[afro-nets] Food for a thought in the political sphere

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

Food for a thought in the political sphere
------------------------------------------
Human Rights Reader 84

DEVELOPMENT = SUBSTANTIAL AND STEADY ADVANCEMENT IN THE REALIZA-
TION OF ALL RIGHTS.

1. Human rights (HR) violations are varied and dynamic; they
and/or their character and intensity change over time. Commonly
found patronage (clientelism) and exploitation structures find
ways to perpetuate these violations by quite systematically pre-
venting changes that could reverse them. For sure, there is now
a greater recognition of the political roots of HR violations,
and these clearly change over time. That is why, to ensure a
principled and consequent approach to development interventions,
we now need to integrate capacity (accountability) analyses in
all HR-based approaches to development planning --and do so re-
peatedly and on an ongoing basis, because power and wealth rela-
tions simply also change over time.

2. Therefore, vulnerability to HR violations is now rightly un-
derstood more in terms of powerlessness rather than simply as a
lack of resources to uphold and sustain these rights. (*) People
are most vulnerable when their livelihoods and coping strategies
are blocked, or if their group identity, political position or
material circumstances make them particularly exposed to exploi-
tation.
__________
(*): Keep in mind that credibility is a central issue in power
relations. Without access to knowledge, it is not possible to
have power; knowledge of existing legal instruments is particu-
larly important as a source of power.


3. For human (people's) rights to be upheld under any political
system, duty-bearers need to be monitored (including political
leaders since holding elections and embracing a multi-party sys-
tem does not necessarily guarantee more democracy or a better HR
agenda).
[In keeping an eye on their decisions, beware that duty-bearers
often suffer from selective blindness, selective deafness, se-
lective silence and selective amnesia. (M. Shiva)].

4. Development agencies and NGOs thus need to understand this
dynamics-of-vulnerability-and-power in all societies in which
they operate. The bottom-line question is: 'Through their work,
are they doing 'maximum good'? While the practical constraints
to this maximization are considerable, the tools to maximize
good have long been there. So, the most significant challenge is
an institutional one, i.e., how these agencies are to integrate
a (political) HR capacity analysis into the mainstream of their
activities at all levels. This is a challenge, because the pow-
ers-that-shape-things are, first and foremost, in the political
sphere: so we all have to deal with them in that sphere.
After all, development IS the realization of civil, political,
social, economic and cultural rights.
What this means is that the achievement of HR has to be the
overarching objective of development processes.

5. Unfortunately, the educational and scientific institutions
that prepared us and are guiding the future of our upcoming col-
leagues (and leaders) have only responded marginally to the
challenge posed by now having to use the emerging HR-based ap-
proach in the training of the new generations of development
professionals.

6. .And related to what Development with a capital D ought to
be, have you noticed that no actual Development Strategies are
announced anymore? Only 'goals'! But goals are not strategies!
They are statistical objectives. You can only achieve a goal if
the path to it is described.

7. Therefore, I contend that the Millennium Development Goals
are primarily a rhetorical device. You disagree? Then, consider
for a moment that -- for the specific poverty reduction MDG --
even those who pass the $1/day mark by 2015 may still stay be-
tween 1-2 dollars a day - forever. (F+D)


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

--
Mostly taken from the German development journal D+C, Vol. 30,
Dec, 2003 and Vol. 31, Jan, 2004 and from F+D (the IMF journal)
40:3, Sept 2003, as well as from Poverty, Health and Develop-
ment, Health Cooperation Paper No.17, AIFO, Bologna, Italy,
2003.