International 5 For examples, see Survey on National Human Rights Institutions, Report on the findings and recommendations of a questionnaire addressed to NHRIs worldwide, July 2009, Geneva, Switzerland, http://www.nhri.net/2009/Questionnaire%20-%20Complete%20Report%20FINAL- edited.pdf ., 6 Protect, Respect and Remedy: a Framework for Business and Human Rights, Report of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises, John Ruggie, http://www.reports-and- materials.org/Ruggie-report-7-Apr-2008.pdf 7 Id., p. 6, paragraph No. 17. 8 For further information and materials regarding the ICC Working Group on Business and Human Rights, see, www.nhri.net . 9 Under UDHR art. 25 (1), everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for her or his health and well-being, including food, http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/index.shtml A/HRC/13/NI/11 4 GE.10-11360 Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights,10 other international human rights treaties,11 the Rome Declaration on World Food Security,12 the Universal Declaration on the Eradication of Hunger and Malnutrition, and the United Nations Millennium Declaration.13 The World Food Summit Plan of Action and the Declaration of the World Food Summit14 affirmed that the problems of hunger and food insecurity have a global dimension, that there has been insufficient progress made on reducing hunger, which is likely to increase dramatically in certain regions unless urgent and concerted action is taken, given anticipated increase in the world population, related stress on natural resources and climate change. (...) As the Special Rapporteur has recognised, a human rights based approach to the right to food should, “…consider the full range of societal processes and systems that are necessary for protecting and fulfilling the right to food”, in line with the holistic framework of the FAO Voluntary Guidelines to Support the Progressive Realization of the Right to Adequate Food, which acknowledge as conditions of effectiveness of the right to food, the rule of law, transparency, accountability, public participation, legal framework, education, land reform, market systems, resources, food safety, nutrition etc. (...) It is to be hoped that this new policy framework will provide the impetus to greater public debate and discussion around issues of agribusiness and the right to food, and also to more effective regulation to protect enjoyment of the right to food that, as the Special Rapporteur has repeatedly observed, is urgently needed worldwide.