Human Rights

Zapatista guerrillas and Mexican indigenous groups march for indigenous rights [Marcella Haddad]

The true test of a fair society is the degree to which it fulfils human rights, including the right to health, adequate housing, sufficient food, education, justice and security

Society is built on governance, which essentially means the way in which public institutions - such as national and local governments - conduct public affairs and manage resources.

Good governance does this in a way that is free of abuse and corruption, and which respects the rule of law.

The link between human rights and development is strong. The UN states that development is a human right, for which individuals, communities, national and international bodies must have respect.

Civil society - the media, religious groups, pressure groups, local credit collectives and trade unions - can play a crucial role in protecting the rights of ordinary people and promoting development.

Justice for all

Social and economic justice must be applied to an entire society - and therefore to the idea of building a just society, which gives individuals and groups their due.

Catholic social teaching tells us that the moral test of a society is how it treats its most vulnerable members, and that the deprivation and powerlessness of the poor wounds the whole community.

It states that economies must serve people, not the other way around, and that all workers have a right to productive work, to decent and fair wages, and to safe working conditions.

They also have a fundamental right to organise and join unions, and that inequalities of wealth - that some people have excessive wealth when others lack the basic necessities of life - is wrong.

latest updates elsewhere on www.cafod.org.uk

CAFOD film about Uganda to star in UN festival Our documentary about war-torn Northern Uganda will mark the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights at the “We the Peoples” film festival

Nobel Prize highlights challenge to peace in Aceh CAFOD congratulates former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari on winning the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in resolving conflict across the world through mediation and diplomacy

Sufferers in land dispute supported CAFOD has donated £22,151 to people affected by last month’s massacre in northern Bolivia in which 16 people where killed and more than 50 people disappeared

Peru: Chance for justice at last Rosa Villarán, from CAFOD partner Never Again!, talks about how accepting Peru's violent past is the key to safeguarding human rights for its people in the future

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Advent Appeal 2008 Please send a message of support to kids this Advent at a special school run by a CAFOD partner

Shine a light in the darkness Please sign our petition calling on the world's largest mining company to listen to communities in the Philippines worried about the effect mining will have on their land - plus send a personal message of solidarity to the people of Macambol

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