75. MORE ON HUMAN RIGHTS WORKERS AS ACTIVISTS
As said so many times before, our ‘do-gooder’ zeal is not good enough to objectively improve the human rights (HR) situation of the have-nots in the world. I am amazed…
74. FIVE DECADES OF DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE HAVE COST THE WORLD OVER 1 TRILLION USD: HOW MUCH IN IMPROVED HUMAN RIGHTS IS THERE TO SHOW FOR THAT?
Development in the wrong direction? Development cooperation can neither be reduced to fighting terrorism nor can development policy remain a repair shop for the longstanding damage done by a whole…
73. RECAPITULATING: THE EIGHT MAJOR DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE BASIC NEEDS AND THE HUMAN RIGHTS APPROACH TO DEVELOPMENT
Needs are met or satisfied. Rights are realized (respected, protected, facilitated and fulfilled). Needs do not imply duties or obligations, although they may generate promises. Rights always imply correlative duties…
72. The worst tactic is to impose the transition to a HR-based approach (HRAP) by fast-tracking. More sensitization and in-depth training on the HRAP is needed. Good time has to be spent on training a core group. Then one can move on to district trainers and facilitators and finally to community mobilizers; all this with the aim of developing HR-based community action plans.
For claim-holders to build their capacity is for people to understand their rights, to claim them and to contribute to realizing them. Claim-holders simply have to hold duty-bearers accountable and,…
71. REMEMBER? RIGHTS MEAN NOT ONLY HAVING A RIGHT TO SOMETHING, BUT ALSO CLAIMING THAT RIGHT FROM APPROPRIATE DUTY-BEARERS.
For decades the ‘Development School’ and the ‘Human Rights (HR) School’ had progressed in a parallel manner with very limited exchange and interaction. It is only recently that both schools…
70. A BASIS TO DEVELOP A NEW PRAXIS FOR THE FUTURE (Part 16 of 16)
At the risk of sounding panfletary, I think the (mostly normative) elements that could begin making our work yield more potentially sustainable and equitable outcomes are the following: (presented in…
69. A BASIS TO DEVELOP A NEW VISION FOR THE FUTURE. (Part 15 of 16)
Sustainable development is about processes of popular enrichment, empowerment and participation that our technocratic, project-oriented view has simply failed to accommodate. Unfortunately, difficult problems have the power of leading us…
68. SOME ASPECTS OF THE POLITICS OF WOMEN’S RIGHTS AND THE POLITICS OF EMPOWERMENT. (Part 14 of 16)
Discrimination against women (and minorities) is still common in countries that have undergone significant economic growth where one would have expected these groups’ rights to also have improved. . The…
67. WHY ARE WE SO OFTEN CONCILIATORY WHEN WE SHOULD BE CONFRONTATIONAL? (Part 13 of 16 )
To make sense of current world problems, we too often fall back on a “shish-kebab mentality”. This much easier and convenient approach looks at the various problems affecting the world…
66. A DEAD-END OPTION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS. (Part 12 of 16)
A word of caution is called for at this point on the issue of what I call “pseudo-basic intervention techniques or approaches” that many of us have advocated-for at one…