-We are weary of those who speak human rights and deny them to their own people (or perhaps do not deny them, but do not actually know enough about them). (Shula Koenig)
-In a way, we are living through the pregnancy phase of the new human rights paradigm. A pregnancy there is, yes, but in cases such as this, pregnancies sometimes progress, sometimes stagnate, they even occasionally regress and/or produce malformations or end in abortion. In our case, it is a pregnancy that has ended up in a human rights paradigm of many fathers –which now makes it acceptable to many. Its fate will continue to depend on a joint parenthood, but now, all will have to come together and become active fathers and stop being mere spectators. We need to deliver a healthy baby. (Luis Weinstein)
1. We live in an era in which the ideals of human rights (HR) have moved center stage both ethically and politically*. A great deal of energy is expended in promoting their significance for the construction of a better world. But, for the most part, the concepts circulating do not fundamentally challenge hegemonic liberal and neoliberal market logic or the dominant modes of legality and of state action. We live, after all, in a world in which the rights of private property and profit trump all other notions of rights.(D. Harvey)
*: Some have asked: Is there a need for an ethical and political de-colonization of human rights? This begs the further question: Is there really a neo-colonial element in the HR discourse? Absolutely not! HR are universal; there is no cultural relativism. But there is dissatisfaction and even mistrust of human rights as an instrument for meaningful social change –and that is where the HR Readers come in.
2. What is thus needed is an approach to HR informed by the dispassionate analysis of the oppressive, HR-violating, HR abusingor HR neglecting context of so many of the national and global social and political relationships. It is in this contexts that a ‘people-centered human rights concept and approach’ has been growing, based on the principles of social solidarity, of cooperation, of non-discrimination in all social relationships, of collective public ownership of the earth’s resources, of respect for difference, of self-determination of all peoples’ and of the recognition and respect for the inherent dignity of all individuals and people. (A. Baraka, Pambazuka News 659, 18 December 2013, http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/90071)
3. The approach departs from the premise that, as a given, the currently prevailing worldwide system of social and political relations must be reformed. But reforms have to be arrived-at through consensus building with a) aggrieved claim holders, i.e., people for whom HR violations are part of everyday life, and b) duty bearers pondering the available evidence plus minding, weighing and heeding all pertinent political and ideological considerations. Never forget: Only where/when claim holders actively demand do governments not only listen, but act.
4. Within the HR-based approach, it is the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR)that is the most misunderstood instrument in the international human rights system. With the entry into force of its Optional Protocol, allowing individuals and communities to formallyplace complaints, ICESCR is poised to become a significant game changer in international HR law. At the national level, constitutions and courts have increasingly regarded socio-economic and cultural rights as justiciable thus narrowing the traditional divide with civil and political rights –and this is encouraging.
5. We all know that, over decades, the economic trickle-down effect did not happen so that inequalities within a given generation were not reduced, much lesseliminated. Why do we then, so often, assume that now trickle-down will do so even across generations? Actually, the most marginalized populations remain unrepresented in the practice of managing world development affairs: Here I mean particularly the future generations. Our relationships with future generations regarding HR and development issues remain largely undefined; there is a lot of show and very little substance. Future generations seem to be, but are not, an abstract entity! Establishing minimum considerations for future generations is not only necessary, but possible and indispensable. Principles such as universality and the progressive realization of HR provide the moral and legal impetus for it. If we begin now to address future generations as a rights-bearing group, we will make progress on even the most protracted inequalities that have defeated decades of development praxis. (K. Moir)
By seeing the big picture we can change it. A human rights analysis breeds not paralysis, but rather informed and inspired action.
-Is our immediate objective in HR work to achieve social peace or, to start with, a certain degree of social upheaval?
-The most important thing is perhaps the way contradictions in HR are managed: by force or by dialogue? …Or by forceful, unrelenting demands by claim holders? (CETIM)
6. As a starter, what about these action points? (By far, here below not an all-inclusive list, but rather an illustrative one just to shine a spotlight).
One: Labor unions and political parties are not articulating platforms that have HR at their core. If they did, this would be very powerful: a challenge here. Unions in principle represent claim holders; progressive parties also should, but often do not… Inter-union alliances and political parties coalitions around HR are a neglected goal to pursue, not to talk about labor union/political parties alliances on these issues so as to arrive at a wider national civil society platform on HR.
Two: Stop throwing more task forces or committees at our social problems worldwide; doing so is clearly a delaying tactic. Suchtask forces or committees generally are but an assembly of important people who, alone, cannot do anything while, together, they decide that nothing can be done.(Albino Gomez)[Those who know that you are right will raise heaven on earth to create the illusion that you are wrong, anyway. (P. Bhargava)]Concentrate on empowering claim holders and duty bearers.**
**: Claim holders have the right to empower themselves to change the dire HR situation they experience. This transformation –that calls for a massive HR learning push– is indispensable since change depends on amassing the collective power to right what is wrong. The freedom to make and remake ourselves is one of the most precious yet most neglected of our HR. (D. Harvey)
Three: Since chronic vulnerability is caused by HR violations, denounce chronic vulnerability as being caused by an unfair/unjust society. (Note that certain groups in society are not vulnerable, they are rendered vulnerable…).
Four: For HR activists, social protection is different from social justice. Why? Because the latter identifies the responsible duty bearers. Therefore, it is carrying out capacity analyses using the HR-based framework what will identify the latter for claim holders to direct their demands to.
Five: Cultural diversity expresses the wealth of humanity. Therefore, States have to be made to respect and protect this wealthat the same time the respectother people’s rights.
Six: Both individuals, as well as communities are, at the same time, actors and holders of HR. Therefore, we must interpret HR covenants to include the rights of communities and provide outlets for the latter to claim and exercise their members’ rights.
Seven: As relates to scientific research, the same should have a social function bearing in mind that all scientific progress does not necessarily benefit humanity. Its orientation, its purpose and its financing must be subject to political scrutiny.*** (CETIM)
***: Scientific evidence is necessary, but not sufficient to bring about change in public policy. Always remember that politicians move when they are scared, not necessarily when the evidence is overwhelming. (F. Kummerov)
Eight: We need to always make a clear distinction between ‘discrimination’ –a very ‘active’ behavior– and ‘inequalities’ –that may be the result of a variety of factors. There are three levels that this must be looked at:
• Groups being deliberately excluded for any reason (in any development process).
• Groups being missed out because they are ‘invisible’.
• Socially excluded groups being actively sought out.****
****: Also consider people being excluded by decision makers not following best practice. If (human/financial/environmental) resources are limited, corners will be cut and the socially excluded are likely to suffer first/the most due to their relative position in society. Think about the Dalits in India. This is not only an issue of discrimination or lack of equality – it is also an issue of poorly resourced interventions. The question is: Should implementers be blamed for doing what they think is best with the limited resources (including skills and knowledge) they have at hand? (B. Reed)
The action point here is to forcefully demand the excluded groups be actively sought out.
Nine: Accountability is about more than apportioning blame –this ‘holding to account’ is only a small part of the story. Accountability means clarity about who is responsible for what; duty bearers and service providers need to have clarity about where their responsibilities to users begin and end; claim holders as users need to be clear what they are entitled to expect from providers and how to seek redress if this fails. Accountability is best exercised by a regulatory and coordination body with clear objectives and definitive public interest civil society organizations (CSOs) participation. (T. Brewer)
Ten: Creating or strengthening an existing HR commission that bring together public interest CSOs, regulators and other government officials to identify policy constraints that most hurt claim holders is a good action point. Active involvement by social movements is critical, because officials do not always understand how HR work and how their violation affects people. A HR commission can help identify problems and solutions. A key task for the commission is to devise plans to address the most detrimental policies and to increase compliance of duty bearers by reinforcing regulatory objectives and activities. A policy performance baseline can be established that will set the monitoring guidelines. Dispute resolution mechanisms will also be set up. It is the participating CSOs that must contribute the information needed for the commission’s performance monitoring.***** Other issues for the commission to address are: i) the government may not want to provide data that makes it look bad (or because it will have to incur in costs to collect it or disaggregate it), and ii) Public interest CSOs may not trust the data provided by the government. In that case, household surveys can be used to address such concerns, but data compilation has to be done by an independent organization free of industry or government dependence or influence.(B.Hoekman)
*****: This begs the difficult question: What metrics should one be using to follow HR improvements?This is an old question about which activists have for long looked for an answer.
Claudio Schuftan, Ho hi Minh City
cschuftan@phmovement.org