[afro-nets] Food not only for a needed, but a rights-based thought

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

Food not only for a needed, but a rights-based thought
------------------------------------------------------

Human Rights Reader 73

RECAPITULATING: THE EIGHT MAJOR DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE BASIC
NEEDS AND THE HUMAN RIGHTS APPROACH TO DEVELOPMENT

1. Needs are met or satisfied.
Rights are realized (respected, protected, facilitated and ful-
filled).


2. Needs do not imply duties or obligations, although they may
generate promises.
Rights always imply correlative duties or obligations.


3. Needs are not necessarily universal.
Human rights (HR) are always universal.


4. Basic needs can be met by goal or outcome strategies.
HR can be only realized by attention being paid to both outcome
and process.


5. Needs can be ranked in a hierarchy of priorities.
HR are indivisible, because they are interdependent; there is no
such thing as "basic rights"


6. Needs can be met through charity and benevolence.
Charity and benevolence do not reflect duty or obligation.


7. It is gratifying to state that "80% of all children have had
their needs met to be vaccinated".
In the HR approach, this means that 20% of all children have not
had their right to be vaccinated realized.


8.The government does not yet have the political will to enforce
legislation to iodize salt.
The government has chosen to ignore its duty by failing to en-
force legislation to iodize all salt.


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


Taken from Urban Jonsson's book Human Rights Approach to Devel-
opment Programming, UNICEF, ESARO, April 2003.