PIONEERING INSURANCE POLICY GREATLY BENEFITS POOR FARMERS, FINDS UN-BACKED REPORT

The fragile livelihoods of millions of poor farmers in developing countries, often devastated by adverse weather conditions, have been fortified by an innovative insurance scheme, according to a United Nations-backed report released today.

A variable and unpredictable climate can restrict income and limit development for many smallholders, as banks, for example, are unlikely to lend to farmers if a drought will cause widespread defaults, even if the farmers could pay back loans in most years.

This lack of access to credit restricts farmers' ability to buy improved seeds, fertilizers and other inputs needed to cultivate land, according to the Index Insurance and Climate Risk: Prospects for development and disaster management report launched at the Global Humanitarian Forum (GHF) in Geneva today.

Index Insurance uses a measure of weather, such as the amount of rainfall, to determine payouts, resolving a number of problems that make traditional insurance unworkable in rural parts of developing countries, said the report.

With Index Insurance contracts, there is no need to visit the policyholder to determine premiums or assess damages. Instead, if the rainfall recorded by gauges is below an agreed-upon threshold, the insurance pays out.

Having this insurance allows farmers to apply for bank loans and other types of credit which was previously inaccessible, said the report, which was produced by the International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI) in partnership with UN Development Programme and the World Food Programme, among other governmental and non-governmental agencies.

"Only the richest three per cent of people in the world are covered by insurance," said Olav Kjorven, UNDP Assistant Administrator and Director of the Bureau for Development Policy.

"The world's poor have been completely left out, even though they are the most vulnerable people most in need of protection.

"Droughts, floods and hurricanes often strip whole communities of their resources and belongings," he said, adding that Index Insurance could "finally enable millions of poor people to access financial tools for development and properly prepare for and recover from climate disasters."

A number of projects have shown that Index Insurance is affordable for people living on just $2 a day, an example being farming communities in Malawi which have been able to buy small insurance contracts to cover the purchase price of seeds in case of drought since 2005, according to the report.

Nearly two million Indian farmers have also had access to Index Insurance programmes since 2003, but in order to achieve their full potential, applications of Index Insurance will need to scale up to reach many more people, the report stressed.
________________

BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS MATTER MORE THAN EVER, EXPERT TELLS UN COUNCIL

BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS MATTER MORE THAN EVER, EXPERT TELLS UN COUNCIL
New York, Jun 2 2009 3:00PM
There has never been a more critical time to address business and human rights, the United Nations <"http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/">Human Rights Council was told today as it began its 11th session in Geneva with a discussion on how to make companies rights-friendly.

"Human rights are most at risk in times of crisis, and economic crises pose a particular risk to economic and social rights," John Ruggie, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Business and Human Rights, said as he presented his 2009 report to the Council.

"Business and human rights matters more than ever because progress on this front directly contributes to the transition we all seek toward more inclusive and sustainable economic growth.

"The solutions for the economic crisis and for business and human rights point in the same direction: governments adopting policies that induce more responsible corporate behaviour, and companies adopting strategies that reflect the inescapable fact that their own long-term prospects are tightly coupled with society's well-being," he stated.

The 47-member Council had previously backed the framework devised by Mr. Ruggie to better manage the human rights challenges posed by transnational corporations and other business enterprises.

Mr. Ruggie pointed out that the "protect, respect and remedy" framework rests on three complementary pillars: the State duty to protect against human rights abuses by third parties; the corporate responsibility to respect human rights, which in essence means to act with due diligence to avoid infringing on the rights of others; and greater access by victims to effective remedy, judicial and non-judicial.

The Council had also asked Mr. Ruggie to provide "practical recommendations" and "concrete guidance" to governments, businesses and other social actors on the framework's implementation.

The Special Representative emphasized the importance for companies to exercise "human rights due diligence," whereby they can prevent and mitigate adverse human rights impacts through having a human rights policy in place to assess their activities.

The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (<"http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Pages/WelcomePage.aspx">OHCHR) contributes to the business and human rights agenda through its support to the Special Representative and partnership work with the UN Global Compact, a voluntary initiative to promote corporate citizenship which currently involves over 5,000 companies across 130 countries.

"The partnership between some of the world's largest corporations, OHCHR and the UN Global Compact sends a powerful signal that human rights is indeed a business issue and that business itself should be directly involved in finding solutions to the challenge of integrating human rights into its core activities and policies," said High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay.

At its current session, which will run through 18 June, the Council will consider, among others, the protection of human rights of civilians in armed conflict, and the draft guiding principles on extreme poverty and human rights.

The Council will also discuss the report of the High Commissioner on the resolution to dispatch an urgent, independent international fact-finding mission to investigate all violations of international humanitarian law against the Palestinian people throughout the occupied Palestinian territory, particularly in the occupied Gaza Strip.
________________