Human rights violations are a long running saga and a straightjacket for sustainable development. (CETIM)
1. To understand them comprehensively, human rights violations have to be put in the context of bad development (or mal-development), i.e., a violation of the UN-sanctioned Right to Development (1986).
2. The intensity of the debate on human rights violations now arising all over, has been curiously out of step with reality. Reality has been manipulated to become broadly the base of current popular beliefs –mainly instilled by explicit or subliminal propaganda.
3. This is important, because, attitudes towards human rights (HR) begin in people’s minds. People must be able to feel (and live) the imperative of HR being respected –and act accordingly. A precondition for this thus is a) to topple widespread academic and politically biased beliefs, and b) to dismantle a whole range of prejudices, stereotypes and misguided perceptions and myths about HR.
4. Therefore, the challenge is to build a HR culture in the face of the long-established, let’s call it, ‘charity-based’ system. As many times said in these Readers, this will require transforming rights holders into active and effective claimants, as well as strengthening their local organizations.
5. In the process, one needs to check which civil society actors are willing, capable and respected enough to –with us– promote and (literally) struggle for HR in the long run.
6. [It is to be noted here that the HR framework does not aim at splitting the debate along government and civil society lines, as often happens in other contexts; it rather calls for closing ranks between claim-holders and duty-bearers. That may sound like a truism, but is by no means generally accepted yet].
7. In an optimistic mood, I see all this, not as a hurdle or bottleneck , but rather as an opportunity and a way forward to develop a better HR-based political model.
Claudio Schuftan, Ho Chi Minh City
cschuftan@phmovement.org