The bullets here below recap what it means to apply a holistic rights-based lens in development practice, be it in health, in education or in any other sector. They also direct us to the corresponding behaviors one would hope to see enacted in health, education or any other development work when applying such an optic.
The bullets further tell us when and under what conditions the adoption of an explicit rights-based approach is more likely to make a lasting difference.
When using the rights-based approach (RBA), one
- Rests on the understanding that poor persons have the same inherent rights as rich persons.
- Focuses on the whole range of the problems specific marginalized/ discriminated groups in the population face rather than only on problems arising in one sector (e.g., health).
- Carries out more holistic analyses of why poverty, malnutrition and ill-health are perpetuated –as one exposes the roots of the process(es) of marginalization. (The RBA thus allows a deeper understanding of the causes of poverty and social injustice as manifested in preventable deaths; it thus opens up the possibility of longer-term changes than those one sees in conventional current development approaches. This is why the RBA engages in long-term actions).
- Explicitly addresses the linkages between the major problems of people’s livelihoods and the respective UN human rights (HR) treaties.
- Engages legal services if and whenever possible when fighting against the violation of rights.
- Undertakes concrete activities at the policy level to enhance the chances of a sustainable impact.
- One, therefore, needs to be innovative in assessing and managing, courageous in taking risks, and persistent in making sure human rights are respected, protected and fulfilled.
One further
- Recognizes the notion that violations of HR are a denial of people’s dignity.
- Focuses on the political, economic, social and environmental causes of rights violations and addresses each of these structural causes.
- Sets the lens of all one’s work on explicitly addressing the violated rights of rights-denied people and thus gets involved in monitoring rights violations.
One
- Critically analyzes power relations in the environments one works in,
and one monitors any changes in these relations. (*)
- Empowers people to exercise and claim for their rights from a position of strength.
One
- Treats participation as a right, not just as a means.
- Analyses inequities by disaggregating the data by vulnerable group and, in the process, one creates room for the participation of these marginalized groups.
- Gets the people in these same groups involved in implementing jointly planned actions.
- Sets up local mechanisms to encourage social and gender inclusion and one promotes community self-reliance.
One
- Creates the opportunity for claim holders (CHs) to organize and to pressure authorities (or those responsible for denying them their rights) into undertaking remedial actions.
- Trains CHs to prepare clear agendas of their demands.
- Influences duty bearers (DBs) by supporting their rights and helping them have their own demands met vis a vis DBs at a higher level. (Remember that DBs are CHs to others above them).
- Sees to it that DBs meet their responsibilities thus effectively holding public servants accountable.
- Establishes conditions for a sustained dialogue between CHs and DBs.
One
- Recognizes the limitation of a single organization working alone to achieve sustainable impact.
- Builds alliances and sets up partnerships as a key to success.
- Puts together a veritable force for change by uniting with others.
- Aims at becoming part of a respected and listened-to worldwide social movement.
One
- Gives voice to the unheard by using the language of rights either directly or indirectly (…or not at all).
- Helps making the voices of CHs heard so they can use their voices to claim their rights and to exert influence from a position of strength.
One
- Challenges discriminatory attitudes and practices and one fights for gender equity.
- Engages in women’s rights issues and in gender education and one gives women needed legal advice and support.
- Actively opposes violence against women as rooted in local gender ideology.
- Combats husband’s primacy over wife’s rights.
One
- Uses structured action-learning processes that always solicit the perspectives, opinions and points of view of the trainees.
- Incorporates HR into community education.
- Also gets involved in peace education, in conflict resolution and in actions to reduce the barriers to peace that have been created by those in power.
- To conclude here, much can be achieved in addressing inequities and marginalization by applying a rights-based approach. Applying it to which rights, one can justifiably ask? Well, to the rights to be heard, to choose, to participate; the rights to proper health care, to adequate food and nutrition, to breastfeeding, to education; the rights to live in dignity and wellbeing and to one’s own cultural identity and language. It also applies to land tenure rights, sexual and reproductive rights, to other individual HR, as well as collective rights (such as the right to development), and it applies to women’s rights and to citizens’ (civic) rights. In short, the RBA applies to all internationally recognized rights.
(contd.)
_________
(*): What are the attributes of power? Power can be: Power over (coercion, discrimination); power with (collective strength and common cause); power to (individual capacity to shape change); and power within (inner strength based on self-worth). The RBA aims at empowering claim holders to use all but the first.
Claudio Schuftan, Ho Chi Minh City