174 GENDER EQUALITY IS NOT JUST A WOMEN’S ISSUE, BUT A DEVELOPMENT AND A HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUE.
In many poor countries, gender equality and women’s rights are considered a mere whim of rich countries or, worse, an…
173 HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS ARE NO LONGER A PRIVATE AFFAIR, BECAUSE THEY NOW HAVE A POLITICAL DIMENSION.
Human rights violations are a long running saga and a straightjacket for sustainable development. (CETIM) 1. To understand them comprehensively,…
172 PHYSICAL CAPITAL WEARS OUT; SOCIAL CAPITAL DOES NOT. THE MORE IT IS USED IN EXERCISING DIRECT DEMOCRACY THE STRONGER IT GETS (e.g., to combat human rights violations).
-Democracy is a means, not an end. -Democracy is not a spectator sport. -The world is run by people that…
171 MORE IRON LAWS THAT AFFECT HUMAN RIGHTS: USE THEM!
[Human Rights (HR) being very much on our agenda, what follows is a collection of (not always related) mostly one-liners…
170 THE RESPECT OF THE RIGHT TO HEALTH IS A REFLECTION OF A SOCIETY’S COMMITMENT TO EQUITY AND JUSTICE.
1. The Human Rights Framework does not demand a ‘right to be healthy’; it does not ask governments to commit…
169 THE LACK OF FUNDING TO CARRY OUT NATIONAL OR LOCAL HUMAN RIGHTS ASSESSMENTS SHOULD NOT DELAY US IN LAUNCHING THEM!
1. Human Rights assessments are government- or civil society-led participatory processes that aim at diagnosing the human rights (HR) situation…
168 DO STATISTICS SERVE THE HUMAN RIGHTS CAUSE WELL?
When the same data are pored over many times, there is a danger we will find patterns that are there…
167 THE RECOGNITION OF HUMAN RIGHTS SUCH AS THEY ARE EXPRESSED IN INTERNATIONAL INSTRUMENTS IS NOT ENOUGH FOR THEIR REALIZATION
-Human rights are timeless and are the expressions of fundamental entitlements of human beings. -Unless poor people are accorded their…
166 IT IS ONLY WHEN POTENTIAL INDIVIDUAL BENEFITS ARE SEEN MORE CLEARLY AS BEING HIGH THAT PEOPLE ARE MORE WILLING TO ACTIVELY ENGAGE IN WORK LEADING TO THE REALIZATION OF THEIR RIGHTS.
1. Let us recall that human rights (HR) originally encompass four main principles: participation, inclusion, accountability and the rule of…
165 HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVISTS ARE NOT SOCIAL ENGINEERS; THEY ARE PUBLIC MOBILIZERS.
-It is unlikely that the naysayers and nitpickers will be able to overrule committed human rights activists. -It is difficult…