[afro-nets] Food for a violated thought (2)

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

Food for a violated thought (2)
-------------------------------

Human Rights Reader 108

Always check if the Government is 'putting its money where its
mouth is': A guide to using budget analysis to advance human
rights.  Part 2 of 2

15. Meeting one's human rights obligations is not necessarily
about spending money, but the reality is that very often it does
take money to fulfill these obligations. Therefore, a 'human
rights framework' (as the one repeatedly depicted by this
Reader) is needed as a reminder that the welfare of human beings
--and the needed investments for that-- should be the driving
motivation of our work.

16. Work driven by a concern about poverty and social justice
gains legitimacy through the use of a human rights framework.
Such a framework makes clear that fiscal choices must not vio-
late human rights; this, since human rights standards often di-
rect governments to give priority to certain types of expendi-
tures over others. Therefore, it is strongly contended that hu-
man rights plus budget analysis leads to greater power. Budget
analysis looks for upfront guarantees that governments are pro-
tecting human rights.

17. Starting with a 'rights frame of mind' --a perspective that
considers a situation through the lens of rights-- means looking
for rights issues in all what we do in development work, as well
as looking for strategies to advance rights. The human rights
struggle is one for the recognition of and respect for human
dignity.

18. Starting with a rights frame of mind also means always ana-
lyzing whether what one is seeing is a violation of a right; so
bringing this frame of mind to our work is essential; and for
that, access to information regarding public matters is crucial
--and this per-se is a right under international human rights
law.  Information produced by budget analyses is key and poten-
tially powerful public information to be used at national policy
level; it can have even greater impact when shared with and used
by communities so they can hold their local government officials
accountable.

19. In the case of health, the more vulnerable the situation a
person finds herself in, the fewer guarantees she has that her
right to health will be fulfilled. Why? Because the health sys-
tem is conceived that way: The higher the level of marginaliza-
tion, the poorer the health services.

20. Despite the absence of explicit discrimination against human
rights in existing policies and laws, the system itself seems to
be discriminatory. And it is absolutely crucial we all under-
stand this.

21. Slavery and torture are today universally condemned as human
rights violations. Why is the discriminate and well-known lack
of access to health of the poor not condemned??
Basically, because what may not feel like a violation of human
dignity at one point in history or in a given place may be per-
ceived as a significant infringement at another time or in a
different place. In a way, thus, our role is to act as an avant-
garde accelerating time...

Using budget analyses for human rights advocacy:

22. Together, human rights and budget analysis provide compel-
ling evidence of a government's compliance or non-compliance
with economic, social and cultural rights obligations. Any
strategy that is effective in protecting and promoting human
rights can be that much more effective through the forceful in-
sistence on new budgets integrating the findings derived from
budget analysis.

23. It is important to stress that a confrontational approach is
not a necessary part of the human rights framework. It is an ap-
proach that has been used by human rights organizations in a
large number of countries where they have found the government
otherwise unresponsive to their concerns.

24. Be it as it may, getting the facts straight is fundamental
to address any human rights issue. What the government has spent
or not spent to address a problem can be a pivotal factor in our
advocacy. Budget figures can be a valuable tool in our armamen-
tarium since the budget is an embodiment of a government's poli-
cies and laws including those on human rights.

25. A community becomes effectively energized to demand account-
ability from local government officials when it is provided with
specific information about expenditures the local government is
supposed to make.

26. But also parliaments should be brought into this discussion,
so they can exert needed pressure. Moreover, when the government
fails to follow through on its rights obligations, it is often
necessary for civil society to initiate litigation to put pres-
sure on the government.
At times, it is even necessary to go to regional/international
human rights bodies in the hope that pressure from the interna-
tional community will move a government where domestic pressure
alone has been inadequate.

27. NGOs are also called to develop 'shadow reports' and to sub-
mit them to international human rights bodies to point out inac-
curacies in the government reports on these matters.

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

Mostly taken from Dignity Counts: A guide to using budget analy-
sis to advance human rights, Centro de Analisis e Investigacion
(FUNDAR), International Budget Project (IBP) and  International
Human Rights Internship Program (IHRIP), Mexico, 2004.