The Human Rights struggle is complicated; in some ways, it becomes a struggle against a part of ourselves, the selfish part of what we are –individually and collectively speaking. (C. Basombrio)
- Behind human (people’s) rights there actually is a social contract between the citizens and the state in which the latter defines the rights and obligations for both –itself and the citizen. But the state is also responsible for ensuring the behavior of others, including non-state actors, who have to live up to their human rights (HR) responsibilities. In matters of HR, today, governments are divided into those that respect such rights and are concerned that other governments do so as well, and those that cannot impose themselves on their people without disregarding their rights and freedoms. (R. Garreton)
- Today, rights are an international responsibility so that a state that violates the rights of its own people can not only be criticized by other states, but international action can be taken against it.
- Therefore, the rights to health or to food, for example, must no longer be left to the chance of executive discretion; they must be justiciable legal rights. Along these lines, we consider the access-to-key-information-on-health-and-nutrition-inequities a HR on its own merit. This means we cannot allow the subject of HR and their consistent enforcement to be quietly relegated to a second- or third-class status as an ‘inconvenience and a politically inexpedient issue’. (Vaclav Havel)
- The detractors of work on the HR-based approach have argued that a preoccupation with the rights of children ignores the fact that children will have no opportunity for development at all unless they survive. ‘The language of rights means little to a child stillborn or an infant dying from pneumonia or a child victim of famine’ –‘the most fundamental right of all is the right to survive’– they argue. This argument is easily reduced to what it is worth on paper: It is implied here that the basic-needs approach (BNA) is superior. I ask, do our detractors have anything to show in 60 years-plus of the BNA that has made significantly more children survive, or die less from pneumonia, from famines or from malnutrition? The Child Survival Revolution saves children from dying from those diseases we know how to prevent through technical interventions…but we do not have ‘vaccines’ for all diseases or conditions of poverty (malnutrition, for example) –so we save children for a while until another disease-that-kills-the-poor comes along.
- In HR work, approaches that challenge the established unresponsive structures are intended, are purposeful and are unavoidable: the HR-based approach is not an exercise in utopian social engineering. In our work, we never make value-neutral decisions. We are ‘anti-poverty biased’. Referring to the fact that HR do not have to do with statistics but with people, Dr Jonathan Mann used to say “Spend more time on values than on ‘p’ values.” Or as Paul Hunt now says: “Do not only work on neglected diseases, but work on neglected people”.
- Much like a marriage, effective partnership in HR work is an institutional must. In our partnerships, we try to talk first about the problems and then (more) about the work that needs to be done.
- Old HR skills like ‘naming and shaming’, letter writing and litigation in court are now, more and more, being replaced by new HR skills such as mobilizing communities, vocally denouncing HR violations, setting benchmarks and organizing for processes that need to be introduced and, most importantly, holding duty-bearers accountable every step of the way.
- Be reminded, though, that:
- a) HR principles do not allow the introduction of any measures that may have a retrogressive effect, even if for a short period –like, for instance, allowing ‘temporary’ greater income inequalities while economic growth eventually trickles down; and
- b) HR instruments were drafted with the full knowledge and understanding of the reality of resources constraints, so the latter cannot be used as an excuse for continuing situations that violate people’s rights.
- As HR activists, it behooves us to help draft and implement the plans and strategies that clearly map out how to make progress towards the realization of all HR obligations…and, unless and until a collective system is developed and implemented, each one of us should act individually and, at the same time, should seek collaboration with others in resolving whatever problems may exist. (A. Abdullahi) Being a HR activist is, therefore, not a thankless task (as the one of ‘acting as the ambulance driver at the bottom of the cliff’); it is a courageous one. There is another attribute that goes with that courage, though: stubbornness. It is not by coincidence that HR activists tend to be so stubborn. It is part of our mission to endure and insist –over and over again. This can, of course, be irritating to people in power. But that does not detract us: we speak-up for HR. We do exercise our freedom to be critical. Remember: Genuine solidarity requires more than just emotional commitments and declarations of sympathy. (T. Hammarberg) Ultimately, HR activists will have to get used to a fact acknowledged long ago in development circles: it is impossible to stay out of politics.
- Another thing to keep in mind as a constant encouragement is that the ideology of HR was significantly responsible for the collapse of colonialism and especially of slavery. Rights can and should challenge regimes that violate HR with impunity. Unfortunately, the rhetoric of rights is not matched by reality. We continue to live in a world of great oppression and repression. Gross violations of people’s rights take place daily. (Y. Ghai) NGOs and other civil society organizations should thus increasingly assume the role of Defenders-of-Rights.
- All political systems can be evaluated by the same standards. It is not a question of whether some political systems inherently promote or violate HR; all political systems must pass the test of whether they protect the rights provided under international HR law. No situation is so unique as to be beyond the useful application of these international standards. (D. Ravindran)
Claudio Schuftan, Ho Chi Minh City
People’s Health Movement