The future is now 22. Scenario One: Doctors love high tech gadgets and treatments; nothing wrong about this love affair. But high tech treatments drain resources away from the kinds…
1. Our collective destiny is not in our hands. It is in the hands of a handful of powerful agencies over which we have no control. It is our respective…
-As the French would say: Human rights are “difficilement opposables”, but are also “difficilement imposables”. -People have the right to be happy even if they are not allowed to. (Antonio…
-Inequalities are staring us in the face now, but will be shouting at us after MDGs-year 2015. (C. Gore) -Once and for all: There is no such a thing a…
1. Monitoring and evaluation (M&E) both serve accountability purposes, but must be directed towards human rights standards and principles if they are to have even a chance to improve the…
1. Oppressed people that lack the capacity for collective action are historically doomed. That is where empowerment comes-in in human rights (HR) work. Actually, for us, the very meaning of…
Relativism in no way precludes the possibility of cross-cultural universals 1. Moral and cultural relativism have indeed affected the human rights discourse, but on the philosophical level only. 2. Unfortunately,…
Inequality is at the root of human rights (HR) work. Should I thus find it cynical that only in 2011 has the IMF ‘come out of the closet’ in a…
A few loose ends will benefit from some further clarification; this is what this Reader attempts. On obligations 1. The obligation to respect, protect and fulfill the human rights of…
1. As a general comment on the Readers, I would contrast two possible styles of dealing with the issue of health rights: a. Taking the human rights (HR) approach as…