[afro-nets] Food for a necessary, but not sufficient thought

[Claudio Schuftan <claudio@hcmc.netnam.vn>]

Food for a necessary, but not sufficient thought
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Human Rights Reader 71

REMEMBER?: RIGHTS MEAN NOT ONLY HAVING A RIGHT TO SOMETHING, BUT
ALSO CLAIMING THAT RIGHT FROM APPROPRIATE DUTY-BEARERS


1. For decades the ?Development School? and the ?Human Rights
(HR) School? had progressed in a parallel manner with very lim-
ited exchange and interaction. It is only recently that both
schools have started merging.

2. Human development is now understood as a necessary, but not
sufficient condition for the achievement of HR.

3. Why? Because the HR-based approach requires that communities
be empowered in a way that service-delivery-focused-basic-needs-
strategies cannot (and have not) normally achieve(d).

4. Also, as opposed to needs, rights are inalienable, i.e., they
cannot be taken away.

5. Still at present, a very limited proportion of resources of
UN and other aid agencies and NGOs actually contribute to really
developing-critical-capacities- within-communities in a manner
that empowers-the-most-vulnerable-segments-of- the-population-
to-claim-their-rights.

6. Perhaps refreshing our minds, here, is useful: Civil an Po-
litical Rights are: the rights to life; to freedom from slavery,
servitude and forced labor; the rights to liberty and security,
to freedom of movement, to equality before the law, to freedom
of thought, conscience and religion, to freedom of expression
and peaceful assembly; also the right to vote and be elected;
and the rights of every child to be registered, have a name and
a nationality. Social Economic and Cultural Rights are: the
rights to work and to unionize; the rights to social security,
to food, to education and to health; and also the rights of
children to be protected from exploitation and work that is
harmful to their development.

7. Furthermore, all individuals have both rights and duties, ex-
cept for very young children who have no duties.

8. Civil and political rights are defined as specific demands
that must be fulfilled (ruled by Obligations of Result) while
the requirements to fulfil social, economic and cultural rights
are left more ambiguous by the respective UN Covenants --
dependent on the availability of resources (ruled by Obligations
of Conduct). But scarcity of resources, as we have said before,
does not relieve States of minimum obligations as regards the
implementation of social, economic and cultural rights!

9. As I think has been made plenty clear in this Reader, assist-
ing people to assert their rights, most often means getting in-
volved in political processes.

10. Why? Because rights are precisely violated due to the fact
that claim- holders lack the capacity to claim their rights,
and/or duty-bearers lack the capacity (or dodge their responsi-
bility) to meet their duties.

11. Introducing the concepts of ?obligation?, ?duty?, and ?roles
and responsibilities? to duty-bearers is, therefore, crucial to
empower them.

12. On the other hand, marginalized people (those who do not en-
joy many rights and develop coping strategies that allow them
merely to survive, but not to attain the majority of their
rights) can only make effective claims if they have the ability
to alter the social context where they live and are empowered to
negotiate changes with those who hold power. This has to start
by giving claim-holders better access to information, to duty-
bearers and to the networks around decision-makers.

13. It has, therefore, been variously said that the HR approach
is about: - Giving voice to claim-holders and building the lis-
tening skills of duty- bearers. - Only when claim-holders commu-
nicate with duty-bearers on an equal footing will the power
structure be altered in a way conducive to overcome all HR vio-
lations. - Both solidarity and empowerment are vehicles to help
people claiming their rights. - The HR approach often demands an
in-depth political analysis and an ensuing commensurate engage-
ment; a better understanding of the political economy of the
countries where we work is, therefore, a must. and - When duty-
bearers are unwilling, political development and action may be
required before HR programming can be possible.

14. In this context, always keep in mind that the motivation for
HR is based on a-desire-for-justice, not simply on benevolence.
This is easy to say, but not so easy to achieve?; such a value
needs to be actively internalized. So, it is us who need to en-
gage in increasing the pool of justice-conscious and rights-
conscious people.

15. In many communities, HR values need to be promoted from
above, because they have not yet been internalized by the peo-
ple. (HR advocacy, used as a technique, will have to be used to
build commitment for more rights-oriented processes at various
levels). But we have to avoid situations in which HR are seen as
imported-values-that-impose-on-local-cultural-beliefs. For this,
we have to engage in an open debate with government and civil
society partners.

16. The worst tactic is to impose the transition to a HR-based
approach (HRAP) by fast-tracking. More sensitization and in-
depth training on the HRAP is needed. Good time has to be spent
on training a core group. Then one can move on to district
trainers and facilitators and finally to community mobilizers;
all this with the aim of developing HR-based community action
plans.

--
Mostly taken from Urban Jonsson?s book "Human Rights Approach to
Development Programming" UNICEF, ESARO, April 2003.

--
Claudio Schuftan
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
mailto:claudio@hcmc.netnam.vn