Human rights: Food for a manipulated thought ‘HR and the true interests of states’
HRR 788
[TLDR (too long didn’t read): If you are reading this, chances are it behooves you. This HR Reader is about why states disregard international HR law and why, more and more, the future of HR is local. For a quick overview, just read the bolded text]. Traducir/traduire los/les Readers; usar/utiliser deepl.com
State disengagement from the human rights system and from international human rights law is rampant
1. Unfortunately, international human rights (HR) law has always vacillated between expressing utopian ideals and being apologetical about actual member states’ conduct. This is certainly not right. Whether victims of HR violations can hope to obtain some measure of individual and/or collectivejustice through these legal mechanisms depends mainly on whether and how the respondent states choose to effectively implement decisions emanating from HR law. Not very often do victims choose this path since state commitment to remedial and/or preventive procedures remains shallow. To make things worse, the non-bindingness of treaty bodies’ decisions is widely regarded as an impediment to state compliance. States increasingly refuse to cooperate with the treaty bodies periodic reviews and quasi-judicial decisions. The lack of precision of the latter creates uncertainty as to what needs to be done and thus invites non-compliance. (Andreas. J. Ullmann ) Food for crying…
2. States positioning themselves towards HR (particularly civil and political rights) is strongly correlated with their political preferences. This is likely due to different views on race, gender, police behavior, treatment of immigrants and refugees plus attitudes towards the importance of providing basic economic and social services.
3. Political identity, is, of course, not the only issue correlated with the views of states in regards to HR in the country. (James Ron) There is also their position towards a HR economy.*
*: A ‘human rights economy’ is the one that assesses economic decision-making based on its impact on people’s welfare and the planet. It is centered on quality public services such as health care and education and income support at key life moments, while regulating companies and corporate power to prevent them from undermining the rights of people and of the planet. (Sarah Saadoun, Sylvain Aubry)
In the face of rising manipulative authoritarianism at the national level, the future of human rights is local
–Human rights are being refashioned on the ground. (Gaea Morales, Anthony Tirado)
–Let us not forget: Human rights standards and principles have been agreed by the vast majority of states, because they have been shaped by the struggles of countless communities deprived of their rights!
4. Pressure exerted through concrete demands to duty bearers (also known as ‘interest holders’ …and sometimes ‘power holders’) on global HR norms and practices can and do energize local activism and improve the perspectives for policy change. For example, pressure on municipal governments, allied or in parallel with local HR movements, also can eventually push national governments to implement legal changes and institutional reforms, as well as/or making available increased resources to help improve their HR performance and accountability. As these changes percolate up, they can begin to reshape global conversations about HR principles and norms** and how to realize them. (Jackie Smith, Michael Goodhart)
**: Universality, equality and non-discrimination inalienability, indivisibility and interdependence (interrelatedness), accountability and rule of law. Add to these: participation and inclusion with a binding character, empowerment, human dignity, consultation, transparency, irrenunciability, intemporality and inviolability.
5. Can cities emerge as alternative political spaces to assert and reimagine rights within a global order shaped by the growing dominance of authoritarian nationalism? The rise of people-centered HR activism in cities around the world should be no surprise and does represent an alternative.
6. Note: ‘Local’ does not carry connotations of insularity or provinciality, e.g., around housing, racism, gender violence. Local means something like ‘engaging people’s daily lives and struggles and tackling the problems that most affect people’. In this sense, a local approach is necessarily also global and intersectional.
7. These local efforts make use of international HR principles (standards)***, but are not limited by international frameworks or traditional modes of HR advocacy. Moreover, activists utilize global HR laws and attributes as levers for local change, but they also develop creative, contextually-sensitive responses to the needs faced by particular communities. This work includes advocacy, promoting accountability, policy-making and institution-building. (G. Morales, A. Tirado)
***: Human rights standards: a) set out the respective responsibilities of different actors in an economy (especially the government, public officials and corporations); b) require that those with authority are answerable to the demands of workers, poorer and marginalized groups; and c) provide means to enforce responsibilities and seek redress when rights are violated. Examples of these HR standards are: States to cooperate internationally, states to devote maximum available resources to the progressive realization of HR, advancing economic equality of women…
8. Beware of all these ‘niceties’ though: Attacks from the-powers-that-be often explicitly target local efforts that protect and expand HR. Human rights turning local is not merely a pragmatic response to the retreat of nation-states from their global obligations. It is a deliberate and ambitious reimagining of how rights are and ought to be claimed, protected, and lived. Local responses thus aim to empower communities to take ownership of global HR norms. Far from being simply a stopgap, this local activism is redefining the terrain of HR struggles by grounding symbolic change in tangible policy transformations. The future is local! (A. Tirado, M. Goodhart)
Bottom Line
9. Poly-crises test the relevance and resilience of HR. But they also clarify their necessity. In times when ordinary rules break down, HR must not retreat –they must (and will) become the language of resistance, organization, mobilization and hope. Whatever HR policies we want to defend, we will have to look and work beyond borders.
10. So, what are we/you going to do? Pick a part of the problem that speaks to you. Learn to talk about it in calm conversations and practice informing others. Devise strategies to counter dis- and misinformation that provides roadblocks on so many evidence highways. Do what you enjoy and have skills for. …And sign up for the long haul as the HR issue will take time. If you think you are too small to be effective, you’ve never been in bed with a mosquito. (Stephen Bezruchka)
Claudio Schuftan, Ho Chi Minh City
Your comments are welcome at schuftan@gmail.com
Postscript/Marginalia
You do not do good things because you are a good person –you become a good person by doing good things.
–Moral determination (or ambition) is not an inherent attribute or a personal quality, but a frame of mind that can be developed. Being aware about a problem is not enough and having good intentions is not enough. We need to act. But if you shoot for the moon (and try and combine everything in one go) you may not even leave the ground. (Rutger Bregman) So, a) do not ditch a political analysis in the rush to act –we need revelation before revolution. (Stuart Gillespie), and b) never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. (Margaret Mead)
–President Carter understood that to create peaceful, prosperous societies, it is necessary to be aware-of and act in solidarity with those being left behind. As he said, “We must adjust to changing times and still hold to unchanging principles.” For him, these principles included all HR, as well as their application to restrain harmful economic activity that benefits some powerful people and imposes violations on others. We should heed his message. (Todd Howland)