AFRO-NETS> Food for not so childish thoughts (2)

[Claudio Schuftan <aviva@netnam.vn>]

Food for not so childish thoughts (2)
-------------------------------------

Re: HR Reader 44

From: George Kent <kent@hawaii.edu>

> 3. Moreover, HR have no time limit: up until a specific right is 
> fully realized, this right is violated. This brings into serious 
> question the setting of goals to 'halve poverty or malnutrition'.
> [So, should we continue to pursue goals such as halving malnutri-
> tion by 2015...?].

- Why would the first sentence here bring into question the merits of 
setting time-bound targets en route to the goal? I could see ques-
tioning any government that set the targets too low, but the idea of 
targeting as such, as a tool of strategic thinking, has merit.

> 6. Rights are to be seen as our exercise of free will and of choice
> and are, therefore, dependent on the claim holders' capacity to
> have their rights enforced.

- This might be clearer if written something like this: Rights hold-
ers and their representatives (e.g., parents for children) should 
have the capacity and the opportunity to take action to insist that 
those who have the corresponding duties do in fact carry out their 
duties.

> To have rights is not dependent on having current capacity to exer-
> cise or assert them.

- This seems to contradict your preceding sentence. I would rewrite 
it as: "However, rights holders retain their rights even if they are 
unable to take any action to demand their realization."

> There is a fundamental difference between protecting children -
> because they are dependent (and deserve our compassion)-- and re-
> specting children, because they are powerful. [Actually, the CRC 
> prohibits those who already have power from exerting that power 
> over children].

- Where does the CRC prohibit that? I am not sure... Even parents? 

George Kent
mailto:kent@hawaii.edu
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