COP27 Reflections: Human Rights are Increasingly on the Built Environment and Climate Action Agendas 

IHRB’s Built Environment programme played an active role at last month’s COP27 in Sharm El-Sheik, Egypt where over 35,000 participants aimed to make faster progress on addressing the climate crisis. Our team attended 24 built environment-related...

Women And Girls at the Centre of Transformation in the Built Environment

As governments have recognized in multiple fora, action on climate change must be closely connected with action to address gender inequality. This applies to cities and towns, which are undergoing many transformations. They need to strengthen their...

Better Building(s) - A Rights-Based Approach to Decarbonisation

As governments gather this week for the Porto Social Summit, they should consider the many ways that climate action in the built environment must be shaped to advance, rather than undermine, human rights.

Across the EU, momentum is growing to...

COVID, Housing, and Climate - A Call for a Systems Shift

 The seemingly simple words “stay at home” have exposed the economic and racial inequality that divides most cities, countries, and regions.

The COVID-19 pandemic has elevated the centrality of the right to housing – fundamental to our ability to...

Linking Climate and Human Rights Throughout the Built Environment Lifecycle

Decisions about what we build, and how, define our future. And we are on a trajectory for explosive growth. Global building stocks are projected to double by 2060. By then, 70% of the world’s population will be city-based.

This comes at a time when...

The Best of 2019

Human Rights and the Built Environment - A Call for Action

Two-thirds of humanity are projected to live in urban areas by 2050. If we are to make progress in reducing global inequality and in meeting the UN Sustainable Development Goals, a rights-based approach to the built environment is critical. 

IHRB...

New Framework Agreement - Significant Progress in Protecting the Rights of Migrant Construction Workers in Qatar

The construction industry in Qatar is an important part of the country’s economic development and will remain so for the foreseeable future. The sector relies on migrant workers who everywhere in the world are vulnerable to exploitation and abuse.

New Construction Sector Agreement on Protecting Vulnerable Workers

Worker exploitation and ongoing rights abuses in the construction sector are being tackled through a range of initiatives, including guidance from CIOB on tackling modern slavery in construction, the BRE Ethical Labour Standard, and the Stronger...

Q&A on the Stronger Together Construction Initiative

The UK Modern Slavery Act has encouraged many businesses to examine how their activities impact the rights of others. The Act requires companies to engage with key challenges relating to risks of forced labour and trafficking. Customer-facing...

Protecting Workers Building Sporting Venues – Progress in Qatar

Mega-sporting events focus attention on human rights, however, it is often for a fleeting moment. It requires a great sense of urgency if improvements are to take place. In construction, it means a big, but temporary surge in activity for stadiums,...

Built Environment Companies Need to Take a Longer Term View on Modern Slavery

It is an obvious but uncomfortable truth that there is no quick fix for modern slavery.  It is too enmeshed in corruption to be solved by box-ticking initiatives. It is too financially rewarding to be given up easily by perpetrators. The...